James Harden and Chandler Parsons Word War Goes to a Higher Level
James Harden is running off his mouth and former backcourt mate Chandler Parsons is finding fuel to ramp up his game against his former teammates.
The bearded one was quoted by a local daily in the Philippines again putting down the significance of former teammates who have departed the organization, declaring that only he and Dwight Howard are the cornerstones of the franchise.
"Dwight and I are the cornerstones of the Rockets," Harden said while appearing at a charity event in the Philippines, according to The Philippine Star. "The rest of the guys are role players or pieces that complete our team. We've lost some pieces and added some pieces."
ESPN.com reports that Chandler Parsons is apparently taking offense to his former teammate views stating in the Jay Mohr Sports show on Fox Sports Radio how ridiculous the all-star sounds. The new Dallas Maverick forward chimes in on the opinion that Harden must understand that part of his decision to bolt the franchise was to take on a bigger role and bigger responsibilities, which was the same situation Harden was facing when he was a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Parsons left Houston to sign a three year $46 million dollar deal to play for Marc Cuban and Dirk Nowitzki. The Houston Rockets decided not to match the restricted free agent's offer and chose to sign former Rocket and Washington Wizards player Trevor Ariza, instead.
This is the second go around that Parsons has been bothered and reacted to comments by former teammates in the Rockets organization. He felt disrespected when Rockets general manager when he publicly declared that the organization was better off not matching the offer for Parsons. The Rockets presumably turned down the ability to match for future flexibility to add the third star to the inside-out combination of Dwight Howard and James Harden.
Parsons was heavily featured in the run and gun offense of the Rockets which bowed out of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs last season. He was instrumental in the 54 wins of the Rockets averaging 16.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in a flexible, do-it-all role. He will be heavily relied upon with the Mavericks as the organization braces for the tail end of Nowitzki's career.