Daryl Morey says Harden may be the best ISO player EVER... True or false?

He is one of the best ever and will go down as the best imo.

 

Link

 

He made tough shots when it counted. And he won them rings, admittedly with 2 elite bigs, but he got it done.

 

That is just a ridiculously insane amount of production.

 

hahha harden is bigger than big 3

 

Damn. This guy is good

 

What has he done when he was the only all star in the team??? How many wins in the reg season and how far in the playoffs??

 

yeah but how many oscars Harden has won?

 

How many strip clubs has Kirby visited and Harden did not have to force the girls, the bootays come to him.

 

He's actually 6'5", 6'9" with the afro.

 

That Rockets team shot 21.4 three pointers per game. This one shoots 42.6 per game.

(58.8 2p attempts to 41.8/g if you're interested. .529 eFG to .554 eFG and both ranked 1st in 3PA&3PM)

 

Objectively, I would agree with Morey:

1. Harden is more dangerous on the perimeter with his step back than Jordan, Kobe, Iverson, or LeBron. His range is ridiculous.
2. His craftiness around the rim with the Eurostep and ability to draw fouls in volume is also unparalleled.
3. Harden averages 10 assists, which means his passing out of iso plays is also perhaps the best we've ever seen. He makes some of the most crisp, accurate, and timely passes matched perhaps only by LeBron.

On the contrary:

1. Harden's midrange may not be the top of the pack, but that's by design in this offense.
2. The only weakness in Harden's iso game is turnovers, which happen more often than needed.

With that said, the Bearded Picasso is the greatest isolation player the game has ever seen.

 

In this set of rules but if they change the rules again, and it allowed more physicality it could very well limit Harden.

There is a reason why refs are swallowing the whistle more in the playoffs.

 

Sure they could hand check back in the day, but you could also clear out a side of the court and the paint in the old days also. Look how much space Francis had in the beginning of this video.

 

No doubt, I am not arguing against or for Harden, just stating the obvious.

For someone this great, he has games where he feels concussed or he does not feel to show up.

This team can weather that but I am really curious how many championships he will bring to this city or overall when it is all over and done.

 

His teammates rebounded his bricks when it counted, yes.

Shooting a career 36% from the field during the finals yet winning five of seven says more about your teammate's greatness than your own.

Off topic, but in defense of Kobe, Shaq being "the most dominant big man of all time" is as much if not more of a media fabrication than Kobe being top 5 all time. Shaq was the best player in the NBA for two years, yes, but other big men were better than everyone else for longer periods of time (Kareem, Wilt) and others have similar peaks but beat him out in longevity (Duncan, Robinson, Nowitzki). Shaq never lead the NBA in rebounding once in his career, nor did he ever lead it in blocks, despite having the second highest recorded vertical reach ever, behind Dwight Howard.

Not saying he wasn't great, he's top 10 all time, but most dominant ever? Please.

 

LOL you act like someone else could have carried the rockets farther last year

Harden didn't hold back the rockets from a chip.. its the other way around

 

How efficient was Barkley? I think he was a great guy, just missed out on Championships altogether.

Best ISO does not mean Best Player Ever. Kobe lacked what Harden had but he still got it done.

 

Barkley is one of the most underrated offensive players ever, efficiency from post-ups that we've only seen out of P&R guys.

Barkley wasn't ever a positive defender tho, being 6' 5" at PF. Also Barkley's efficiency plummeted in the 1993 finals, shooting only 48% from the field, down nearly 12% from his regular season averages.