While I'm at it I'll continue to enjoy watching James Harden destroy the league. I still have no idea who the hel this dude is. If I have to google it then should I really care about his oppinion? Especially the ignorant one about Harden not being able to play both ends of the court because he is out of shape. Granted James is not typically a good defender but he was pretty damn good from January through about the 1st week of March, and his offense was great during that time period.
He plays it when he wants to. Don't care. It is hard carrying an entire teams offense for a full season. Dude is our best PG AND scorer on the team. Unlike TMac he doesn't have Yao to throw it down to either.
And what about Asik's performance improvements lately? This guy had a stone hand, couldn't reliable dunk and is now a completely new guy. TJ on both ends? Those guys are on my list of most improved players this year. With Asik I'm not sure if it was Howard or the staff, or both.
first of all, nobody takes Stephen A's words as gospel second of all you don't need to earn 8 figures on betting, or have some advanced knowledge in analytics to point out James Harden is awful on defense and probably one of the worst in the league. Who cares about his credentials if his opinions on this matter is repeated at least 200000 times on this forum alone. It's not like he backed up anything with advanced stats that we have no knowledge of, he simply said Harden doesn't care, Maybe he's out of shape because he can't play on both ends. If he tweeted James Harden is phenomenal at drawing fouls or Jeremy Lin jump passes too much, does it deserve its own thread too? come on.
I never said that this was thread worthy, my response was meant to be in response to the hordes of people saying "who the hell is this guy" or "why should I care what some nobody thinks". I do agree that these tweets are obvious to all of us that watched all 81 games this year and all of last season, huge rockets fans aren't gonna be blown away by this statement. I love Harden and think he is clearly the best SG in the league even with his defensive deficiencies for the record.
So when the world's greatest gambler, who can swing points on a game with a single tweet, says something, you should actually care? No. He is probably not going to give you information that he actually believes enough to bet on. James Hardens hustle stats go up in the playoffs. He rebounds more, has fewer turnovers, gets more steals and more blocks. Don't read into a gambler's notions.
Bob is a FANTASTIC twitter follow. He knows his stuff. He is right on the money on Harden's horrible D. But at the same time Bob loves Harden's offense and has him as a top 5 MVP candidate. So it is not like he doesn't like him as a player as much as he just doesn't like his defense. Just about every player in the league has warts. And they have their strengths. Harden has elite offense and that "makes up" for his D....especially if Howard/Beverley are on the court. It is all about the "team."
I'm not sure why folks in this thread are so focused on the legitimacy of the guy who tweeted this stuff out. I don't know the guy or care about his credentials, but I don't disagree with what he's saying. Does anyone here honestly think Harden's defense isn't suspect? If you think his defense is acceptable I don't know really what to say to that. But if you're watching him play you most likely would agree his defense is horrid, and to make matters worse we all know he CAN play defense which means he just chooses not to or isn't disciplined enough to work on building his conditioning to work both sides of the court. Who cares about who Voulgaris is or isn't.......he's right, Harden's defense leave much to be desired. Still love him though.....I hope he fills out his true potential
I didn't realize so many people didn't know who Voulgaris was. The guy is the most successful NBA gambler of all-time. He makes his entire living strictly betting on basketball (NBA only) using advance quantitative methods. As someone pointed earlier, he worked for an NBA team as well. Now for those saying that he's just giving an opinion without any facts to back it up, Voulgaris doesn't release his data or give picks or get into specifics publically. He would be losing his advantage over the sports book if he did provide us with that information. As a sports bettor, you look for every edge you can get over the books. Once you have that edge you obviously want to maintain it, which means not making that info available publically. Thus, if he says that Harden is the worst defensive sg in the league, he has the data to back it up. He also likes the Rockets and praises Harden all the time on the offensive end of the court, but most of you seem to be looking for a reason to complain rather than considering an objective point of view and some interesting theories regarding Harden's lack of defense. Last, there have been plenty of Voulgaris threads that have been started on ClutchFans. I refer to Morey as Maury and McHale as McFail. Having nicknames for people takes away from my objectivity Where were you when I've posted winner after winner on ClutchFans or in the Grizzlies vs Rockets thread that was just bumped to talk about lack of objectivity? I've never seen you post anything basketball related that was thought provoking in the GARM or NBA Dish. C'mon Larsv8, this is ironic coming from you, one of the most subjective people and biggest homers on this website. You wouldn't provide any critical analysis of the Rockets if your life depended on it.....well except for Jeremy Lin.
Somebody tag Harden, let this douchebag motivate him. & yes there is a difference between constructive criticism & being a douche puddle.
Everyone is hyper defensive. Voulgaris basically said what everyone knows 'Harden is a bad defender, could be better conditioned to play both sides,etc' .... 'NAH MATE WHAT THE FK ARE YOU?!?!?!'
Like the last great bastion of truth and hope for men who forgot to wear a rubber, Maurice Richard Povich
Ultimately, I don't care at all what this guy thinks. But it is a big difference saying "Harden's defense is inferior" compared to "Harden is one of the worst defensive guards in the league, by far"
If you had Harden's offense combined with Beverley's defense, you still think that would be a level below Lebron? Seriously? I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you on that one.
Harden will NEVER play defense in the regular season against inferior players just get over it. I for one have come to accept it and its time people in this site start to do it and stop beating a dead horse.
