Whatever outrage factor ESPN’s “First Take” lost with the departure of Skip Bayless has been fulfilled by Max Kellerman lately.
Kellerman argued on “First Take” Thursday that James Harden does not deserve to be a first-team All-NBA selection, which he was named later in the day.
The opinion was so outrageous that Los Angeles Lakers youngster Kyle Kuzma said talk show hosts need to start being drug tested.
They have to start drug testing talk show ppl. https://t.co/qIiMOOjHKN
— kuz (@kylekuzma) May 23, 2019
We don’t disagree.
Kellerman is the same person who also recently said Larry Fitzgerald is not a Hall of Famer. Fitzgerald is second all-time in career receiving yards, sixth in career receiving touchdowns, and led the league twice in receptions and receiving touchdowns. The only way in which Fitzgerald is not a Hall of Famer is if your Hall of Fame includes only one receiver, and that’s Jerry Rice.
Similarly, Harden averaged over 36 points per game this season — the 7th most ever and the most by a player not named Wilt Chamberlain or Michael Jordan. He was the biggest driving force in the Rockets’ success this season. Even if you want to say he didn’t deliver in the postseason, keep in mind that to this point, Houston still gave the Warriors the best challenge of any team in the playoffs. Holding his performance against them in the playoffs against him is being highly selective.
Oh, and we must also note that Kellerman had LeBron James as first-team All-NBA this season over Harden even though LeBron only played in 55 games, missed the playoffs, and helped divide his team. There was a good argument that James didn’t even deserve his third-team All-NBA nomination. Yet Kellerman wants to have him on the first team over Harden. Laughable.
Kuzma is right. Unfortunately some TV shows exist only to outrage. Mission accomplished on this one, Max.
