How Kawhi Leonard/Rockets’ James Harden are proof of media biases

Houston Rockets star James Harden and LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard have been two of the best examples of how the media develops flawed narratives towards players.

The national media has long developed a propensity of forming unjustified narratives about NBA players. It’s become blatantly obvious that many of these narratives have been formed to fit whatever premise the media is trying to promote, whether it be erroneous or not. Many of these narratives have even made their way to the Houston Rockets organization, and they too are inaccurate.

We’ve heard how Houston Rockets star James Harden doesn’t show up in the postseason, which couldn’t be any further from the truth. Not only is Harden one of the league’s best postseason performers, but he’s also been one of the most clutch players in the league.

But if you allow the national media’s misconceptions to influence you, you’d think Harden was a draft bust who only draws fouls and plays for stats, even though that’s also flawed. The reality is that Harden is one of the greatest offensive players we’ve ever seen, and has even been Jordan-esque.

But it’s much more convenient to bash Harden and scrutinize/criticize everything he does or has ever done. We’ve even seen Harden receive criticism for doing hospitable acts, because the media’s motives are to slander The Beard.

Perhaps the best example of this is how it’s viewed that Harden is the reason why the Rockets were unable to get over the hump against the Golden State Warriors. Anyone watching the NBA over the years knows that the Dubs were unfairly constructed, which is why no Western Conference team was able to get past them.

But aside from that, it’s also an extremely limited argument to base an overall narrative on how a player performs against just one team, or even in one postseason.

Next: Kawhi in Toronto

Kawhi Leonard in Toronto

That’s exactly what’s happened with Kawhi Leonard, however, and it’s been egregious. The Klaw was already viewed as one of the best players in the NBA heading into his 2018-19 season with the Toronto Raptors, but he wasn’t viewed as the best.

Kawhi had compiled quite the resume leading upto the 2018-19 season, as he had already won an NBA title, Finals MVP, consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards, two All-NBA teams, four All-Defensive teams, and two All-Star teams. In spite of that, everyone had LeBron James and Kevin Durant as the top-two players in the league, and in that order.

During the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Leonard’s Raps were tied 3-3 with the Philadelphia 76ers, until he hit the shot that changed everything. With the game tied 90-90, Kawhi hit a game-winning buzzer-beater, which bounced off the rim multiple times, before eventually going in.

Kawhi’s Raptors ended up winning the championship, in large part due to the Warriors’ injuries to Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant, which has conveniently gone ignored. After leading the Raptors to the championship, the narrative somehow became about how Kawhi is a clutch player who drills game-winners.

The media instantly dubbed Kawhi the title of the best player in the NBA, as his game-winning shot against Philly was conveniently spun to somehow mean he has the clutch gene, while forgetting how lucky the shot was that he made.

Next: Morey speaks

Morey speaks about the bias towards Kawhi

The media’s sudden change towards Kawhi was so egregious that it became impossible to not notice. Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey also took notice and spoke about it during a recent appearance on The Lowe Post, which is speared by ESPN’s Zach Lowe.

Morey had the below to say:

“There are games that go down to the last shot, for example the Toronto vs. Philly series comes down to a Kawhi miss. That’s a miss. That hit the side of the hoop. That’s like a 10 percent shot, but it goes in.

They put themselves in a position to win, so they won. But every narrative shifted based on a 10 percent shot. If you’re in a close game and a close series and it comes down to the last shot, really both teams won and lost. You shouldn’t draw massive narratives based on whoever won or lost that.

I know that’s how people do it, but the reality is that’s all nonsense.”

This is alot to digest, and it’s interesting that Morey chalked the shot up to a miss, due to the degree of luck involved in the shot. But this quote is a perfect example of the Houston Rockets general manager, as he’s known to be a big proponent of advanced analytics.

Many believe Morey relies too much on analytics, and chalking a series-ending shot to a missed basket will surely only add fuel to the fire, but he makes a great point. Kawhi’s accomplishments weren’t good enough to draw the “clutch label” or the “best in the league title” before his Toronto days, so why did a lucky shot all of a sudden change that?

As Morey hinted, the series was tied 3-3 upto that point of a Game 7 which was tied 90-90, so the outcome of the series literally came down to two lucky bounces. With the outcome coming that close, it’s easy to understand why Morey believes both teams were equally losers and victors, as neither team emerged as the clear cut dominant squad.

But don’t tell the media that, because that shot immediately catapulted Kawhi to the “best in the league,” which shows how the media’s narratives fit whatever pre-determined biases they have about said player.