If its the 4th quarter with the game on the line, Harden doesn't have any fouls, and the player on the fast break is A Biedrins come talk to me then. I haven't seen him not take a hard foul when it really mattered in a game yet. I would rather him stay out of foul trouble which is probably what the coach wants too.
Assume you mean okc yes he has been known as a very good defender up until this point of taking on a starring role with the rockets. I'm assuming like Kobe, Wade, and yes even Melo... He can turn it on defensively when the game is on the line, but he's going to be playing 40 minutes a night and be the focal point of your offense, you just can't expect Tony Allen style defense every night out of him just as you can't expect James Harden style offense out of Tony Allen.
Wow so much fail in my initial post. I mean't he is actually worse in Houston than he was in OKC. True but there are times where is just lackadaisical like just simple things. Frankly I feel like he is doing way to much out there & his minutes are also really high. A lot of people forget Harden didn't condition his body to be a starter this season. He never expected to be traded & he was a 6th man before. He won't last 82 games at the minutes the coaches are playing him. Sampsons substitution patterns leaves a lot to be desired. Honestly I can't really just blame Harden, defensively the rockets have been poor. Hope McHale comes back he can fix this.
The Rockets need to recommit to defense as a team. And Harden has been the worst defender on the floor, so it should start with him.
Aren't you guys overreacting too much? Harden's not an elite defender, and I don't think he'll ever be. At his absolute peak his defense will probably be just average/above average, so since he's just 23 right now his D will be below average-average. Right now Harden is in a whole new element, in OKC he was always the side-kick/batgirl role, he'd either have WB, KD or both on the court to defer to at all times, and WB always wanted to defend the other team's best player while KD had already become an average defender. Now he's the first option, and always being in the line of fire is probably taking time to adjust, it's understandable defense would take a backseat. Once he becomes comfortable as the 1st option, I think he'll start expanding his game on all aspects, including defense. Obviously you'd want him to put more effort on D, but I don't think you can expect him to become better overnight, he needs time to absorb the Rox plays first then he can work on making his d better (like what happened to Kmart).
Yeah, IMO its two things, its a team mentality(OKC had it, Houston doesn't right now), and its the fact that he's the focal point of the offense just like Kobe is in LA, Melo is in NY, and Wade used to be in Miami before Lebron came over. All of those guys are perfectly capable defenders when the game is on the line, but its just a matter of where their focus is in the game at that point, the preparation they have done coming into that game that lends their focus, and them conserving energy on the defensive end. Most all stars are guilty of this, and Harden is no different. I personally dont think it has anything do with his conditioning to be honest. If he has been gassed early this season late in games, I sure haven't noticed it. He seems very much in great shape based on his play late in games, and looks far from Ray Felton last season. That being said I do think you are right that they can't continue to keep riding him 40 minutes plus, and not expect him to break down at some point in the season. The man is human after all. As the team continues to improve throughout the season, I assume the coaches will find ways to get rest Harden/Asik/Lin/Parsons so they are fresh going into the final stretch of the season if they are still in the hunt for a playoff spot. I think Harden is a perfectly capable defender(as he showed in OKC). However, I dont think you are going to see a defensive stopper now in Houston unless the game is on the line. I want Harden to play the kind of defense he played in OKC(and the team for that matter), but I do stand my my statement that i really dont care about him taking unneccesary fouls. Especially if it can lead to a 3 point play(on a fast break), get him in foul trouble that could affect late game situations, or worse take a hard foul that leads to an injury. Still, yes Harden does need to be better on defense, as does the rest of the Rockets. Even though he's acting like a superstar on the defensive end, that doesn't excuse it.
Harden does get caught up in watching the ball and not keeping track of his man (and is the weakest of the starting 5 in terms of defense), but after watching each possession of Foye's from last night, I didn't see anything particularly egregious from him specifically on defense. The weakest aspect of the defense in the Utah game was the tendency for a help defender to shade really far into the middle to help on the baseline pick-and-roll. Harden, Lin, and Parsons all did this, and it often lead to an open shot for a Jazz player (and so we see Foye, Williams, Hayward, and Burks all having good shooting nights). At least the Utah defense was even worse, but the system for perimeter defense currently in place just looks shaky right now.
FWIW, I remember a Rockets coach saying that he asked Harden how they played defense in OKC. And said that he can't do that here because Rockets players aren't as versatile and athletic. That we can't switch up one due to personnel. Also, at the beginning of the season, the Rockets played more disciplined ball and kept the scores down. Of course, they also kept their own scores down in the process, hence all the Fire McHale threads. Since Sampson took over, the Rockets have played more freestyle and much less devotion to defense as a team. But their offense have gone through the roof, putting up offensive numbers that even Adelman would be impressed by. Unfortunately, our defense has also been very Adelman-like after the Yao years.
Harden has never been known for his defense. He was expected to be the offense thread off the bench when he was with OKC. Now that he has a different role and huge contract, he does need to improve his defense to match his status.
Correct me if I am wrong but I remember him thwarting a 2 on 1 break earlier this year. Having not seen the game last night and from what I have seen this year I'm leaning more towards knee-jerk than actual problem....
Watch the game last night & then come back & talk. It really isn't knee jerk he is one of the weaker defenders in the starting 5.
Well you got Parsons who is almost an elite defender. Then you got Asik who is a really good interior defender. Lin is a steal machine who plays solid man up D(but is no Lowry/Rondo). And Patterson who is soft on the boards but an average to above average defender at the 4. So Harden being the weakest defender on the starting 5 is probably true. But it isn't like when we had Brooks and Martin and Scola starting. Being the worst defender in that bunch really meant something...
Harden played pretty solid defense against the Raptors, Knicks and Bulls if I recall correctly. I don't have the stats to prove it but he looked much more focused during those games on the defensive end and he was doing a pretty good job. He slacked off against the Jazz. He needs assert more defensively and become a more complete player.
Don't just focus on the obvious which is on one on one fastbreaks. Next games we play, try to focus on Harden defending the entire game and you will see that he just lets the other team's shooting guards or any player he's tasked to guard take their shots or beat him to their spots. He always goes under the picks as well. He's our weakest defender on the court but our best offensive player by far. So can't complain too much. I just hope he picks it up on the defensive end. When he does, that's when he can becomes a superstar. Right now, he seems apathetic to that side of his game.
Actually I think you can make the case that P Pat is a slightly worse defender than Harden. So we have one elite defenders, two above average defender(Parsons and Lin, Parsons has regressed a bit defensively due to his increasing role offensively), and two net negatives defenders in Harden and P Pat. Overall the starters are around average defensively but the bench is even worse in terms of defense. Believe it or not Toney Douglas is not a good defender. He is also a net negative defender career wise. Believe me I have seen Toney Douglas for long enough as starter PG for the Knicks(bleh). He hustles but has nearly non existent basketball iq on both ends of the floor. Overall Delfino actually has a case for best defender of the bench and that is saying something.
Pretty much. He's a much better man defender than people give him credit for. Even last night he contested some of those shots and the guys just drained it. Getting beat on backdoor cuts is nothing to be ashamed of, Adelman and Sloan made a living out of that stuff and it fools the best of defenders because it takes a really good defensive chemistry to always stop.
