Houston Rockets, Daily Rockets Science: Harden wins Shaqtin Award

Today’s Daily Rocket Science finds Houston Rockets’ James Harden winning an award it’s likely he never aspired to.  Unfortunately the Beard’s defense and turnovers netted him the MVP

Chris Walder of The Score covers the embarrassing award Harden won:

"Despite leading his team to the postseason and putting up sensational numbers in the process, Harden’s numerous lapses on the defensive end and questionable turnovers couldn’t keep him away from the Shaqtin’ a Fool universe."

If Harden is looking for inspiration this outta do it: 2015-16 Shaqtin' a Fool MVP: James Harden #NBA https://t.co/XbQ6uPsAfP via @YouTube

— Space City Scoop (@SpaceCity_Scoop) June 15, 2016

The other Rockets news dominating the wires was the anniversary of the Rockets back to back championship. Greg Rajan of The Houston Chronicle reports:

". Twenty-one years ago today, the Rockets won the second of their back-to-back NBA championships, sweeping the Orlando Magic with a 113-101 victory at The Summit. That capped a remarkable playoff run, as they were the first No. 6 seed to win a title and also were the first squad to beat four 50-win teams in a single postseason"

With news James Harden had joined several other franchise stars in removing his name from Olympic contention surprised some. Then again when you are winning awards like MVP for the equivalent of the Raspberry in movies. Again, let’s hope this means he’ll be focusing this summer on improving.

Rahat Huq of Red 94 offered his take on Harden backing out:

". I wouldn’t go either if I were in his shoes.  But its still disappointing given the impact Team USA had on Harden’s ensuing season two summers ago"

With Game 6 of the NBA Finals set to tip-off Thursday night the NBA Draft will move to front and center of basketball talk. News the likely number one pick (Ben Simmons) isn’t going to work out for any of the top lottery teams is intriguing. Though not unheard of in Simmons case it does add more questions regarding his passion for the sport.

This news came about when Simmons failed to qualify for the Wooden Award because he couldn’t obtain a 50% average. Again, it’s not indicative of him not being driven to succeed, but it sure does raise question marks.

Kurt Helin of NBC Sports offered his take on the situation:

"There are rumors Simmons’ people would prefer he land with the Lakers, but that is moot, he will be a Sixer. didn’t work out for the Sixers. Nor did . Nor did . If they are going to take him, what is the point of working out for them? Nerlens Noel Jahlil Okafor Joel Embiid"

That’s it for today’s Daily Rocket Science, make sure you check out the current Space City Scoop series including our year end player analysis, draft prospects worthy of Rockets picking or trading for, our best of reader/fan posts  and our end of season Rockets Round Table:

Next: Complete list of 2016 -2017 Free Agents

Next: Rockets Fans Speak - the Series

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