I can see what you're saying about harden, but I can not add Howard to that list. Howard has been playing his butt off. Unfortunately, Harden seems to be a glory hound.. basically a modern day Wilt. Also the problem with the Rockets is three fold.. coach, players and front office. Last night's game was not lost due to a small lineup, it was due to bad coaching decisions and too much hero ball. Until several players decide that they want to play as part of the team and not one on one ball things will not change. T_Man
Harden and Lawson need to be staggered now that Bev is back. Lawson is elite when he is able to be the primary ball handler, not very good off the ball.
HERE WE GO AGAIN!!! Knee-jerking after one loss. Exactly why I tried to avoid this board after yesterday's loss What makes you think James isn't focused on winning an NBA championship? You hear from the players that James is really focused on winning, you even heard his GF (or ex) say that basketball was his main priority. Yeah agree, I think the Rockets are a very well run organisation. Don't forget that Harden was the one that took them to the playoffs again in his first year and that he made them relevant again. The Rockets too are lucky to have him. The fact that this team will go as far as James is kinda a two-sided sword. There is pretty much nobody in the league that I trust more than James to generate points/offense when needed. It is crazy however how much this team seems to rely on him still. I can't think of any other contender (yeah i still think we are contenders) where one individual seems to have to do as much. Right now they are still a work in progress. I hope that Ty and Harden can run the offense together soon - right now they are taking turns to run the offense (Ty especially, seems really timid at times). Then obviously everyone else needs to play up to their potential/averages too. James really wasn't the problem against the Nets. He was playing great in the first half and then started missing wide open shots. Other than Thornton, nobody really could hit anything from the field. The main problems right now are our defense AS A TEAM - they will play it in stretches but not like they did last year. The other problem, specific to the Nets game (although this has been an issue for a while too), we were out rebounded. This hurt, especially on the offensive glass, where they seemed to convert their rebounds into easy points. Harden however had 9 or 10 rebounds to go along with 6 or 7 assists. To say he isn't doing much else is just false. Yeah he is still in a bit of a slump, but we have seen signs that he is on his way out of the slump. Look a lot of contenders have had bad/not so great starts to seasons in the past. Take the Heat and the Big 3 in their first year together - going into December they were a .500 team (or close to it) Cavs last year were below .500 by mid/end november (having played close to 15 games) Currently a lot of the contenders aren't playing great - OKC has struggled some, the Clippers aren't doing too great - Sure it would have been nice to take advantage of that and to gain some ground on these teams, but at least we aren't falling way behind early in the season. I think once this team gets comfortable - they will be fine. If they keep struggling like this past December - then you can worry.
Harden is as talented as anyone in the league. His talent alone makes him a superstar. But the lack of effort at times is worrisome. I don't care if he wins 4 games in a row. The game against Brooklyn was unacceptable. If he wants to be a great player, he can't be inconsistent like that. It seems like when his shots aren't falling, he doesn't put effort into other areas. If he have off nights, then put energy and effort into defense, hustle plays, boxing out, anything that helps to win. But harden doesn't do that. If he wants to be elite, he needs to be consistent effort wise every game!!!
Why bring up T-Mac? Harden got us further than he ever did. A better comparison might be Franchise. A talented ball dominating guard who needs to come down to Earth before he flies into the Sun.
yeah even tho I feel this is a knee jerk reaction thread your post is spot on! Superstars find other ways to help the team win when shots are not falling..The warriors go with the Hot Hand in games....Rox need to learn how to do the same and that includes Harden. Harden shoulda recognized along with McHale that Thornton was HOT for example and keep feeding him the ball versus Harden clanking 3's. Warriors in spite of Curry go with the player that's hot and don't let up...to me that's one of the main differences between Curry and Harden outside of scoring
I think you're on to something. I think Harden's a very skilled young man. He has the natural talent that'll get him 20pts on a bad night. The problem is he doesn't have the killer instinct to be the GOAT. He seems comfortable with going out there getting to the WCF every year aslong as he still gets to still kick it with Drake, Kevin Hart & Jaz Prince in the offseason. Harden doesn't play with that chip on the shoulder. Maybe it'll change but after the 13 turnover game, and watching him parade around with Khloe this offseason for attention, I'm not sure James has the same ambition to put him over the top
I know you probably think this was a knee jerk thread but it's not. His consistency was not there all year long. He played well against the clippers but he was one of the reasons they even tied the game. Instead of playing team ball and really put the clamp down on the clippers, James harden started to dribble for 22 seconds of the shot clock and then jacking up contested jumpers. Then he commit an incredibly dumb offensive foul that could cost the rockets the game. It's those kinds of mistakes that worries me about him. Plus James harden needs to add another dimension to his game. Like I said, his talent is incredible but he still needs to improve in a lot of areas. He needs to be more of a consistent jump shooter instead of a streaky shooter. He needs to put much more effort on the defensive side. He needs to move the ball early in the shot clock and cut back on over dribbling. James harden isn't a great leader. When his game is off, you never see him tries to fire up his teammates. He needs to lead this team. No more inconsistency from him effort wise. Lebron James was often criticized for his mental toughness but you never see anyone questioned his effort. Lebron James even on off nights, does everything he could to win. Whether that is great defense, hustle plays, pushing the ball, and being aggressive. James harden to me, seems more interested in his celebrity status and being famous than anything. That's just my opinion. Until I see consistent effort from him, I will continue to doubt his elite status.
