(Sam Amick) Harden slimmed down, fired up for upcoming season

I see folks here acting like his magical 2016-17 season didn't happen because of one lousy game where he was obviously exhausted. The end sucked, but that doesn't change how great he actually was up until that point. Being upset at Harden this long afterwards is just the height of stupidity. It's a new season and people should try looking forward and embracing the future instead of crapping out idiocy from the past.

A superstar is NOT always able to overcome pressure. Jordan was bounced repeatedly until he got Pippen and we had no one close to that type of talent last season. People say Hakeem carried his team, so why can't Harden. Well Harden didn't have a Otis Thorpe or Mad Max either. In fact, we were getting bounced in the first round repeatedly until 92.

Fact is, a superstar still needs lots of help. If he doesn't have a supporting star/superstar, he needs damn good role-players. Harden did great with what he had and people who lose sight of that due to Game 6 need to have their heads examined. We have an amazing talent constantly growing before our eyes and we should learn to enjoy every second of it, because I promise the ride will be over before you know it.

 

FIFY

again, only star of a contending team, carries the heaviest burden compared to all superstars, carries bunch of role players to 3rd seed behind super team and team/roster/coach with multiple rings ahead of at least 4 other multi star teams

beats team with the MVP in the first round

then pushes clearly superior team to 6 games

he basically did more than CP3 last season

even lebron or KD would have carried the rox by themselves to 3rd seed

they also wouldn't have gotten us past the spurs

and you still whining like a lil b!tch?

 

Harden did better in the outgoing playoffs than in his previous years as a Houston Rocket, but I didn't expect him and the rest of the team to be blown out at home in Game 6. I'm pleased with his attitude, he looks rejuvenated with CP3, and that is all that matters right now. Morey still needs to get more help for Harden/Chris in order for us to become a real contender. Unfortunately, he is stuck with Ryan's contract.

 

I am fine with Ryno and his contract.

 

Look, Harden is one of the greatest 1-way superstars in the history of this league. Just please don't put him in the same sentence with Hakeem, who was on a completely different tier, a 2-way superstar.

Put Harden on an average team and their offense will skyrocket in the regular season.
Put Hakeem on an average team... their offense and defense will skyrocket in both the regular season and in the playoffs.

 

I definitely won't argue against Hakeem, but let's not pretend Rockets didn't stuck in #5-#9 in the West between 1986-1992. Lost 3-1 or 3-0 in first round 4 years in a row, then missed playoff completely before turning into a contender again. You cant cherry pick only the glory days to compare to Harden's body of work.
Harden is below average on defense yet he is considered a top 5 player. He can magnify teammates' offense even better than Steve Nash.

 

Objectively speaking, Harden has a loooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go to even be compared to Hakeem. Let's just hope Harden manages to become 70% of the player that Hakeem was.

 

if even after CP3 you realize that we still need superstars to be real contenders, did last year's outcome with just Harden and no other superstar pass you expectations?

if by your own standards we weren't even close to real contenders last year then we overachieved and passed expectations

but if you are still unhappy with last season and want to blame someone for losing in 6 games to a clearly superior team with HCA in both the reg season and the playoffs, then look to Morey first for not adding even a 2nd superstar to Harden

how much of a player is Lebron's last season (offense and defense) as compared to Hakeem?

 

LeBron is a great defender, but I don't think a dominant SF defender can impact the game as much as a dominant defender at the C position (Hakeem). By the way, I've just noticed that LeBron is the same age now as Hakeem was in 1994-95. Both are/were great players at age 32. Hakeem was more impactful defensively, but I think LeBron is more impactful offensively - he's not a big man and doesn't need to be fed the ball, he's also a great passer. Hakeem has also never in his career had a FG% as high as LeBron's was last season (54.8%). This is all just speculation on my part though, that's a really tough question to answer without doing any extensive research. All I know for sure is that Harden is really faaaaaar away from either one of those players.

 

but you would agree that Harden is already better than lebron at least offensively correct?

 

Probably, yeah. But I don't think it's by a huge margin.

 

so would you define Harden's defense last season as "really faaaaaar away" from Lebron's defense last season?

same deflections per game as Westbrook and Rondo more than Lebron, Anthony Davis, Durant
same loose balls recorvered per game as Lebron, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green more than Durant and Klay
same charges drawn as Lebron, Anthony Davis more than Steph Curry, Butler, George double that of Durant, Kawhi, Westbrook, Klay
more 2pt shots contested than Lebron, Kawhi, Curry, George, Westbrook, Butler
more 3pt shots contested than Lebron, Durant, Kawhi, Curry, Westbrook
more overall shots contested than Lebron, Kawhi, Curry, Westbrook, Butler
same defensive reb % as Lebron slight lower than Durant better than Kawhi, George, Butler, Klay, Curry
and lastly, similar defensive rating as Lebron, Avery Bradley, Ariza, slight lower than George

 

Blah blah blah blah first round exits. Harden's been to a WCF and Conference Semis. Hindsight is 20/20 and we all know how Hakeem ended up. Could always say that if Starks had shot sooner and Nick Anderson could hit a free throw then Hakeem would have no championships.

Harden didn't give his all in Game 6. It happened. Let's not act like we were going to play the Blazers the next round either though. We were toast no matter what.

 

My body is calling for you ... Let's bust out that Jesus juice and chill. Yeah.

 

So you've chosen to argue this point?.. Really? Honestly, I don't even have any motivation to discuss these cherry picked stats. It's 5 AM here and I want to go to sleep.

I'm guessing most of these stats are heavily influenced by the pace the teams are playing. Rockets were #3 in pace, Cavs #15. Could you re-post the same stats adjusted by PER 100 possessions?

I'd say that has a lot to do with Harden being the main PG and getting those freebie defensive rebounds so he could initiate the offense much faster (same thing with Westbrook), whereas LeBron is not the PG, Kyrie is.

Defensive ratings directly correlate to the defensive rating of the team. Houston were better defensively than the Cavs.

 

After Maxwell quit, he never played in a Rockets uniform again, and was never an impact player again.

 

Go ahead and sleep no one's f*n stopping you

I just want to call you out for saying harden is "really faaaaaar away" from Lebron last season

if lebron was so much more superior than Harden, why can't he along with 2 other stars irving and love and his championship role players even end up first in the east? in fact they ended up 5th overall

while much more inferior Harden single handedly carry a bunch of role players to 3rd seed overall being in the west only behind a super team and a championship calibre team and ahead of the defending champs and at least 4 other multi star teams?

pace or not, can you at least just give Harden credit for giving the same amount of effort and hustle as Lebron on defense?

And if you admit that the Rockets is better defensively than last year's champions, then credit goes the Harden because he's the only star and leader of the team right?

 

So you want to call me out for something, but can't even read into what I said?

My 'faaaaaar away' comment was within the context of comparing Hakeem's/LeBron's careers to Harden's. Not LeBron vs Harden in 2016-17. And I'm not the guy you should be trying to prove something about Harden to. I was like the only guy supporting Harden after that Spurs series, while everyone on this forum (99%) was ******** on him and demanding to get rid of him. Harden may have quit, but this forum has quit on him too. Now that we got Paul and there's a legit shot at being a contender, everyone loves Harden once again. LOL. Hypocrites.

 

We don't necessarily need more starts, we need a more versatile lineup in terms of what our players can do on the interior. We need better interior play and depth and not necessarily more offensive players. If we had a great defensive player who also plays offense to the tune of 18-20 ppg, that would also be amazing.

 

I love the Houston Rockets.