Can you tell me what the standards of the league writers are? No one seems to know and everyone is coming up with their own standards. You are exactly right. My own standard is that both Lowry and Harden are not good enough to be in discussion for MVP.
We lost the Lakers game. Melo scored 45 points in the Knicks game and the majority of the conversation was the stupid foul by Ray Felton. The Christmas game against the Spurs was impressive but it wasn't a "you must turn everything else off and watch James Harden" performance. While those were all good Harden games, there was no WOW moment or game with Harden IMO. It's just the way he plays. A lotta free throws and layups. Some 3s but not ridiculous 3s like Steph Curry.
No one knows the standards, hence the reason people are making comparisons. They are comparing Harden to Lowry who is 10th in the ranking, and comparing Harden to Kevin Love who is playing on a barely .500 team that is 0-10 in games decided by 4 points or less. There is inconsistency in the rankings, and people are upset a Rocket player is overlooked. It's not a big deal if people are upset.
Ok, based on that criteria what were the "you must turn everything else off and watch" performances in a win by everyone listed in that top 10?
Harden doesn't make his teammates better. Perhaps he makes them worse because they just stand around and watch, and then when or if they get the ball, the shot clock has run down considerably.
Really? His assists don't make other players better ? Him drawing double teams doesn't make his teammates better? Why? So Harden just holds the ball and everyone else stands around? Would it surprise you to know that Lin gets more touches and possession time per minute played than Harden does? So, do you feel the same way about Lin? How about Curry, Lowry, Dragic,, Lillard, Chris Paul and Westbrook? For each minute played they all have the ball in their possession at least 50% more than Harden . Do they not make teammates better either? So do you believe that nobody on the Rockets makes their teammates better? Harden and Lin are tied in assists per minute played while Lin is touching the ball slightly more for each minute played. So, if Harden is dominating the ball then obviously Lin is too. If neither of those two is making teammates better then exactly who is?
Have you watched any Rockets games? What you describe happens a small handful of times in a game, and isn't the norm. It happens far fewer times than Harden has assists per game.
I am pretty sure he watched the Rockets game, but for you, it is questionable if you have watch any. Sure, Harden has high assist number, but those assists come from him holding the ball to with less than 3 seconds left and he cannot get a shot off and forced to pass to the next man for a shot, good or bad. If the receiver happens to score, Harden get an assist. If he missed, nothing show up on Harden's stat. Don't get me wrong, Harden does has good assist here are there, but those are far and in between. The biggest problem with Harden is he hold the ball too damn long. He doesn't hold the ball like CP3, who runs with it. Harden just hold it and do nothing but running the clock down. People are getting tire of him flopping and get to the line 10 to 15 times a game. When playoff come, he will not get this type of treatment from the referees. But playoff could be questionable with his play style. The west is simply too competitive this year. Hey, missing playoff might not be a bad idea. It maybe Harden's plan after all to get McHale fired. A new coach.
Don't get you wrong? You basically just wrote that Harden has very few assists and the ones he does get are just because a jump shooter hits a shot. I'm not saying that doesn't happen but you're disregarding all his entry passes, dishes off drives and other passes that lead to EASY buckets. Yes, those happen. I won't argue that he does hold the ball too long occasionally. However it's not nearly as often as you make it out to be. The next time you watch a game make a note of every time Harden touches the ball. Out of all those touches tell me how many times he dribbles out the shot clock with a last minute pass to a jump shooter. Based solely on a Fermi estimation I'll wager you a hot dog that it happens less than 10% of the touches. Actually, I bet someone here has that statistic ready to go. If so I'll gladly pay up the hot dog bet if applicable
Do you really believe that the majority Harden's assists come from passing the ball with less than 3 seconds left on the shot clock? That's not a very high percentage play is it? Yet Harden averages the exact same assist per minute as Lin. How do you explain that? As far as Harden holding the ball, he and Lin are almost equal in the percent of each minute played that they possess the ball. In fact, Lin is just a fraction higher. Do you also believe that Lin is holding the ball? Same possession time and same assist rate. You are correct that the referees won't call fouls at the same rate in the playoffs. Based on history they will actually call MORE fouls in the playoffs than the regular season. If you look at the stats you'll find that both Harden and Durant (#1 and #2 in FT attempts) have both shot MORE free throws per game in the playoffs than they did in the regular season for EVERY single season of each of their careers. I understand that there's a popular misconception that the referees swallow their whistles in the playoffs but it simply isn't true. All you have to do is to look at the numbers. Do you also think that playoffs might also be questionable for OKC because of Durant's style of play? After all, he shoots even more FT per game (1.5) than Harden does.
Should I take a guess who should have the ball instead? Not even going to bring up the rest of the quote because it's all factually wrong and agenda based, like all your other posts.
I guess you see what you want to see. I just hope that people realize at the end of a period, with a decent lead late in the 4th etc. There are times when Harden should have the ball, and should hold the ball until the end of the shot clock. That is smart basketball and what should always happen. Outside of those times, it is quite rare for Harden to hold the ball too long. It does happen occasionally, but it is far from the norm.
Brilliant post, but unfortunately I think it'll be wasted on the sort of people you're arguing with. Theirs is a bias that even exceeds homerism.
Interesting nugget in the Ronnie Brewer interview: http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2014/01/brewer-knows-his-role-as-parsons-nurses-knee-injury/
I love it when someone just rips apart some bs crap an over the top, overly biased Lin fan tries to pass off as truth. Rep to you my good man.
Harden got the best player added to his team, yet still winning the same number of games. MVPs don't do this, thus... off the list.
I don't understand why Harden isn't an MVP candidate either. He is probably the top SG in the league. Throw him on the Chicago Bulls team & he would have won the MVP award. One reason might be the Rox lose games against teams they should comfortably beat... They could/should have the 2nd or 3rd best record in the West if they won those games..so this might have weakened Harden's case for MVP?
Added Howard but essentially subtracted Asik, which was supposed to be the big thing. 48 minutes of superior rim protection to bolster our defense. Not to mention it feels like we have already missed more games to injuries by rotation guys so far this year than all of last year. Probably not entirely true, but we had amazing luck last year with injuries, not so much this year.
Western conference is even stronger than last season. Most importantly: http://rockets.clutchfans.net/5933/rockets-roster-spots-ronnie-brewer/#more-5933
