Early in the season when the rest of you were catching up on up on how good this guy is, in one thread I wrote something to the effect of one of the best things about Harden is he is no nonsense. In the eighties you never questioned whether guys like magic, bird, jordan, or even hakeem were concerned about winning. some people thought jordan and hakeem even didn't understand they had to pass the ball for the team's sake, but no one ever really said these guys were selfish and concerned about stats, the point was more that they didn't understand how to win. nowadays the only superstar you really whom really is never questioned about their motivation is tim duncan. now some of that (as in the case of lebron) maybe strictly hating. i think lebron has only ever been concerned about winning minus the stupid lack of matruity antics like the pre game cleveland crap. but no one will ever say that about james harden and this maybe the best of the best things about him. it really came to fruition in the golden state game. the rockets have a historic offensive performance and james harden had one of his tamer games of the seasons offensively. he didn't even score twenty points. he just played in the flow of the game. at one point lin was hot at one point parsons was hot and harden didn't let his ego get in the way of these guys beasting on golden state. it is said that lebron is a mix of magic and jordan, but really a better mix of magic and jordan is harden. actual basketball skills harden can rack up assist but he can do what lebron still can't do, that is face you up and either take you off the dribble or knock down a reliable jumpshot. and he is jordan and magic mentally, whatever the teams needs on a particularly night, harden will get for you. because he is concerned about one thing, winning. to the nickname thread: charlie sheen
I think that's what we all liked about him from the get go when he was with the thunders. Even when he argues with the refs, it's not in a condescending fashion like the south beach biotches or kobe.
He's definitely alot better now. Early on however, he was selfish, looking for his own shots and not trusting his teammates. Chandler Parsons said so himself.
Actually, no. I heard this all the time. Jordan was a ballhog; that was the argument. I never liked him as a kid. I respect him now, but I still don't like him.
Big fan of this guy's game With a good showing in Sacramento tomorrow, he's looking at a player of the week award Studly.
Don't know if that was selfishness or trying to learn his role. It takes time to learn how to use the green light, how to balance the fact the team needs you to score with the fact the team needs to get rolling, something Harden admits to. That doesn't make you selfish. Parsons called it "pressing" and forcing the action, not selfishness. Kobe is a selfish chucker.
They also said hakeem was a ballhog, but hakeem or jordan weren't playing next to shaq. in the case of kobe, he was obviously not concerned about winning with his stupid feuds with the big man.
Harden just loves basketball. It's his life. Frankly, I hope he can find other passions in life so that he doesn't become despondent after he retires. I don't want him to pull an Iverson and journey through Europe just to keep playing competitive ball.
I gotta call you out on that one. A ton of people including other NBA players thought Jordan was increadibly selfish. Players in Jordan's 1st all star game (primarily Isiah Thomas) froze him out of the game and would not pass him the ball because they were trying to teach him a lesson. A lot of people think those actions by Thomas against Jordan are the reason Thomas was not on the 1st Dream Team.
I am not angry at anyone. What gave you that impression? That smug opening sentence certainly turned me off to the rest of the post. While the rest of us inferior stooges were 'catching up' pgabriel was a step above and beyond..............
i think a lot of veterans maybe saw the writing on the wall that jordan couldn't be stopped and probably didn't like the fact that a rookie came in and was dominant. i remember the 87 all star game when isiah threw a nice alley oop off the backboard on a fast break to jordan, so i think he got over it. the dream team was after thomas acted like a punk when the bulls were finally able to get over the pistons hump in 91
I agree with everything you said about Harden. He does have a good mixture of Magic and MJ. But I think people throw those names around to easily. I would say he is more a mixture of Dwade (with a jump shot) and CP3. When it comes to Lebron, you really cant limit is comparisons to just "Magic and MJ". Its more like Magic, Carl Malone, Pippin, and MJ. You could probably throw some more names in there. Passes like Magic. Has size, strength, and rebounding ability of Mailman. He plays on-ball D like Pippin and his jumper is about like Pippin. He plays off-ball D and has explosiveness comparable to MJ. Having said all that, I still dont think Lebron will ever pass up MJ. Im a HUGE Lebron fan, but I dont think anyone has ever had the mindset to do what MJ did, the way MJ did.
Harden a new LBJ Ok Lebron is 28 now and Harden is only 23 and he is already getting close to LBJ except defense but because he is still raw talent and Lebron is taller. Let's do the math imagine Harden 6 years from now.