Ok. I thought it before, but when I began to search for stats and other. It's amazing how close these two players are, some differences sure is. But damn. That's wild. Let me introduce Sarunas Marciulionis, former GSW player and dude who bring eurostep to NBA. He's left handed 6'5'' guard, same as Harden is. Also he's just 5lbs lighter. Also they both wear #13, both been players of the bench and had pretty similar stats according to espn (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3779/sarunas-marciulionis). Both using (used in case of Sarunas) their raw in the paint to get foul calls and get to the FT line. Some differences: Sarunas was better defender, not shot 3pt much (or at all, considering he's shooting guard), and he's white lol. Never been a star (probably because he's been one of the first internationals who could score and play), been runner-up for 6th men of the year, knee injuries cost him career after hot 1.5year in 91/92 and 92/93 years. Just thought it may be interesting for some Houston Rockets fans, so enjoy some videos that I found. [youtube]x9zBndgbHKs[/youtube] [youtube]v-IWP1joZcM[/youtube] Spoiler
Notice comparison. Sarunas is one of my all time favorites and I saw him play plenty on the Warriors when I lived there. One difference is that Sarunas got screwed by the refs in occasion, even leading Don Nelson getting fined for calling some refs racists. Remember this was in the 80s shortly after the Cold War. I saw one play where Sarunas got clotheslined shooting a here pointer and got called for an OFFENSIVE foul. He was still good enough to play through it all and be one of the league leaders in both free throws and FG percentage. He became a good three point shooter at the very end if his career with the Sonics. Both harden and Sarunas could handle the ball well, incredibly strong arms and upper bodies, and are left handed. But harden is a much better free throw shooter and potentially a slightly better rebounder, passer, and all around player.
at 36 second mark of the first video, he clearly double dribbles in the highlight. He does a behind the back dribble with both hands.
There are some similarities indeed. But what do you expect, Marciulionis was one of the pioneers of his & Ginobili style of play. However, Harden is much more of an offensive threat than Marciulionis, and at the same time - no where near the defender Sarunas was.
Actually Sarunas was not noted for being a great defender. He did have strong hands and was able to rip the ball away from people. I actually think with harden's wingspan he has the potential to be as good or better defensively, but he needs to put in the work and effort.
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lol what? I was just continuing on a classic clutchfans joke. I read my reading materials thoroughly, thank you.
i don't think they compare at all. and that's not a negative comment about Sarunas. I just don't think they are remotely similar types of players, other than the Euro step.
Nice one!!! Actually the link would be more obvious: Marciulionis > Ginobili > Harden Manu's game has many similarities with Sarunas and Harden was like the second Manu.