Top 5 players usually don't have much debate. You have pretty much the same damn players there year after year (Lebron, KD, and a constantly revolving door of players from 2-3 for the past few years). When players get old and become lesser scorers, they get replaced by up and coming star scorers. Nash for example, was without doubt a top 5 player in his glory days. He was ABSOLUTE GARBAGE defensively. T-Mac who many had considered one of the top players was a horrible defender. Durant is usually average at best, more below average than not typically. Dirk carried his team to the finals twice and won once and no one will confuse him as being a capable defender. Barkley had his ups and downs (more downs than ups) and is considered by the everyone a TOP 50 player in HISTORY. 2 way top players are a rare exception. .
2nd in official MVP voting Player's Choice of MVP #1 in minutes Played #1 in points #1 in Win Shares Regular Season 27.4p/5.7r/7a/1.9s Playoffs 27.2p/5.2r/7.6a/2.4s On a team that looked like this: http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2015_roster_status.html With everyone injured and a $21 million dollar Howard inactive half the season and playing half of the other 41 games not right. Led us to #1 in Division and #2 in the West which earned home court advantage over the Clippers. Went into the playoffs with starting PG and starting PF out for the rest of the season Along with Ariza played the most minutes in the playoffs for the Rockets. Had 2 30pt games, and a Triple Double game against the Clippers. Absolutely Harden carried the Rockets in their journey to the WCF in '14-'15. OH WAIT MY BAD! Josh Smith got hot for 2 minutes in a 7 game series, so that discredits all Harden did.
I meant to say 2-3 players after Lebron and KD. Point is, 2 way players in the top 10 even, are rarities. They are the exceptions not the expected.
LOL. Right? This is the 2nd dumbest recent narrative that has circulated on Clutchfans, ranking only behind the still-amazing "James Harden is the reason Ty Lawson forgot basketball" narrative.
You do remember that same season Harden carried the Rockets to the 2 seed with Dwight, Bev, DMo, Jones, etc .. all missing big portions of the season. Harden has added to his game each year as well... I think you're confusing what leader is.... Kawhi has never been the leader of that team and easier to not have issues when you're a role player and supporting player initially.
That doesn't matter. It pales in comparison to OKC losing Durant. Wrong. 2016 Harden regressed from 2015 Harden. There are different kinds of leaders, and Kawhi is definitely one of the leaders of the Spurs. I'd much rather have Leonard's understated leadership than Harden's toxic leadership.
100% spot on..... Also why I said I'm not ready to call Kawhi an elite three point shooter... He did it for one season and majority of his three's are wide open... 86% are catch and shoot. 86%.
More minutes more points more rebounds more assists heavier load worse team mates worse coaching staff
You know very little about basketball. Offense and defensive worth varies between perimeter and interior players...
For reference, hardens defensive fg% is not too far behind currys and better than westbrooks http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pl...on&PlayerPosition=G&sort=DEF_RIM_FG_PCT&dir=1
Like do you really watch ball? Did you see where OKC was ranked defensively? <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dbM48NeCyqc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Harden started off the season slowly due to supposed offseason injury. I am not suspecting the injury, but I am definitely suspicious about how seriously he rehabbed vs screwing around (quite literally) with Kardashian. Point is, eventually he turned it around into what ended up a really strong season. It wasn't as good as his previous season obviously due to a rough start and a clear regression on D. Speaking of D, given that our entire team took a step back on D, how much of that is really his fault. We can all agree he clearly lost interest in it once all of us saw how bad the team was playing defensively and nothing got us really going on that end ever happened. That said, we saw a few things from Harden. To compensate for his loss of athleticism due to his injury rehab process, we saw him play in the post a lot more often to what I mostly consider good future success. Here is the bottom line for me; Harden has the ability to lead this team to a ring. If you can't get behind that, then honestly there's no point in discussion. Everyone can agree he is NOT Hakeem and he DOES need help. That said, even Dream had Otis and Drexler. We also had Horry, Elie, Smith, and Cassell, something this team obviously lacks. Good news for us this season, we actually have some shooters this season! Anderson has a mean stepback and can in fact create his own shots in the post and at midrange. Gordon, even when slowed by injuries, is still someone you absolutely cannot leave open at the perimeter. Capela and Nene won't cry about touches. Ariza and PBev will continue to be who they are; both inconsistent and one injury prone. Oh and only 1 person to play hack a player with!
