Harden and Double Team Defense

I agree. He is a great guard, but we happen to have arguably the greatest pure PG of all-time on the team. Maybe we should use him a bit more? The hand off and jog to the corner bit seems to be occurring a little too frequently for my taste.

If James is insistent on getting his isolations, he damn well better be busting his ass on defense. If he isn't, I really hope CP3 does what he was really brought here to do, get in Beard's ass when he closes shop after some prolonged intensity.

 

it is. how do you think GMs decide on trades? if I replace A for B, what is most like to happen based on available data.

it's how players decide to join or Not join other teams

how do you think Lebron decide to form a super team with Wade and Bosh
how did Lebron decide to go back to Cavs with Kyrie and Love?
or KD decide to leave WB, not give the Rockets and interview, and decided to join GSW?
or Morey decide to sign Harden to a max contract, Cp3 decide to join Harden, Tilman decide to but the Rockets for $2B? are those decisions based on simply gut feel? or sound facts and analysis?

does Lebron and KD accept the fact that in order for them to win they need at least 2 other superstars and having more is not an overkill?

does Morey, Tilman, and Cp3 accept the fact that Harden never had a chanpionship team built around? he never even had that legit 2nd playmaker superstar/top 10 player

will Lebron go to the rockets to replace Harden? or join Harden?

given what Morey knows now, will he have traded for harden again given a chance to revisit the trade?
given what Presti knows now, will he have traded harden again given a chance to revisit the trade or trade WB for the best package he can get and go with KD, Harden, + pkg for WB, Ibaka?

 

To think the team has a strategy they are keeping under wraps is just silly. The solution to much of Harden’s double-team problems are either simple fixes by himself and the team or not fixable due to his limitations.

Solution:
- Harden needs to quicken getting into the offense
- recognise where the double team could come from or is coming from
- pass it off as early as possible so
- trust his teammates
- not walk into a double team like he randomly does
- understand his position on the floor as well as his teammates
- team spacing and positioning needs to good
- give it to CP3 and others to keep defenders on their toes

It differs from game to game how effective Harden and team are at avoiding or dealing with this problem. It’s odd that while some of these solutions are easy, somehow are just not possible due to Harden’s limitations and or Harden and the team’s ineffectiveness at solving this issue. It could also be that MDA and Harden do not see it as a problem and just accept it.

 

just curious has he been "lazily" walking the ball up the floor in all games this season or just the losses?

 

he's been doing it all year but there is a point where you can clearly see harden struggling with not only scoring but also holding on to the ball and passing.

everybody in the game threads can clearly see it and all agree at that point you should just put it in cp3 hands.

that's the luxury of having 2 superstar pg's.

 

so all year we win at a 80% rate with a one of the most potent offenses inspite of this?

I would think it's because of this. Gravity, reading defenses, drawing double teams, agressiveness, elite ISO, cp3 at his age saving his strength to play efficient bball for 30 mins a game especilly when harden sits

theres a method to mda, harden, & cp3's madness. it's not as simple as harden refusing to give up the ball.. its a consesus between mda, harden, & cp3 with what's the best way to score at every possession

 

part of that win rate was putting the ball in cp3's hands and letting him close games too.




i never said it was harden refusing to give up the ball.

sometimes he makes a bad turnover, wants to make up for his mistake and commits another turnover, then it snowballs out of control.

when you can see that harden is struggling it's nothing wrong with maybe putting the ball in the other guys hands and seeing what he can do with it, especially if that other guy is one of the greatest point guards of all time

nobody is on 100% of the time. during that 20% where you're not on lets go to the 2nd option instead of harden or bust.

 

Regular season is a whole lot different than the playoffs.

Harden will get picked up full court 100% of the time. He will get checked going across the lane, fouls will be harder, rotations will be harder, whistles will be harder to come by. All things that have historically lowered Harden's efficiency.

The last three years in the playoffs for James Harden:
2015: 7.5 AST to 4.5 TOV
2016: 7.6 AST to 5.2 TOV
2017: 8.5 AST to 5.4 TOV

CP3 playoffs:
2015: 8.8 AST to 2.2 TOV
2016: 7.3 AST to 1.0 TOV
2017: 9.9 AST to 2.7 TOV
Career: 9.4 AST to 2.7 TOV

 

Lol

 

if only Harden did all those perfectly and flawlessly this team should be 80-0 and not 64 and 16 right @OTMax