Video: Hot Mic Picks up Doc Rivers Talking with James Harden About Being a Leader During Practice

Looks like Doc Rivers is trying to convince James Harden to be all in.

James Harden wasn’t quite the same player he was during his heyday with the Houston Rockets last season, and Doc Rivers knows that he’s going to have to motivate Harden if he wants to bring his team an NBA championship. One of the main complaints about Harden in last season’s playoffs was was he wasn’t aggressive enough. That was particularly the case during the Philadelphia Sixers’ second-round series against the Miami Heat where Joel Embiid missed the first two games with an orbital fracture. Harden just didn’t step up like the Sixers needed him to.

Doc Rivers is still trying to get Harden to be more of an aggressor on the offensive end as well. A mic’d up discussion between the two at Sixers’ training camp showed Rivers telling Harden to be more assertive.

Watch the seemingly private conversation below:

“We gotta get you in what you want,” Rivers tells him. “Like, you can’t just say you’re a facilitator. I need you to be a scorer and a facilitator. And that’s gonna take time to figure it out. But we need you to be the aggressive James that you were those last five minutes.”

Doc Rivers talks with James Harden following practice pic.twitter.com/hsmYReiCsb

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) September 29, 2022

The discussion ends with Doc explaining to James aboutg the  Sixers’ hierarchy and why Embiid and Harden need to get going before Maxey and Tobias Harris.

“it’s pecking order, this isnt a democracy.” pic.twitter.com/xAqHicYPOE

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) September 29, 2022

Harden on the Sixers is still very much a work in progress, and Doc knows he needs to stay on Harden right from the jump.

If he can bring back a version of the old James Harden, the Sixers are easily one of the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference.

James needs to take the Doctor’s orders to heart.

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