Video: James Harden, Defensive Mastermind (2013-14)

This ^^

 

You know he's great at offense right?

 

Harden played 5 minutes of defense the entire season. Cool!

 

No, this is news to me. Thank you.

 

So he is good at stealing the ball while be more of a help defender but some of these steals involve him being nowhere near his man.

Guy is lazy and plays fake hustle defense. Worst defender in the game.

 

I see solid defense in the post (which we all know to be his strength), some lucky steals off of the opponents' poor decisions, and lots of reaching and gambling.

 

Ariza is quick enough to guard 2's, maybe Harden can switch and guard 3's, he's strong enough/

 

No offense but 75% of this video is harden cheating on defense

 

Harden can redeem himself and become the "best" 2 Guard in the league if he puts this kind of intensity on "D". The thing is if there is success on "D" it feeds and provides energy on offense. Harden's game would explode if he understood the yin and yang aspect of this.

 

Underrated as f

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Coming into tonight, Harden had faced 81 post-up possessions per Synergy, conceding .481 points per possession (97th percentile) 24.1 FG%.</p>&mdash; Jason Friedman (@JasonCFriedman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonCFriedman/statuses/439976123233873922">March 2, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Great post. I enjoyed it.

I think it is not that Harden can't defend. It's that he focus too much on the ball rather than sticking with his man when his man is off the ball.

Maybe because he is a lefty, his reaction is quick! As compiled in the video, he was able to quickly intercept a pass or simply interrupt a dribble then steal the ball away. But those are not the main point of his defensive problems. Keeping alert and staying in front of his defensive assignment is the fundamental key.

 

Video needed rap song and slow motion (In order for it to fit in with the rest of the NBA videos)..... I fixed that for you, all credit due to OP AndySwanny I was just bored ....



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RraDay-AdQw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

It's funny because harden is actually an above average defender. He's a superstar on all levels. He can be lazy at times but on my eyes harden does well with steals and working the passing lanes. He could improve but I think he's a very good defender I dunno why anyone would think otherwise. He just needs to hustle more and not give up on plays

 

So Harden got post up once a game, and got scored on once in every two games?
Its time to put Harden on the post!

But as I said once before, its more about the death of the post up game then Harden's great post up defense.

 

So Harden is a Defensive Juggernaut Mastermind?!

 

This ^...Goes for the stats...the highlight plays. Plays passing lanes, no pressure defense on and off his guy. Doesn't want to play Bruce Bowen defense(Great D, but no stats). At this point of Harden's career its all about looking good and stats.

 

love the video. he's crafty in the passing lanes. with ariza back - this team is going to be surprisingly good.

 

Harden is always looking for the flashy, stat-filling defensive play. He'll cheat in passing lanes to get a steal at the risk of losing his man. He ball-watches because he wants to read the ball-handler and pop out of nowhere and steal a pass.

He lets his man go by so he can go for the steal from behind.

He's an ultra risky defender while also not giving a lot of effort on that end. That combination results in some terrible defense.

If somebody would get him to stop trying to make the flashy steal plays and just do basic fundamental work on defense, then even if he didn't give his best effort on that end he at least wouldn't break down the entire defense by gambling on every play and making it harder on his teammates.

 

He has the physical tools to be decent, though.... long ass arms and good body for position. He probably needs some more conditioning and more motivation from coaches to get to the next level though. Doesnt help that he takes so much of the offesnive burden and plays 40 min a game either.