sure... because I'm sure NO coach has ever said to him: "Hey James, maybe you should hustle back and play some defence..." "Say james, maybe those bounce passes between two defenders aren't the way to go..." "Y'know James, hanging out in the titty bars til dawn is gonna kinda hamper your workout regiment..." "Dude, being a professional athlete, it would probably be best if you didn't smoke cigarettes - you know, lung capacity and all..." "James, if you could bring the ball upcourt a little quicker on the inbounds we may get some additional time to get a good shot setup..." maybe nobody ever told him these things... Sorry - not buying it... and if no one has said any of these things (which i sincerely doubt), there is a little something called common sense... but you feel free to live on your delusions and puff pieces written by the media - I'll trust what my eyes see on the court...
what did the op mean by "i still believe in harden"? i interpret it as "i still believe harden can get the rockets to a title as the #1 guy". if so, what are the logic or reasons one can believe such a thing, based on what we have seen? so it just blind faith, eh? in b/w reasoning/logic and blind faith, i'd choose the former every single time. if there are some reasoning and logic to be had to still "believe in" harden, pls enlighten me.
I'm not OP but I'll answer . First year here . Takes us to the playoffs , shows he can bring elite NBA scoring Second year . Along with Dwight gets us 4th seed in stacked west , unfortunate loss in first round , James didn't play well Third year. After Dwight misses more than half season , carries us to 2nd seed in stacked west . Plays much better than previous years in the playoffs . Makes it to WCF ... Almost signlehandedly wins us game 1 and 2 again GS on the road . This year ... Up and down performance , still overall a top offensive player . Half the season left to go See there is thing called sample size and trends . So even though this year has been up and down and sub par relative to MVP performances , you still look at growth over 3 years prior . Harden when his shot is on is every bit offensively as dangerous as last year . This year he hasn't been as effective driving to the lane . He also isn't getting calls as much . He'll figure it out . It's also up to the coaching staff And yes the team changed over his tenure , it got better , so did James , you don't succeed in the NBA without a team ( unless your name is prime Lebron James ... And even then you don't win chips) He can be a number one guy , he needs teammates and a system that fit and develops chemistry . This season is not in the books yet .
I agree, repped great post. I alos want to add that Harden is a product of Maury and Mchale. He didn't come here with ISO ball intentions. We need a new coach complete with a new coaching staff and Morey needs to let go of the 3's and free throws theory. Mid range is a large part of Jame's game that he hasn't been able to develop. Kobe and Jordan lived off the midrange especially when opposing teams had good defense going to the basket.
so let me sum it up a little. first yr, made it to the playoffs, showing he could score. second yr., didnt do well in the playoffs. 3rd yr., get to the wcf's and "almost single-handedly" won game 1 and 2. this season, up and down. amiright? regardless the accuracy of your assessment, these are the reasons you believe in him? hehe, k.
you have said repeatedly that cf's expectations of harden are way too high. curious to know what is your expectations of him? do you believe he can be the #1 guy and take the team to a title?
and notice nothing about 'heart.' 'work ethic,' 'drive to be a champion,' 'makes his teammates better. ''devotion to the games'... baically, "he scores a lot of points - so he must be a great person to have on your team.." lol
gimme 5 players better than harden as far as being #1's . I'll either show you how you are wrong or you will have yourself named 5 better teams .Then name any players we can get for harden that give us a better shot . Here I'll even help a bit Lebron - yeah maybe for a few more years Durant - nope last few years been hurt , how many wcf has he been to lately , what does that trend look like . Westbrook - lol Curry - great shooter , nice player , amazing team Kawhi - popovich is the number 1 on that team Go ahead and show me someone who over the last 3 years has shown more growth than harden , also please try to remember that this season is only halfway done so while it does carry weight as being the most current , the last two years and that trend is still more important . Harden is adjusting right now . He was a top 3 guy last year but so far this year teams have been playing him differently and the league has been officiating him differently . Is that an excuse for effort ? No , but **** if harden is this good without trying at all , how good is he when he actually tries ? Obviously James gives a **** , you guys are superstitious idiots and pay too much attention to tabloids and the family of whores . James is a smart guy with a good character and he will bounce back . When he does there will be a massive feast of crows. Actually most people here have such short term memory loss they will prolly forget they ever said anything bad about him .
He plays half of the game with high volume/low efficiency and the other half of the game like absolute ****. Melo reincarnate.
And your analysis is any more nuanced? "Lebron - yeah maybe for a few more years Durant - nope last few years been hurt , how many wcf has he been to lately , what does that trend look like . Westbrook - lol Curry - great shooter , nice player , amazing team Kawhi - popovich is the number 1 on that team" Top notch analysis there. "Westbrook - lol". LOL He's a high volume/low efficiency player this season and one of the worst defensive guards in the NBA. No way he is a top 5 player this season.
^^ Unfortunately I've been reading your posts the last few days . You really love the word nuanced huh ? Do you think it makes you sound smart?
Maybe because it pertains to the context of my posts? Don't need to sound smart. I have absolutely no doubts that I'm more intelligent than you. If you think the word 'nuanced' is advanced enough vocabulary to the point where you believe someone using the term is trying to 'sound intelligent', I can only conclude that you are projecting.
Lol your posts are anything but "nuanced " I don't think you really understand what that word means .
If I was labeling my analysis as 'nuanced' then that would be a fair point. However, at least in this example, you made an assertion that my post was "top notch analysis" in a sarcastic manner. Ironically, the post you commented about my lack of NUANCE on was a retort to your post that resorted to NUANCED analysis of "Westbrook - lol". Hence, I was calling you out on your cognitive dissonance/hypocrisy and overall irony of labeling my analysis with a perceived lack of NUANCE when your previous post obviously lacked NUANCE by anyone's standards in regards to your "Westbrook - lol" post. NUANCE... Now I'm just repeating it arbitrarily since it obviously irks you.
His efficiency this year is down, but is still well above average. We're just used to unreal efficiency that he has shown over many years. He hasn't played like a top 5 player this year, but you are kidding yourself if the last couple years any analyst or realistic fan out there would have put him anywhere but as one of the top 5-10 guys to start your franchise with. If half a season changes that for you, so be it. But you gotta stop incorrectly calling him a high volume, inefficient player. It's just not even remotely true. High volume, high efficiency is exactly what had people ranking him as a top 10 player in previous years and the runner up for MVP last year. It literally is what James Harden is known for. High efficiency on high volume. Again if you want to say that a half season where his efficiency has suffered changes how we're supposed to view a guy who throughout his entire career has been an efficiency monster, well so be it I guess.
He's a high volume/low efficency offensive player. He shoots 42% from the field and averages 4.6 turnovers per game. I'm pretty sure with your mental gymnastics of invoking efg% and TS% you can make a notorious high volume/low efficiency scorer like AI seem 'efficient'.
Lol now I know you are trolling at this point . **** man , that was actually a pretty nuanced performance of an idiot .
lol come on man you can't really believe this stuff. There is literally no stat gymnastics you can do to make iverson seem efficient. His effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage are god awful. Because like you said he was a high volume low efficiency scorer. The exact opposite of Harden. I mean if we're going by field goal percentage are we to say Deandre is the most efficient player in the league? I mean the guy can't make anything outside of a dunk and therefor doesn't do much of anything but dunk. Valuable, but you can't just look at his FG% and say he's the most efficient player when all he does is dunk. It's not our fault that you don't realize that the league and everyone around it has gotten smarter and realized that the value of the 3 is more than the value of a 2and that getting to the free throw line when you are an outstanding free throw shooter is a damn good thing. I mean if you don't like TS% or EFG% there is always points per shot. Hard to argue that the higher your points per shot the higher your efficiency. 2 years ago Harden was tied for 3rd in points per shot with the likes of KD and Lebron, two pretty damn efficient players. Last season he was 2nd in the league in points per shot. This year? Cratered. All the way to 8th in the entire league.
