James Harden Compares Himself To Allen Iverson, Says Once He Retires We'll All Appreciate How Much He Worked His Ass Off To Be A Killer On The Court

I actually don't disagree much with Harden here. The dude is one of the best scorers we've ever seen play the game. That's just a fact. He adjusts and changes his game to keep dominating that way. Yes, he has flaws - defensively, can chuck and people don't like his stepback move. Whatever, he's still one of the best scorers we've seen and one of the best players in the world. Not too shabby.

But this is what we do with not only guys like Harden but so many athletes. We sit on Twitter and social media and nitpick all the flaws. Really the only guy I can think we don't do this with that's a legit star is Giannis and that's just because Giannis is one of the most likable dudes in all of sports. We'll mention his streaky shooting and needing to develop that, but we don't bash Giannis like we do Harden. The dude has a handful of 50-point triple-doubles! That's absurd to say outloud. 

The thing with Iverson though - I think he became more respected because he's one of the few older hoopers that doesn't do the 'my generation is better' bullshit. He's always hanging out and talking about how great the talent is now. He doesn't have any sort of resentment towards people. I wasn't even an Iverson fan when he was playing because I was a Knicks fan and had way too many Sixers fans, but I always respected his ability to help carry a team. If Harden is able to get the Rockets to an NBA Finals, maybe we'll say the same.