In the past 24 hours, I've read and heard from no less than a dozen people in sports media plainly advocate Curry to stop playing defense because he can't guard Westbrook and should instead focus solely on offense. So, is it now acceptable for a player to take a timeout on defense and play only offense? If so, where was this when Harden was carrying his team on his back to 56 wins and the WCF while getting crucified for his "James Harden: Defensive Juggernaut" hit piece? The double standard is painfully obvious.
Neither play good defense. In fact harden is way better. Harden chooses not to play defense. Curry will attempt to but will still get destroyed even more than harden not even attempting. But he gets into passing lanes because of his team playing defense and will get some steals and people think he's good. But if you put any player in the league and they are being guarded by Steven curry there's a 100% chance they will score
Code: print(harden's.defense) Error in print(): object 'harden's.defense' not found Hmmm, interesting.
Curry definitely plays better team defense than Harden this season, but individual on-ball defense there isn't much of a difference.
Maybe not in the OP. But three ppl in the media voting Curry to NBA Defense First Team, and another 10 voted him to Second Team Thread could be Curry vs Beverley's defense. Curry is not a better defender than Bev for sure
It is much easier to look like a decent defender and put out the appearance of trying if one is surrounded by bunch of elite defensive players at every position, and doesn't have the singular responsibility of having to carry the team offensively. Curry shares a lot of scoring load with his teammates and yet he is surrounded by better defenders than Harden. No wonder he looks better, he reserves a lot of energy ON BOTH ENDS. Still, he can't be hidden forever and is getting exposed for his weak defense in this series.
Both should never be confused for being great defenders. In my opinion, Harden and Curry are opposite defenders. Curry is a bad individual defender but can be a really good team defender. A big reason why he lead the league in steals this year was because he was allowed to play the other team's worst guard and play the passing lanes. Curry makes good rotations and is quick enough to jump passing lanes. But he is a bad to mediocre individual defender. Because of his strength and limiting physical abilities, he will never be able to handle his own position if he has to guard a scoring point guard. This is why he struggles to guard Westbrook, Lillard, Irving and others with similar mentalities. But the Warrior's team defense is usually good enough to cover for Curry's individual deficiencies. And Curry has really committed on defense. At his worst, Harden is a horrible team defender but a good individual defender. If Harden has to pick up the ball handler, he is actually pretty solid. Only when he has to pick up the ball handler off a rotation is when he really struggles guarding ball handlers. But if he has to pick up the ball handler off a switch or has to guard the post, he is pretty solid even in his worst defensive times. He is a bad team defender though. If you cannot expect him to rotate properly or to commit to a team defensive concept. But it is more the case that he chooses not to be a good team defender than his incapable of being a good team defender, ability-wise. We've seen instances where James plays defense the right way; rotates on times, commits, sacrifice his body and all the little things. For this reason, James has the capabilities to be a way better defender than Curry. If James commits like Curry on defense, James' physical abilities put him past Curry, in my opinion.
Thank you for the insightful post. Really sums up what I've been trying to express about Curry and Harden. Like you said, Harden could surpass Curry if Harden puts more energy and focus into defense, but I don't blame him for not doing so since he's basically a one-man offense right now. However, Curry is now being exposed for his bad one-on-one defense against Westbrook and his whole mythology is collapsing right in front of us. Sure, Harden has his cringe worthy defensive highlight reels, but he's never been so dominated and so exposed by a opposing player like Curry has been.
Agreed. I was hearing the TNT crew talk about this after the game last night. It was so irritating. I will say this, Curry is an incredible shooter and a very skilled offensive player. That's it. In no way shape or form is he a unanimous MVP, nor the best player of all-time. People think because he puts up ridiculous numbers that he is the reason this team is almost unbeatable. They neglect the fact that Thompson, Green, and Barnes are incredible players that understand their roles and play to the team's strengths with no personal agendas. They do whatever it takes to win.
I love Harden and I support him 100%. But here's what pisses me off about him, and simultaneously it's the thing that makes me believe that we need a coach who understands the psychology of players: So we've basically never been beaten at the very end of a game because of Harden's defense. Teams attack Harden throughout the game, but that strategy fails miserably when tried with end of game plays. We've also seen him occassionally put together several games of decent defense. We've seen quarters where he's defensively shocked the hell out of his opponent, coach, teammates and TV crew. This guy can certainly defend when he wants to. BUT, he's too tired to do it and when he's that tired, a little bit of movement from his opponent makes him forget to stay attached. WHY is he that tired? Because he's so heavily carrying the offensive load. WHY does he have to carry the biggest offensive load in the league? First of all, his teammates are not great at scoring. But you can't tell me he has the worst offensive teammates in the league, that's simply not true. WHY not let him play off the ball a little bit, get the ball moving a bit more, get the players to - novel idea - run smart plays where ball movement gets them open shots. Well, it's because Harden sucks at not having the ball. I mean seriously sucks at it. Possibly the worst player in the league with the ball out of his hands. That's on him. That's a matter of improving your game, working on it, watching tape, learning how to keep the opponents' defense on its toes even when you don't have the ball. That's where a coach has to be able to: 1) Draw up a great defensive and offensive system and 2) convince Harden to not be stubborn about criticism and work on his understanding of what to do with the ball out of his hands so that he can help his team score without holding the ball, but also have the stamina to play defense in the right system against the right opponent. Harden can defend 3's and 4's and I hope that we put him on the court with two guards from now on.
I wonder what Harden would look like if he actually had a real team. I mean that. People love to compare but Curry's overall play is benefited by the fact that he has other teammates that draw attention and put in work offensively. I know it's falling on deaf ears.
Anyone claiming Curry is a good "team defender" is mistaken the good defenders Curry has around him with any defensive quality Curry has. If Harden had good defenders around him he would be bale to shorten his defensive coverages and focus the minimal defensive energy accordingly. In fact, Harden gets enough steals usually caused when a teammate pressures an opponent into a bad pass... not unlike Curry. Face it... neither are good defenders. But claiming one is a better team defender is a wrong.
harden a bad defender? hey look, curry bad too. harden a bad leader? hey, lowry no good, either. this is 5th grade logic, lol.