i always nitpick their defensive lapses. everyone think's duncan was a great defender but he really sucks! i know all about what you're saying but i also watched the wizards game. he needs to be serious about giving consistent defensive effort. it will have a positive effect on the team defense as a whole.
Definitely he should improve, but the hate Harden receives because of his defense is not proportional to his actual defensive performance on the court. He is just one of those below-average defenders, nothing more, nothing less. But the narrative is that he is the worst defender out there, which is not the case. But anyway, I agree with you that he is improving on that end or at least showing more effort this season. Harden has that weird body-language that rubs some people the wrong way, and that's why it gets magnified when other players also routinely make the same mistake over and over (like backdoor cuts), because people assume that he's not even trying. I've watched hundreds of Harden's games, and I'm pretty sure that his lack of lateral quickness is a major factor for some of his poor defensive performances, but the regular fans do not want to acknowledge that and just chalk it up to 'effort.'
I agree with you, but ourselves here, I don´t know, I think we should focus more on finding ways in game of improvement than the public perception. We will always lose that battle. It seems you like to watch his defense as close as his offense. I would add to your point, he has some posessions 1on1 of high quality. Overall I think sometimes his issue is trusting the system, he is always looking for steals, if he put a little more attention to his guy.
Maybe you are right but that doesn't seem to add up when he possesses the best euro step in the league. He just need to stay focused and move his feet, he gets stuck on his heels too much on d sometimes
I don't understand this post. Wasn't Harden on Roberson most of the night with Ariza and Gordon switching between Westbrook and Oladipo? Harden's defense on Roberson was hilarious. Pretty much dared him to shoot the long ball.
I guess Oladipo's highlights were posted in this thread as assumption that because he's a 2 guard he was defended by Harden?
Where do you see Curry being the 5th best DRPM among PG? According to ESPN, Curry had a DRPM of -1.85 which ranked 52 among PGs last year.
I'm sure that was the case, it happens quite often. Every time it does I always want to ask the poster "Did you not watch the game or did you watch and not pay attention?"
As I see it, the big problem in the perception of Harden's defense is because on those plays where he decides not to defend someone, he makes it obvious. There are times when you know you can't defend: you're already out of position, you're in foul trouble, you're exhausted... whatever. It happens. Instead of trying to at least appear like he's not giving up on the play, Harden often just stands there and lets it happen as he gets ready for the following offensive position. Put enough of those instances together in a video clip and it looks like a lazy superstar who can never be bothered to guard anyone.
He was guarding Roberson most of the night, but he did get switched a couple times (1:12 for one) He also gave up the alley-oop to Roberson at the end, but he was helping on a WB drive Also, a couple turnovers led to easy fast breaks for OKC, including right at the beginning. That may not be defense exactly, but counts against the defensive ratings I believe And it's also a team sport, so it's good to see how we let guys like Oladipo and Bazemore go off on us. May or may not be Harden's fault, could look at his help defense (although he was on Bazemore)
There's something to this I think. Harden doesn't appear to move very fast, even on offense, but appeareances can be decieving
And GSW has the league's easiest schedule to date. http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2017.html#misc_stats::6
According to that chart, we have the third-worst opponent free-throw shooting % in the league. And I thought Jeff Bzdelik was going to fix our defense.
