I don't see a single possession in that highlight video where he tries, it's pathetic..even on that last one where he wasn't defending Baze if it had come out, Schroder would've had the offensive rebound.
Wesley Matthews went 4/14 and 8/23 while being guarded by Harden, obviously one or two games is all I need to come to the conclusion that Harden's D has been elite this year
And just because he has done that multiple times does not mean that he "always does that". It is a small thing but something that has cost us. I believe it was the game where he made his debut as PG that we were pressed and were unable to find a way to inbound and deal with the press. If he is going to play PG he needs to learn to deal with the full court pressure. Fortunately, as some posts have shown, we should have PBev back soon. Maybe Bev can get Harden used to full court pressure and this will no longer be an issue.
Harden is a decent man defender in the paint, but not perimeter. He's subpar on the perimeter. He's not typically hustling back on defense either. Not hating, just saying
he took a charge last night coming over to play help defense... that tells me he's at least making an effort to play team D
That's fair, Harden does need to get better at dealing with those kind of pressures, but the effort on D this year has been better than last year, there is no doubt about it, just search through the game threads, there is much less complaining and even some compliments regarding his defense. Last night his D on Beal was pretty solid too.
Usual FG% of players defended by Harden this season : 41.5% When Harden was defending : 37.8% -3.8% Interesting http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/201935/tracking/defense/
The team defense is bad. Soft in the middle and lack luster on the perimeter. No surprises here. Harden's D is about where I expected it: Not great. This team needs to at least figure out how to stop the teams from scoring in the paint.
http://stats.nba.com/league/player/#!/hustle/?sort=CONTESTED_SHOTS&dir=1&Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612745 Among Houston players, Harden is : 2nd in deflections (1st is Ariza) 3rd in loose ball recovery (1st is Ariza) 4th in charges drawn (1st is Harrell) 3rd in contested shots (1st is Capela) Harden not trying? too much data these days to just flat out lie w/o any evidence to back it up try better next time
This doesn't refute anything that's been said about Harden's defense. All you have to do is watch previous games to know exactly what we're talking about. It's one thing to get beat. It's one thing to lose your man every once in a while. It's another thing completely to do that in almost every game for an entire season. Of course every player has flaws. What makes Harden's stand out is the way in which his opponents score on him. He just simply loses focus of his guy from time to time. That has changed this year, as it did two years ago. Team stats don't reflect that, but it doesn't mean it's not true. I get wanting to stand up for your guy, but these things can't be denied -- even if the stats say they're no big deal. It's kind of like when you slam Clinton and Sam the troll declares you a Trump supporter. You can point out a weakness, and in this case a weakness that Harden has improved on, and still love the guy and recognize his supreme talent.
and not considering the fatigue factor, when you play the most minutes on your team, especially with that kind of offensive burden, is in and of itself a flaw.
Usual FG% of players defended by Harden this season : 41.5% When Harden was defending : 37.8% -3.8% http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/201935/tracking/defense/ again, numbers and facts disagree with your statement, and yes I've watched all Harden's games this year and his defensive intensity has been much better compared to last year. many people were pointing that out in the game threads too, so it's just not me who feels this way.
No, they don't. Because I'm not talking about this year. Thus far, Harden has been playing solid defense. I'm talking about his past.
Sure I can get behind the logic of load on offense, but this is just inexcusable. Olajuwon had to carry the Rockets on many a night and still was our best defender. Despite being the most important guy on defense, Olajuwon still had the energy to score 30-40 almost every night. So look at it any way you want, you know Harden does not care about defense and agrees with people who say he does everything on offense so that should be enough.
dude, r u blind? http://stats.nba.com/league/player/#!/hustle/?sort=CONTESTED_SHOTS&dir=1&Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612745 Among Houston players, Harden is : 2nd in deflections (1st is Ariza) 3rd in loose ball recovery (1st is Ariza) 4th in charges drawn (1st is Harrell) 3rd in contested shots (1st is Capela)
The goal isn't to turn Harden into Hakeem, but somewhere around an average, passable defender. and I think Harden has overachieved that goal this season; we lose more points when he sits on the bench, the opponent players' FG% goes down when Harden is guarding, and is top 3-4 on our team in hustle related categories. The dude is at least trying, give him credit. Harden does not have elite lateral quickness or athleticism to be a great defender, stop deluding yourself and accept him as who he is. Just because he gets beat sometimes doesn't mean he ain't trying.
Deflections do not equate to good defense. Lose ball recovery is all about positioning. 0.14 along with Gordon and Ariza, not really making a good case here. Jumping at a defender when you're late and just doing it so you can start to leak out in case of a fast break could be taken into this stat, still doesn't mean much honestly.
