3 takeaways from Rockets’ Harden/Russ GQ interview

1. Harden is unphased by critics

James Harden has drawn the ire of many basketball “experts”, as he’s been accused of ruining the game, being a ballhog, being a selfish player, playing for statistical milestones, you name it. Sadly, there’s alot that I left out, which is pathetic. But not only is this pathetic, it’s simply unfair and incorrect.

This has been frustrating for Houston Rockets fans, as we seem to constantly find ourselves defending him on things that are simply illogical. This gets frustrating but it seems to never stop as it pertains to the Harden slander.

Fortunately, it has zero impact on Harden, which he alluded to during this interview. Harden had the below to say about the matter.

“And I’ma answer the questions like a boss. You gotta keep that same energy when you lose as when you win. You gotta be able to own up to your mistakes when you lose, and when they’re giving you praise and giving you credit, you gotta be able to “All right, well…” That’s the profession we live in….”

It’s good to hear that the skeptics haven’t had an effect on Harden because it’s blatantly obvious that he’s the most hated star in the league, and alot of it stems from his ability to draw fouls and shoot a high volume of 3-pointers. Many complain about his efficient approach towards scoring, which is simply the era that exists in the NBA.

For as bad as the Harden hate seems to be among national writers, it’s nowhere close to the trolls we stumble upon on social media. Harden addressed that in his GQ interview as well.

“And then social media is worse than TV. You have people saying, “I saw that on social media. Okay, that must be true.” Well, it’s not true, just because somebody on TV is saying it. And I’m not going to sit here and argue with him or argue with a fan or argue with anybody else about that.”

This goes to show the thick skin that Harden has, which is becoming more rare as time passes, which is evident by Harden’s former teammate Kevin Durant. For as great of a player as KD is, he still feels the need to have several “burner accounts” on Twitter, and he’s constantly going back and forth with trolls, who many of which are teenagers.

Fortunately Harden doesn’t take the bait, and it’s awesome to see a superstar not fall for the trap. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the interview, I’d strongly recommend you do so!