James Harden’s relationship with the Philadelphia 76ers is ruined, and now one of his previously ruined relationships is coming back to light as well.
Former Houston Rockets head coach Kevin McHale spoke this week to Steve Bulpett of Heavy Sports and gave his reaction to the Harden-76ers drama. McHale, who coached Harden on the Rockets from 2012-15, said he wasn’t surprised by the Harden saga in Philly with 76ers executive Daryl Morey.
“James wanted a big extension from Philly, and Philly wouldn’t give it to him, and that’s not a Daryl decision,” McHale said. “Daryl’s got a part of that, of course, but that’s an owner decision. So [Harden] was really mad, saying Daryl lied to him. But you know, maybe they saw [Harden’s awful] Game 7 against the Celtics [in the second round last season] and said, ‘I’m not interested in that.’”
McHale then went on to draw a comparison to his own experience in Houston with Harden, which culminated with McHale getting fired.
“He came to camp [for the 2015-16 season], and he was fat and didn’t feel like playing,” McHale said of Harden. “I got fired [11] games into the season. He had a plan.”
McHale also commented on Morey, whom he served with in Houston as well. McHale stated that he “liked” working with Morey but that Morey had a bit “too much” of an emphasis on analytics. You can read McHale’s full interview with Bulpett here.
With the Harden-McHale-Morey trio, the Rockets made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2015. But McHale was let go in the middle of the 2015-16 campaign, and Houston enjoyed greater success under his successor Mike D’Antoni (three division titles, two more Western Conference Finals berths, a franchise-record 65-win year in 2017-18, and an MVP for Harden in 2018).
In the years since McHale’s Rockets firing, he had already feuded publicly with Harden in the media. But with Harden doing it all over again to a different team, McHale is coming away looking a bit better these days.
