James is still very young although it seems like he's been in the league a long time. I think we have another 3 years before the bearded one begins to hit his prime. Offensively I think James is right there on pace with Kobe at this age maybe even better. The potential is there to be better and more efficient than Kobe. Defensively this is obviously the issue - but the beard I think has been hearing it from players, media to even winning that ridiculous award by shaq. He will be much better next year - Mark my words. Mindset is what James needs to focus on. A lot of times it seems he's thinking of the previous nights stripper and gets back doored or makes a weak effort. I think key to this is someone being on him and we have mda now so I think this improves. Mda made Nash great, I mean look at that guy, 5 ft 9 white unathletic guy is all of a sudden the mvp. He's got a whole lot more to work with having the bearded one. I expect a lot out of these rockets and James. Have faith mda + the beard are going to be a nightmare for the league!
FYI: Positive Harden threads are forbidden on ClutchFans. Might want to edit your post before the ban comes. Oh damn, not a contributing member. Well...., it was nice knowing you. Spoiler LOL I'm only kidding. But prepare for wrath.
Steve Nash was definitely 6-2 or 6-3, had handles coming out of handles and was an unconscious shooter. I athletic white guy, lol, honestly. The man won MVPs show a little respect.
LOL no, he was 5'11" at best. but the rest of your statement is true. Are Canadians considered White?
Not a fan of Kobe. But Kobe put way more effort on defensive end at that age. Everybody knows Harden's offensive skill can be compared to the greats. But what about the effort and defense? I haven't seen any improvement there.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/n/nashst01.html You don't know who you are talking about, clearly.
Hasn't harden improved his effort in scoring facilitating passing rebounding mpg year after year considering clueless coaches we had And he was a more than average defender with OKC. But he was third offensive option there. He just has a tremendous offensive load with the rockets. If he had shaq and Phil he wouldn't have to exert too much effort on offense and exert more effort in defense
Rather than pick apart the OP's post, the one hope I do have for Dan Tony's offense is that it allows Harden to get into the paint more. His percentage of field goals near the basket was the lowest in his career last year. That, in turn, meant more 3 points being jacked up. There are other variables at play as to why this could be but the hope for everyone here is that Harden gets back to producing more around the basket which, evidently seen last year, opens up the entire floor for 3 point shooting.
The reason Nash got MVP is not because of his scoring. In fact people bashed Nash's MVP award using low scoring against him. The reason Nash won MVPs was his passing made his teammates look so much better. Harden on the other hand is the master of hero ball. He's a better scorer than Nash but he doesn't have the court vision Nash had. Lets see what he can do under MDC.
Still need at least one player to consistently hit open 3s though. Ariza and Beverley define streaky shooters to me. Brewer blehhhhh...James can't setup and pass to himself for open looks...
I agree and that should be a given and our top priority this summer going into free agency. But if we're going to return pretty much the same players (and I'm thinking we will), the Rockets need to provide Harden with more room to operate inside the 3 point line. Getting better play from our 4, having a player playing center that can score a bit, etc. whatever it is the first thing is to get Harden that room.
That's not an excuse. When Kobe had to take the bulk of offensive load after Shaq left, he didn't go ball watch. Yes Kobe's defense also slipped because of offensive load, but you could see he still put effort there. Not the case with Harden.
did they make the playoffs? chucking is alot easier than playmaking and facilitating for others out of how many defensive possesions in a game, how many times does harden ball watch?
If Harden wants to be an all time great we need to see this level of defensive commitment. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dVb5x8WIwH8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> DD
So, we're just gonna assume that listed NBA heights are true? Just like Nate Robinson is 5'9 and Aaron Brooks and JJ Barea are 6'0 tall...
