Getty James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Philadelphia 76ers rolled the dice last season by trading for James Harden. While Ben Simmons, whom the Sixers traded to land Harden, was holding out from the Sixers, Harden wasn’t exactly a guarantee either.
Harden, 33, was dubbed “an elite quitter” in February after forcing his way off of the Brooklyn Nets. Just a year earlier, Harden did the same thing with the Houston Rockets, refusing to play until he was dealt to another team. So when the Sixers reunited Harden with former boss Daryl Morey in Philadelphia, some fans were concerned about which Harden the team was getting.
Morey sat down with John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia to set the record straight about Harden’s reputation as a “quitter.” And unsurprisingly, Morey went to bat for his man.
“I’ll say with James — again, more than any player I’ve worked with — he never says something’s wrong,” Morey explained on the September 13 episode of “The Takeoff With John Clark.” “It actually surprised me when he said what he said after the season. For him to say that means there were more issues than he … look, he’s a spit-on-it, get-on-the-floor, win-[at]-whatever-cost. … He’s been one of the most durable guys in NBA history prior to the hamstring issue. I know he’s worked hard to get it to a great place; it’s in a great place right now.”
Morey recast Harden not as a disgruntled star who leaves teams worse than he found them, but rather as the consummate pro — ultimately, as someone that the Sixers can count on this season. But that’s not the only thing Morey said about Harden.
Morey: Harden ‘Doesn’t Want to Give Any Excuses’
Many pro athletes play through pain — it’s simply part of the territory of competing against the world’s best day in and day out. And some players might complain about the grueling torture. But, according to Morey, Harden isn’t one of those players.
“But during our run last year, he’s never going to say, ‘I’m not 100%’ because he doesn’t ever want to give any excuses, especially during the middle of a playoff run. And he’s also never going to want to indicate to his teammates or the other team that there’s an issue,” Morey said.
Frankly, Harden might be running out of excuses. His playoff resume is loaded with poor performances and outright no-shows. In fact, some of his teams have done their best work in the postseason while Harden’s been on the bench.
How Harden would treat this offseason was a real question mark. Fortunately for Philadelphia, Harden has gotten healthy, avoided cake and even took a pay cut so that the front office could reload the roster. Despite all that, Harden still carries the stink of the ending to his Rockets and Nets tenures.
Morey Opened Up About Harden Recruiting Montrezl Harrell
Harden isn’t the only relatively fresh face in Philadelphia. Last week, the Sixers signed Montrezl Harrell, former Sixth Man of the Year, to backup Joel Embiid at center. And Harden was instrumental in securing that deal, Morey said.
“James, he’s a little later in his career than Joel [Embiid], so I would say as you get farther along you realize each year is precious, each season is even more precious. He’s done more, I think, than maybe any star player’s ever done to take that much less money. We just got Montrezl Harrell. We couldn’t have done that without both him taking less money and constantly talking to Trez and saying, ‘Hey, let’s rekindle the magic we had in the past,'” Morey said.
Harden has gone above and beyond this summer. But if Harden falls flat during the season, it won’t be long before Sixers fans and NBA diehards question whether his best days are behind him. On the other hand, if he leads the Sixers to their first Finals since Allen Iverson was lacing up his kicks, he’ll be a local hero.