ESPN’s Royce Young: Harden Is Ruining Pro Sports/Stepback Should Be Banned

Honestly, why should anyone care what any of these gas bags have to say? Don't click their articles. Don't watch their shows. Don't listen to their podcasts.

 

Indeed. We have to understand these folks just don't want Houston to win period.

 

I wonder if all these talk has gotten james to be extra careful with his moves and steps take out any doubt and ambiguity to prove they are clearly not travels or violations. and thus affecting his shot tonight.

 

Because you both count the 1st step
Before he gathers. The first step is actually his left foot then right (pivot) the left can do whatever it wants as long as the right is planted. The gather (two hands on the ball)is where everyone is confused.

 

I don’t understand what you are saying. Left, then right, then left (with right foot planted) is still 3 steps. Are you saying this counts as only 2, or are you saying the gather happened immediately before planting his right foot?

 

#bewell

 

Pretty much what I've been saying. But yeah, it could have gone either way.

There's a lot going on. At the beginning, the gather step is somewhat ambiguous, and I think perhaps more questionable. I understand how it works, it's just not as clear to me when he's stopped his dribble according to the rules. The refs have shown to be pretty liberal about when the dribble stops, so they're usually not going to call that (especially on a superstar).

At the end, the 1-2 hop step is somewhat ambiguous as well when you look at in slow motion, but in fast motion there's no way it looks like anything but a single backwards hop step with both feet coming down simultaneously for a jumpshot. A ref isn't going to call that on anyone, and the only reason people noticed it in the first place, is because they've been watching the play a hundred times trying to analyze it due to the gather step. If there was no "questionable" gather step on that play, noone would have even been crying about that last hop step.

 

He’s saying the left isn’t a step when he is planting his pivot foot (right)

He can leave it in the air, step, step on his tippy toes it doesn’t matter. Most are counting that as a step

 

For the most part his move isn't illegal. The game 1 stepback should've been called but wasn't. I'm over it.

Fans of OKC probably shouldn't bang the drum too hard for traveling to be called. Westbrook is as bad as anyone about it.

 

This is what I'm saying. Harden has the best stepback in the L and is the media's favorite whipping boy, so he's the natural target for this misplaced aggression. But if the NBA starting calling this move a travel, almost every elite wing player would need to change up their games, too. And the same blowhards crowing about Harden's move will be the ones whining when THEIR team's star gets dinged for it.

 

I don’t understand that. When you keep a pivot foot planted, multiple consecutive “steps” with the opposite foot counts as 1 step. But that’s not what is happening here. The sequence is “L-R-L”, not “R-L-L”. That is 3 steps. Am I misunderstanding what you are saying?

@JMAD21 As for that Mark Jones tweet, it unfortunately does not help that much because we don’t know if the ref he spoke to was referring specifically to the play in question (after looking at the slow motion replay) or if he was referring to the step back play in general. That distinction is unfortunately overlooked by people on both sides here. I agree with that ref’s explanation in general (Ronnie Nunn said the same thing in the bball breakdown video), but for this particular play Harden’s timing appeared slightly off to me. But this is one of those plays that’s too close to call in real time, so the missed call really is not that big a deal.

I am curious, when you look at it in slow motion, do you really see only two steps after he grabs the ball with two hands? To me, it is much like this play here, which the NBA video rule book explains is a travel for instructional purposes:

http://videorulebook.nba.com/archiv...layer-takes-3-steps-after-gathering-the-ball/

Note that LeBron wasn’t permitted a “free step” off of the gather. That counted as a step, and it was a travel because he then proceeded to take two more steps.

 

If you watch the Ronnie Nunn video, it's explained perfectly. Do we really need any other authority to confirm that the move is NOT a travel?

Nunn reffed more than 1,200 NBA games over 19 years and was the head of officials for 5 years. If Ronnie Nunn says it is not a travel and if all the referees that have seen Harden shoot hundreds (if not thousands) of stepbacks this year (and in previous years) don't call it then it's NOT a travel.

Why is this even an argument anymore? To paraphrase The Man... "The evidence is clear."

 

Did you guys hear Reggie Miller taking shots @ Harden from last nights game?
This down syndrome looking r****ds said "I might have pushed off but i never traveled when shooting my 3s." wow.

 

I really don't know why Harden catches so much heat. Particularly in comparison to a lot of star players.

 

I honestly see them differently. In that LeBron play, I see a gather then 3 steps. In the Harden play, I see what you are calling his first step as a gather, then a step back. I realize it looks weird and different but I think thats because nobody else has exploited rules the way Harden does, this is just another example.

As far as the play i the tweet. I assumed he's talking about that play. But I guess its possible that he wasn't.

 

The Thunder fans and bandwagon fans don't like him because he didn't take a discount to stay in OKC and he makes their GM look bad.

The Lakers fans and bandwagon fans don't like him because the Rockets signed Dwight and the main reason was because he saw Harden as a better option at the time than Kobe.

The non-regular season fans don't like him because the TNT crew crapped on the Rockets because Barkley got a raw deal from Les.

The ESPN fans don't like him because Calvin Watkins and the ESPN flunkies would tear him down on defense.

The Warriors fans don't like him because Steph Curry was the anointed and anyone that challenges his perch is deemed unworthy.

The Lebron fans don't like him because Harden kicked him in the junk.

The "you haven't won anything" fans don't like him because he hasn't won a championship.

That equals a lot of fans.

 

Equals lots of salt maybe lol....but I guess you’re right. Seems like he’s easily the most unnecessarily hated athlete I can remember in a while.

Like I have no reason to like Irving but I do. He’s a great player. Then again, according to ESPiN I should like Westbrook but I don’t.

 

Good lord.