The Houston Rockets have underachieved this season. Many expected the team to be a top-four team in the Western Conference with James Harden once again being a top-five MVP candidate. Unfortunately for the Rockets, nothing has gone as planned.
Before the season began, the team made a trade with the Denver Nuggets in order to acquire Ty Lawson. Harden had had too much responsibility during last season and management wanted to reduce his load with another ball-handler. But the trade didn’t work out as planned. The team started off 4-7 and Lawson was having one of his worst seasons as a pro.
They had a horrible defense, there was a consistent lack of effort and the Rockets weren’t what everyone expected them to be. The organization then decided to fire former head coach Kevin McHale to place the blame on him. The reason the Rockets were struggling was because Harden didn’t enter this season with the same dedication to basketball that he had last year.
Although Harden is averaging a career-high 27.6 points per game, his defense has returned to what it used to be before last season. There were several videos before last season showing Harden’s lack of effort on the defensive end. Harden must have seen those videos because he decided to show more effort on defense. But this season he went back to his old ways.
Back when Harden used to be on the Oklahoma City Thunder, Harden was a much better defender. But ever since he came to the Rockets, Harden has prioritized other things.
He has prioritized scoring and his brand (signed a deal with Adidas last offseason). He began to date a high-profile celebrity in Khloe Kardashian. After all that has happened this offseason, Harden didn’t enter the season with the same focus that he showed last season when he carried the Rockets to the Western Conference Finals amidst many injuries.
When the leader of a team doesn’t give a consistent level of effort or dedication to excellence, the rest of the team is likely to follow in suit. Last season the Rockets gave up 100.5 points per game (17th in the league). This season the Rockets are giving up 105.5 points per game (27th in the league).
Now the Rockets have a 23-22 record while being the seventh-best team in the conference and the fourth-best team in the Southwest division. Harden has been a disappointment thus far, but he still has a chance to make everyone forget about the bad start the Rockets had. All Harden has to do is begin carrying the team like he did last year and get the Rockets a top-four seed before the playoffs.
