[BBALLBREAKDOWN] How Harden is Exploiting the NBA Part 1

Didn't watch the video. But appreciate the summary.

What is funny, is the "haters" would counter that "legit foul summary" by saying: "yeah, they are fouls but the problem is Harden *foul hunts* with "no intention to actually score, but just get fouls" and that is why I hate him." That is the "catch all" answer on Harden when there are LEGIT foul calls on display. It is a "no win" situation.

 

You can’t stop him, and you absolutely have no chance of trying to contain him

 

Foul hunting was also discussed. Pinning defenders arm was interesting.

Those should be non-shooting fouls, Nunn shocked me with that one.

 

I haven't seen many of the "pins" and rip throughs this season. Harden has really reduced the rip throughs since the NBA created the "Haden rule." Instead, he is just doing the step back (and hoping the defender is lazy and encroaches into Harden's landing zone ala Kawhi/Zaza.)

CP still does the rip through at the end of the 1st quarter when he knows they are in the penalty. It is hilarious how many times he does this like clockwork.

 

I'm with you on somewhat thinking Nunn had a narrative to express. He doesn't seem to be as objective as Steve Javie when it comes to retired Refs providing analysis of calls. I'm starting to take some of the things he says with a grain of salt, and seek out Javie and Borges, instead.

That said, keep in mind that if you think a foul is on a defender, the determination of shooting or not is well defined now. Drives in the lane and non-drives are defined in the rules differently. A drive is determined by forward progress within a defined area of the court. If your gather happens within that area, shooting or non-shooting is determined by whether the foul was before or after the gather.

That is only for drives...and this is the rule change. Every other shot (including shots after offensive rebounds) requires the shooter to be in their shooting motion, which requires you to have already gathered.

 

Agree with you on Nunn.

Also agree that the key is the gather. It's all about when the gather occurs, which many fans and even NBA pundits still do not understand.

 

I'd still like to point out the distinction in the rules. You can be fouled after full gather, and not get a shooting foul. Depends if you are driving or not, within the drive area.

One reason the rule makes a distinction is because jump shots can occur without dribbling at all. They don't operate under same rules as drives and gathers.

Gather has nothing to do with determining shooting foul on jump shots. Jump shots require you to be in shooting motion. For instance, you can shoot on zero dribbles, so you could have both hands on the ball for several seconds. If you're not in a shooting motion when fouled, then it's not a shooting foul, no matter how long you had two hands on the ball.

Gather only matters on drives within the drive area.

 

Facts. They ignore the fact that during this stretch, Harden is averaging about 28.5 ppg without free throws during this stretch with like 57% of his points being three pointers I believe. Just lazy, casual fans.

 

My conclusion:

If Hand Checking was legal, which would make players reach out to the hips even more, Harden would be scoring Wilt Chamberlain numbers from the free throw line.

The man has mastered the art of drawling a foul and forcing the refs to blow a whistle when the refs don't initially call hand checks like they should.

 

Harden did foul hunt in the past and people, including me, didn't like it. But he has toned that down a lot in the past two seasons.