This one sounds like something that Harden frequently exploited to get free throws (specifically 'OR locked his arm to create contact):
I'm happy with these rules. Dont like the arm locking and over continuation. To me if its not in an actual shooting motion or moving towards the basket, shouldnt be an "and one" situation. Harden will adjust. He's a smart player with tons of skill.
Agree. To be fair to Harden, a lot of other players were starting to do this, especially towards the end of the season. Curry even did it a few times in the playoffs. Last thing you need is Curry getting more freebies on cheap fouls.
But hey, let's keep giving Stephen all dem illegal screens, because, you know it's entertaining and crap.
I know. I saw that. That's what I was talking about, too. Harden was called for offensive fouls for hooking a defender who wasn't reaching while driving. This was called in the Spurs series. He locks the arm and drags the defender with him or otherwise hooks the arm when it is in a legal defensive position. ie not reaching. When you combine that tweet with all the others, reaching is still a foul. Beck appears to be reminding us that Harden got called for offensive fouls sometimes too, for lunging or when defender wasn't even reaching.
Harden has built his game around drawing contact so this is gonna suck. While I agree he will eventually adapt I fully expect there to be some growing pains while doing so. Many of those shooting fouls he draws behind the 3pt line will now be common files or even worse an offensive foul.
Why are they always picking on the Rockets when they make these rules? First it was the Barkley rule Then the Francis ISO rule Then the Yao Ming unspoken rule Now the Harden rule But allow Draymond Green and the Warriors to perform all the illegal picks in the world and the association doesn't care
You do realize he's still one of the league's most consistent volume shooters in addition to being the best at drawing contact too right?
This will either be great for Harden, or horrible for Harden. Great because his biggest weakness is not being able to get these free throws in the playoffs when the refs aren't as lenient and defenders are more focused. If this rule forces him to learn to get points in another way, this can be what takes away his playoff chokiness. Horrible if his ability to get free throws is really what made him go from good to great and once thats taken away he will be just another Baron Davis.