Are our superstars better than Portland's superstars?

It's a shame last year my playoff expectations for Harden weren't high as I felt he looked for the whistle too much, but this year since all star break I thought he had really turned the corner and was an elite scorer looking to shoot first flop second. I thought he'd just ravage the Blazers.

 

Pretty surprised by the poll result. Seems like a lot have given up on our franchise players.

 

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These have just been two games. It's possible the Rockets can turn things around. But let's face facts, if you didn't watch the games but only looked at individual player stats, what would leap out at you are the figures for Harden and Aldridge. They are pretty incredible, in fact.

Probably one of the best compound player stats taken from traditional box scores is win share per 48, where .100 is set as the NBA average. Harden had a .221 this season. Typically, that's borderline first team all NBA. Aldridge had a .144. That's typically a good player, but not quite an all star. In the two playoff games so far, Aldridge has a .404. That's insane. To put it in perspective, the highest lifetime figure is Michael Jordan's at .250. So that means that the difference between Aldridge's performance in these two game (at least based on this stat) and Jordan's average lifetime play is greater than the distance between an average Jordan performance and an average NBA player. Harden's ws/48 for these two games is negative. (That's super scrub level.) It's -0.076.

Of course compound box score stats don't account for defense very well, and we all know that Harden is a very poor defensive player.

The truth is that with the statistical disparity between Aldridge's and Harden's levels of play (especially when you compare them to their levels of play during the regular season), it is shocking that these games were as close as they were.

 

I said before the series that Aldridge and Lillard are better than Howard and Harden. They score more points, get more rebounds, make more assists and they're better athletes.

James Harden got called out this morning by Colin Cowherd as a 'b' player who gets by because he is a good scorer. Hard to argue with the analysis. He is the worst defensive top 10 player since maybe the old Denver greats like Alex English, Fat Lever and Kiki Vandeweghe, or maybe George Gervin (but Harden isn't as good as the fabled ice man). I don't think he has changed his game at all since his OKC days. He approaches the game like a 6th man with a singular purpose to score. He just gets a lot of touches and minutes. If he isn't getting to the line, he can't beat you from the field on a consistent basis.

 

Harden/Howard are better. But Harden is simply sucking. It's shocking. This is continuing a trend in the playoffs. He simply is worse when the 2nd season starts.

 

I'm still shocked at Harden's and Aldridge's ws/48 stats. Let's have another look at them: In these two game the difference between them is .480. That's more than three times the difference of .150 between MJ (greatest player ever) and the league average!

 

Yes. The Rockets are making Aldridge look so much better with these past two games.

 

LMA is playing the best he has ever played....some of that is to do with match up againsty Houston....

Lillard is just a stone cold killer.....Pat is a tough defender, even if some LOF bring up various stats....bottom line, it's not easy to play your game against Pat....

His poise and mental strength is really impressive for a second year player, even more so for a PG.....

Lillard is top 5 PG in the league right now, up with CP3, S Curry, Parker, Dragic...for me anyway, I've discounted Lowry becus not a big fan of his game, think he's a bit overrated....and ofcourse Westbrook becus he's been injured so much..

Sorry, digressed there a bit...

 

One tandem plays with more chemistry and a style that is conducive to winning. That is all you'll get out of me.

 

Very close. But due to coaching, it's a landslide.

 

Basically a wash of talent.
Any difference would be negligible.

The rest of our squad <<< Portland's.

 

Dwight is a diva that messes up offenses. Harden and Lillard don't play D. Honestly the only one of the 4 I'd want on a max deal is LMA.

 

Ours. I'm not letting 2 games sway my opinion about anything except that fact McHale doesn't belong on the sidelines as a HC

 

I'd take harden and Howard all day. It's just that Harden is MIA right now.

 

The very definition of knee jerk

 

Of course our stars are better.

They just need to ****ing play that way for entire ****ing games

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>2014 postseason: James Harden has a 7.8 PER. Shooting 29.8%. 45 points on 47 shots.</p>&mdash; Tom Fehr (@TJFsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/TJFsports/statuses/459423332446642176">April 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

It's a wash with Aldridge playing like Kareem and Harden doing his best Linh. Over 7 games our superstars are better.

 

None of these guys should be called "Superstars" except maybe LMA.
Superstars are guys like LBJ, KD and Kobe etc.

Based on their performance in the first two games.
Superstar: LMA
All Star: DH12
Borderline All Star: Lillard
D-leaguer: Harden

I would think LAM and Lillard are a hell of a lot better than Dwight and Harden based on their output in the first two games. And it's not even close.

I may be harsh on Harden but it is what it is. Proves me wrong Harden.