The only reason I agree with this is the height. Being 6'5" vs 6'0" and shooting as much as they do makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE. Agent 0 needed to distribute more being the PG, otherwise you'd have to find a 6'5" PG who is a good defender (good luck finding that) to guard all the SGs so Agent 0 could play SG on offense, and guard the PG on defense. That is the main reason why AI didn't win a title. They got CLOSE with Eric Snow, but if AI was 6'5"+, I bet he would've had at least 1 title. A volume shooting SG is WORLDS better than a volume shooting PG.
They both are totally different players and different people. Harden is more well rounded in his game, makes his teammates better and more unselfish while Gilbert is the type of player I do not want on my team... Harden is much better than Gilbert and he's still improving.
Arenas came into the league as a bad prospect, a 2nd round pick. Its because he improved his shooting so much he was able to be good offensively. Harden is gifted athletically in areas already, his game can only go up.
Right now, it's a good comparison, Hardens a little better, but not much. Harden still plays lazy d, pounds the ball too much and forces some shots, just like Arenas did, and never stopped doing. But i'm confident Harden can still fix these issues, he's only been the man on his team for 25 games. Plus we really have no half court system whatsoever. With a little growth Harden can still be quite a bit better than Arenas.
First post accuracy. One consideration is that Arenas did what he did while playing in one of the historically worst Eastern Conferences the league has ever seen. He stat padded against NBA teams so embarrassing they would probably lose exhibition games to Kentucky Examples just so you get the idea: Arenas dumps 38 points on a pre-Big 3 Celtics team that went 31-44 on the season and featured Paul Pierce surrounded by scrublords. http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200604050BOS.html Arenas posts a season high of 44 points against a Sixers team that featured Willie Green as a second scoring option that night. http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200504090WAS.html etc. etc. etc. -MEANWHILE- James Harden has been tearing up the NBA's supposedly elite teams. He slapped Atlanta for 44 points, scored 33 and 28 points against the Knicks in blowout wins, scored 31 against Memphis just last night. It's way, way more legitimate scoring against quality teams.
the reason the thread has one star is because everybody is thinking about the one billion dollar player who can't even score 8 points in the nba. Before injuries, arena was pretty awesome. Although, I never thought he made everybody else around him better. Harden, when he is on his game, makes everything better even his misses give asik more rebounds. =)
couple of points. holy crap, Areans is only 30?!? Feels like guys been around forever and he's only 2 years older than Lebron? wow For those not wanting to think the unthinkable (that OP makes sense in his comparison), Arenas had a two year stretch where he averaged the following: Points: 28.9 Assists: 6 Steals: 2 Rebounds: 4 FT%: 43% 3pt: 36% Think about those numbers for a second.
Arenas just scored 26 in China a couple hours ago, raising his season average to 9.8ppg (33.3%FG, 25.0%3P) 4.5rpg 2.8apg
Arenas is 6-0. Harden's like 6'6. That makes a HUGE difference, they may have the same amount of points but Harden's more unguardable and as such is more efficient.
Yeah they're a little alike, but I think the main difference is how each individual plays with a rhythm. Arenas kind of had a bad feel for the game where he would sometimes jack up shots at the worst moment. Harden has a better flow and feel of when to attack.
