Harden > Nash. The people that want to say Dantoni couldn't win it all... well he never had a player of hardens caliber on his squad. While I don't think we will be able to get passed GS this season, **** if we get one more solid piece I think harden will bring another chip to H-Town.
Graph on contested 3's taken with minimum of 30 shots. Even though the Rockets take the most 3's, only Ariza and Gordon has taken about 1 contested shot a game. Harden is giving his teammates wide open looks! Gotta give props to him and Harden shooting 36% on 4 contested shots a game which is league average for all 3 pt %
it keeps the defense honest and have to be alert and then he can take advantage of it by either ripping through for 3 ft's or blow past him to get a layup or pass out to a contested 3.
36% is perfectly acceptable. 36% from 3 translates to 54 TS%, which is about a league average shot overall. It's a tremendous luxury to be able to shoot a league average shot as a CONTESTED THREE, which is a shot you can get basically any time you want.
No he doesn't. This graphic was taken from a poster off reddit, but if you read the comments you would notice even more in-depth analyst as to why this is so impressive and not at all detrimental. Quotes from the comment sections:
What I'm saying is, if Gordon shoots that crazy percentage on contested shots and takes so few and Harden so many while hitting much less maybe they should try: A) possessions with Harden in the corners or other spots where he's hot from, might as well use analytics for this right Bev / Gordon can set it up B) look for Gordon more
Yeah, I'm not sure about the contested 3s. It serves a function in our offensive scheme, but I do feel like Harden takes too much of them, and I especially don't like people thinking Harden is a mediocre shooter just based off of his percentages when he's way better than that. Harden is 40+% on catch-and-shoot 3s. He should try to get himself more open than settle for contested pull-up jumpers.
Eric Gordon is currently averaging 3.8 3 point makes per game. If he maintains this average, he would have the 2nd highest 3 pointers made per game average ever. I think they are looking for him enough. I know a lot of posters here like to complain every single time Harden misses a shot, but if Harden's contested 3 pointers are better than the league average 3 PT%, then he should absolutely continue taking them. Defenders would be forced to overplay Harden way further up than they would like to, allowing Harden to easily blow past his defenders. What kind of coach would tell someone who shoots above league average to stop shooting?
Yes, our offense is better when the ball is moving, but possessions break down when we're going against a good defense. It is an extreme luxury to have the ultimate bail out play as a Harden contested three be a league average play. We should appreciate that.
If Harden shoots 36% on contested 3s, doesn't that mean he also shoots 36% on all other 3s since he shoots 36%? How does he not shoot better on uncontested shots?
It seems like Harden takes a lot of pull-up threes and those are low percentage shots whether they are open or not. I for one would like to see Harden take more catch-and-shoot 3s, rather than pull-up Js.
Here is Curry's three point shot break down: http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/201939/shots-dash/ Catch and Shoot : 49.7% Pull Ups : 28.5% This is how difficult pull-up three pointers are, even Curry can't make them on high percentages. Yet, Harden probably leads the league in pull-up three pointer attempts (6.4 per game), it's actually amazing that Harden could still maintain average percentage considering the degree of difficulty of his shots.
Harden has been playing pretty garbage the last 3 games, bunch of dumb turnovers and gof awful shooting. I mean someone seriously tell this dude the ol dribble till 2 seconds left on the shot clock and take a side step contested fadeaway 3 isn't a go to move down the stretch of close games. Toight against the magic I felt like Harden was a liability and cringed when he touched the ball. I mean he's playing like he has no energy most of the time. Glad we're getting W's and love Harden but man seeing him play like this pisses me off.
Harden takes those threes to keep the D honest. Whether or not Harden actually makes it, he has the ability to and as long as he shows he is willing to jack up a long pull up three, you have to defend him while keeping that in mind.
Players go through slumps. It happens. Soon, the pendulum will swing the other way. What you should be focusing on is the fact that we have a system and players that can carry the load when this happens so that we continue winning. Besides, when playing like garbage still almost nets him a trip dub, I will gladly take it.
