James Harden on MVP-level rise: 'All I needed was time'
Like it or not, narrative matters when it comes to the NBA's MVP race.
LeBron James knows this as well as anyone, as all those MVP campaigns that came before were so great that it's tough for the Cleveland Cavaliers star to top what was done before. Translation: bad narrative. Stephen Curry is well aware of this, too, as the Golden State Warriors point guard is not only playing spectacular basketball but leading a once-futile franchise to new heights along the way. Translation: good narrative.
But as stories from the 2014-15 season go, James Harden's is as good as any because, well, the Houston Rockets' offseason was as bad as any. Or so we thought.
They lost rising star Chandler Parsons to the Dallas Mavericks in free agency, then sent Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik packing in trades intended to help them land a free agent in Chris Bosh who never came. Their sky was falling, and that was long before Harden's lone co-star, big man Dwight Howard, and promising young forward Terrence Jones would miss huge chunks of the season with injuries.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/rockets/2015/03/26/james-harden-houston-mvp-candidate/70437468/
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