Harden is 3rd at the worst. Better than Curry and Westbrook for sure, a little better than Durant. But Lebron, Kawhi, and Harden are very close. I'd probably put the top 5 Lebron, Harden, Kawhi, Durant, Westbrook.
Maybe he's #5. Maybe #6. It's not like he's #9 or something, so I don't think it's a big thing. The implication that he's gotten worse because he wasn't an MVP candidate is just false. He is just as good now as 18 months ago, and the only thing convincing people he's worse is narrative (primarily, the narrative of both KD and Russ swinging away from "injury-prone" back to "dominant", plus the narrative of last season's Rockets defense utterly falling apart for reasons marginally related to Harden).
Last year there is no argument for Harden being a top 5 player. If we are basing this on last year then he's barely top 10. That's why, as of right now, Harden isn't top 5. He has to prove that he can get back to 2014/15 Harden.
Its a real shame people don't understand how magnificent Harden is as a basketball player. Very underappreciated, especially by his own team's fanbase.
This is so true. We don't deserve Harden. Would love to see how much love he'd receive if he were on the Lakers or Celtics.
Tier 1 : Lebron Tier 2: KD, Steph Tier 3: Harden, Westbrook, George Tier 4: Davis, Griffin, Klay, KAT
Being in the top 10 is not a knock on Harden. That's actually pretty damn good especially when you count up all the players in the league. Now if someone puts him out of the top 10, then their basketball knowledge would be in question.
There's no wrong order when listing the top 10 players in the NBA. They are so close. So I disagree it's not a knock on him at all.
I agree. It's personal preference in the Top 10 for the most part, though I will say that Harden and Davis both lack the coaching/supporting cast that others in the Top 10 have, and that matters.
Lebron and Harden are the only 2 guys that have proven they can take a team of mediocre talent all the way to the Conference Final or Finals. Lebron did it in his 1st stint with Cleveland. Harden did it the season before last. Russ has failed at this the season before last. I love the guy's game, and he puts up insane numbers, but he didn't make his teammates better like Lebron and Harden did. The 30 shots per game and all assists having to come from him didn't help. Durant has always had Russ there. Curry has always had tons of help and he was completely exposed by Russ, Kyrie and LeBron last playoffs. Kawhi has always been in on an elite team and hasn't done it solo. Actually, I retract a bit. His performance as Finals MVP against Lebron gets him in the conversation. Lebron, Curry, Harden, Russ, Kawhi. That's my Top 5. If Harden improves upon his 2014-2015 season, even just by a little bit, and most importantly we are a top 4 winning team in the West, then Harden will again be a leading MVP candidate as the best basketball player in the world.
