James Harden: We don't have much room for error like other teams and that starts with me
Do you see yourself as "the man" here now as you're starting the season without Kawhi? What's your mentality? Harden: I've been in situations like this where we have not as much as other teams, but then that's when my leadership role has to really, really kick in. We don't have room for error like a lot of other teams. We have to be detailed and precise on everything we do, and that starts with me. We started off in the summer, and we've had a really good preseason. So I think for us it's just getting off to a really good start.
Source: ESPN
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As Intuit Dome makes its NBA debut tonight, ESPN ranks all the arenas around the league. James Harden, though, knows which arena will be tops in the NBA soon enough: “It’s cracking in here!” espn.com/nba/story/_/id… - 3:32 PM
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Fun fact! The last time the Lakers won a season opener? Oct 27, 2016. To put this in perspective...
LAL starters: Deng, Mozgov, Randle, Swaggy P, D'Lo.
LAL leading scorer: Clarkson.
HOU leading scorer: James Harden.
Rookie BI
Obama was still President.
It's been a minute.
AK - 12:58 PM
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So for you, when you look around this place, what gives you the inspiration this season? Harden: I feel like we have to show out. I'm not going to individualize myself. I think us as an organization gotta show out and show that since we quote "lost" or we're "not a championship contender" from outsiders, that we want to show out and bring some energy into this building and win a lot of games. And I think we got the pieces to do it. And then as Kawhi starts getting himself back into the mix, he is just going to add on and we are going to just keep getting better and growing. So I'm excited. I think the fans are excited. We got a new establishment, and we are ready to get it on. -via ESPN / October 23, 2024
Harden held a team minicamp in Phoenix during the week of Sept. 9, hosting two-a-day workouts with the entire team at Arizona State University, capped off by a softball game for teammates and staff members. Harden paid for every player's expenses for the trip, from his co-star Leonard to the players on Exhibit 10 contracts. -via ESPN / October 23, 2024
Harden: I mean, first of all, I'm going to have a lot more opportunity, which is easy. I'm a natural scorer. I'm a natural playmaker. So the last four years it was sacrifice and whatever, but not even just scoring and playmaking, but leadership and finding other ways to win games is very important. That's all that matters to this point. The numbers and things like that are going to happen, just because my usage rate is going to be high, I'll be playing a lot. You got a high usage rate, the numbers are going to show, but it's about actual details and being impactful obviously for the game and then for your teammates as well. So I feel like I get an opportunity at the highest level to show my teammates that I can be a leader in that aspect. -via ESPN / October 23, 2024
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: James Harden: We don't have much room for error like other teams and that starts with me
