I hope you're right about Harden. I don't doubt that he wants to win between the lines, but I question his overall commitment to winning.
He has improved his defense, but he has been known to not give the best effort on that end of the floor. A lot of his doughy body may be genetics, but when you read about LeBron leading team VersaClimber challenges and about Kobe's maniacal fitness habits and you see what their bodies look like and then you see Harden looking like a middle linebacker and running out of gas at the end of the playoffs and then going straight to partying with the Kardashians in the offseason it doesn't inspire much confidence that this is his #1 priority. I don't see him defying the aging process and staying (getting) incredibly fit into his mid and late 30s like Kobe & LeBron, let's just put it that way.
As for Carmelo, there is nothing to indicate that it didn't work out for anything other than performance reasons. This article I think gives a pretty good explanation:
Carmelo Anthony is the last great American ball hog
I would be much less surprised if you are right about him too, but I think you're making opposite assumptions on two guys whose personalities are a lot more similar than not.
He has improved his defense, but he has been known to not give the best effort on that end of the floor. A lot of his doughy body may be genetics, but when you read about LeBron leading team VersaClimber challenges and about Kobe's maniacal fitness habits and you see what their bodies look like and then you see Harden looking like a middle linebacker and running out of gas at the end of the playoffs and then going straight to partying with the Kardashians in the offseason it doesn't inspire much confidence that this is his #1 priority. I don't see him defying the aging process and staying (getting) incredibly fit into his mid and late 30s like Kobe & LeBron, let's just put it that way.
As for Carmelo, there is nothing to indicate that it didn't work out for anything other than performance reasons. This article I think gives a pretty good explanation:
Carmelo Anthony is the last great American ball hog
I would be much less surprised if you are right about him too, but I think you're making opposite assumptions on two guys whose personalities are a lot more similar than not.
