Honorary Warrior For Life, James Harden
Discover more from Dub Nation HQ
Honorary Warrior For Life, James Harden
Adieu to disappointment and spleen
Honorary Warriors For Life
The concept is simple. There are some players who are not in the Warriors organization, but Warriors fans will still root for anyway (as long as no Warriors interests are at stake). So they are not a part of Dub Nation, but they still are welcomed into Dub Nation. This is very often because they are former Warriors players, but not always.
More details are included in our master list of all those voted Honorary Warriors For Life so far. More details are included in our master list of all those voted Honorary Warriors For Life so far. In short, getting >75% support achieves Honorary Warrior For Life; >50% support of voters who know them achieves Honorary Warrior.
Beard and Prejudice
In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My ... feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love James Harden.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a live dribble, must be in want of a shot.
I declare after all there is no enjoyment like flopping! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a hook! A referee’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from a flop to a foul, from a foul to a flagrant in a moment.
There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the importance of isolation out of all plays, and of the little dependence that can be placed on passing without getting credit for an assist. For what do we live, but to play sports for our statistics, and to laugh at other teams in our turn?
I think it’s fair to say that Dub Nation has the utmost respect for James Harden and the Rockets. They’ve been our constant companions for four years out of the Five Year Run. I’m glad that we could start April off with this heartfelt outpouring of emotion.
With this said, here are the poll results.
Well 3.6% / Poor 77.8% / Don’t care either way 15.6% / Don’t know who they are 3%.
And we have a new record for lowest Well vote and highest Poor vote! By passing the threshold of 75% Poor, we award James Harden the first ever Warriors Villain For Life award. Congratulations, I think?
Okay, obviously I never thought Harden would reach the 50% Well threshold. The only question was how low down the Beard would fall.
What’s strange is that of all people, Harden should resent the Dub Nation, rather than the other way around. Harden’s playoffs have ended with:
2014-15. A painful defeat including getting clamped by the Splash Brothers at the end of Game 2 and a 12 turnover dud in the finale (to be re-broadcast on Apr 2!).
2015-16. Taking out Stephen Curry with a freak injury but still not able to take out the Warriors.
2016-17. Harden, for variety, blew Game 5 to the Spurs, then had a concussion-like performance to get stunned without Kawhi.
2017-18. One of the great playoff series of all time, ending by blowing double digit halftime leads in both Game 6 and 7.
2018-19. Catching the Warriors without Kevin Durant in Game 6, it was finally the Rockets’ day. They were widely expected to win Game 6 and then polish off Game 7. Instead the Warriors carried Steph in the first half, and then Steph went nuts for 33 points in the second half.
The problem is that Harden has shown an unseemly obsession with MVP, including in 2014-15 having the Chris-Paul-led Players Association award an alternate MVP to Harden to snub Curry.
Harden and Morey have offended some in Dub Nation with famous quotes like “they ain’t that good” and openly being focused on beating the Warriors. To be honest, I don’t any problem with that. The first was Harden trying to get his team to not be intimidated, the second is the kind of competition that makes sports great. No, there is plenty else to despise, which I frankly don’t want to linger on.
In brief, add Harden’s dangerous hooks and constant foul-baiting and the general sense that he constantly exploits loopholes in the rulebook, and it’s not surprising that Dub Nation has negative feelings.
To support this content, this site and this community, please mash this button:
Honorary Warrior For Life, James Harden
I feel like this is a decent thread in which to remind everybody that James Harden has more made free throws in his career than made field goals. He's the only reasonably high-usage player in history to do that. Look at any other high-usage, high-scoring player, and that's the other way around (FGM>FTM), with a gap of thousands.
If you're going to put Harden on this list you may want to add Chris Paul.