The Brooklyn Nets have more than their fair share of puzzling personalities. Now one of their star players is essentially admitting as much.
Nets guard James Harden spoke to the media this week and made a pretty interesting comment about the dynamic of the team, particularly about the number of introverts that they have.
“I’ll try to get guys together for dinners and hangouts more often, just so we can get to know each other outside of the court,” said the ex-MVP, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “We’ve got a fairly quiet group. Most of the guys are to themselves. They stay in their own little shells. It’ll be nice to get them out, open up a little bit, even myself.
“I’m not that loud,” added Harden. “But … I’m more loud than anybody on this team, like Paul [Millsap], LaMarcus [Aldridge], Patty [Mills], [Kevin Durant]. You’ve got a lot of guys who are just to themselves. So it’s my job to open them up a little bit more.”
Given the current state of the Nets roster, it is easy to see where Harden is coming from. Kyrie Irving is a mystery wrapped in an an enigma wrapped in a Dan Brown novel. Kevin Durant enjoys conversing with 12-year-old trolls on the Internet. LaMarcus Aldridge was too confounding for even the sage Gregg Popovich to figure out. And Blake Griffin once broke his hand on an equipment manager’s face. Not to mention that the Nets went out and added a karate black belt nicknamed “Bloodsport” (James Johnson) and a guy named David Duke (Jr., that is) to the mix this offseason.
Even despite his own hijinks from time to time (including getting his jersey retired at a strip club), Harden probably seems like one of the most normal guys on the Nets roster by comparison. It sounds like he is trying to take on a greater leadership role as well in order to help the bewildering bunch in Brooklyn build some championship-level chemistry.
