Rockets' Terry on Harden's growth as a leader: 'I see a lot of Dirk'

Jason Terry has been around the NBA long enough to know a special talent when he sees one.

A 16-year veteran, Terry has played with future Hall of Famers like Dirk Nowitzki, and believes he sees something similar in current Houston Rockets teammate, three-time All-Star James Harden.

Terry claimed his only championship ring as a member of the Nowitzki-led Dallas Mavericks in 2011.

Nowitzki, of course, had to overcome years of postseason failures and disappointments before climbing to the top of the mountain, with critics often questioning his toughness and leadership.

"I see a lot of Dirk (in) where James is at in his career, as far as guys challenging him to be more of a vocal leader," Terry told the Houston Chronicle's Brian T. Smith of his Rockets teammate.

"You can see his hard work. You can see that he can do it by example. But him being more vocal, that's something that Dirk had to learn and work through. But it took frustration through the playoff losses and it took that type of adversity to find the leadership from within."

Before capturing his elusive title in 2011, Nowitzki had already earned an MVP award, 11 All-NBA selections and 10 All-Star selections, with his Mavericks a perennial postseason player.

Harden, 25, has yet to amass that kind of resume, but the MVP runner-up is getting a Nowitzkian look at how tough making it out of the Western Conference is after three straight postseason appearances.

Whether a team's best player becoming a vocal leader has any impact on their on-court success is an impossible theory to prove, but it certainly can't hurt the Rockets, who staved off elimination with a resounding Game 5 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.

Harden, whose triple-double fueled Houston's Game 5 victory, put together a career year during the regular season, averaging 27.4 points, seven assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals, while suiting up in 81 of 82 games.