Writers love readers Not readers opinions of the writers Just that they keep reading what they write it’s like I’m trying to tell this fish that worm with a hook attached is not really food but they bite every time @J.R.
Its not man u guys aren't seeing the issue...its simpler then yall think....I've know this forever n glad luka playing to show it....its nothkng to do with race its just harden hate...sime as that. Now follow me a sec People hate been programed to hate harden but the media. N remember people compare him to lbj all the time so it isn't a race thing. To me they falsely compare him to lbj cause he likable unlike harden. So comparing him to he really plays like harden would show how dumb they where for hating on harden all these years. So they stuck between a rock n hard place. Cause lbj comparison is obviously ben simmons. They play alike. Big athletic and can pass. If u don't have all those traits then u cant be compared to lbj...kobe is jordon. All the traits not just a few. Luka is not athletic like lbj. So that right there disqualifies him. He craft just like harden. Step back just like harden. Iso heavy just like harden. But saying that to them would lessen luka.since that told us harden is u n likeable. N bill knows that u need the Athleticism with the passing 5o be compared to bron since he has to atleast look like he knows the game more then blind casuals. So who else can he use then...bird a good tall passer that wasn't athletic. Thata more believable then bron.
It’s hard for me to fathom how one can look at Harden and Luka and day Luka is a better passer because of a few times a game where he sees something develop, maybe hits a cutter. NEWSFLASH: The Rockets don’t cut. you know where Harden passes it to? Every spot on the floor the Rockets offense wants them to be. Very occasionally you’ll see a cut and Harden will hit that... but it’s rare... BY DESIGN. NEWSFLASH: Harden is a scorer. Yes Luka scores a lot but Luka also dances around dribbling more waiting for stuff, LIKE CUTS, to develop off his random dribbling. This is akin to Nash or CP3 to an extent. Harden’s game to this extent is much more straight forward. He’s either taking the three, driving straight line ish to scorer or driving to pass to a spot. how often do you see Harden drive and keep his dribble under the basket pull it back out to the FT line, try a quick dribble in again, get denied, make another quick dribble move in, get doubled..... then hit a cutter? Almost never. He doesn’t hunt and peck that way. And as importantly the Rockets offense doesn’t want that. that right there is the entire difference in their passing capabilities. Neither one is better than the other.
Maybe we should focus on what he actually said rather than imagined “insinuations”. When has he ever characterized Harden’s assists for open 3s as cheap? He certainly didn’t do so here. He was pointing out that Luka generates good open 3s, like Harden, as an example of the kind of assists he gets that are NOT cheap. He then says that he thinks Luka is an even better passer than Harden, but in the same breath says Harden is a “very very very” good passer and that Luka just does things that he doesn’t see anyone else do.
When Chris Paul was here, who do you think was the better passer between him and Harden? CP3 definitely did the “hunt and peck” thing.
He literally called his podcast "The BS Report". At least Bill Simmons owns what he is, and doesn't try to act like he's the arbiter of all things basketball truths. I no longer really listen to any of the Ringer podcasts cause there's just too much content right now, but there were a few including Bill's that from time to time were entertaining, but yeah its just a bunch of dudes sitting around talking crap and laughing about sports and pop culture. It's not really a serious analytical type of reporting that should be viewed as anything to take serious. Should he have a vote though? No probably not. I honestly don't know who should have the vote. Ex players can have pretty bad judgement as seen nightly on TNT. Fans can have really bad judgement as seen yearly with the popular vote on the all-star selection. The coaches can't vote on everything.
Back when the guy was writing on Page 2 his stuff was less tainted with crazy hot takes because he had nothing to lose. Now that he has a media empire where he has to answer to HBO and Spotify (in turn, shareholders) he's doing what ESPN and other sports networks are doing--delivering controversial tweets to drum up attention, discussion, etc. If you want to read/listen to anything associated with Simmons go read The Ringer's NBA stuff because at least the writers on there--like O'Connor and Tjarks--are still pretty good and not full of bias.
If you say so. Hope you feel better now. I personally think he is sniping Harden here, as usual. Appears I am not the only one, eh?
And I think he doesn't care about Harden nearly as must as you (and the rest) think he does. His point was to pump up Doncic, not tear down Harden.
Bill Simmons has been saying he hates watching the Rockets play all year. Even when Russillo was pushing back about how fun they are to watch since the Covington trade, Simmons was resistant, and basically said he just doesn’t like them. That’s why it raises eyebrows when he’s in love with Doncic, who plays exactly the same way as Harden.
For someone that doesn’t care about Harden, he sure does cry about him an awful lot on social media. Perhaps you haven’t been paying attention? My thoughts on Bill are driven by that data. His point was to pump up Doncic while tossing in one of his usual Harden slams, correct.
Luka is not a better passer than Harden...any talk like that can stop right now Have people forgotten that when Harden was running a ton of PnR instead of ISO, he was consistently throwing no-looks, behind the backs, excellent pocket passes, wrap arounds, and passing between defender’s legs along with the usual on target alley oop passes? that same pass Luka gets praise for like it was such an unbelievable play, Harden does that on the regular
So you think they're equal, as players? Or is it more that they play exactly the same way, except for all the ways that Harden is better?
I’m not sure I understand your question exactly (or what you’re getting at) but I’ll try: I think Harden is a better player, but he and Doncic play an extremely similar style. Since their style of play is so similar, if you love the way Doncic plays, you should feel similarly about Harden.
Playing the same way does not equal as good. Harden is clearly still the better player by most measures, we'll see how that evolves in the next couple of years though.
