Posters said lazy on defense. Posting his minutes and scoring average is n/a. Post his opponents' scoring average and %'s, then compare those numbers to Kwali, George, etc. Sad the guy who was here.
It would be nice to see Harden play with some defensive tenacity but he comes off as pretty aloof most of the time. Tim Duncan expresses more emotion than Harden.
I'm a Rockets fan who knocks Lin when applicable. (i.e. He needs to reduce his turnovers) It's okay to find flaws in players. Doesn't mean you're not a fan.
For players >39 min/game 1. Bradley Beal 2. Kevin Durant 3. Carmelo Anthony 4. James Harden Only 4 guys in the whole NBA. I guess they play him more minutes coz he needs more time to arrive at his destination Dumb thread. "Run=good. Me>>>>>>McFail" OP runs away, not defending his stupid troll thread.
Yes. Harden tends to gamble for steals. He's a decent blocker for his position. Have you researched his opponents scoring avgs and shooting %'s? That's done on the defensive end as well and is a much better measure of defense.
Blocks yes, but steal depends. I find Harden risks a lot on defense. One move he likes to make is to ALLOW his man blow by him, but try to poke the ball from behind. That is pure laziness. Harden is a capable defender, he's just lazy. But this season he's been injured for a while, so it's hard to say if he was lazy or just bothered by injury. Last season was mostly laziness.
Should I pull links to threads that are directly there to bash Rockets players individually?? I'd be willing to bet that you could find one for almost every player on the roster other than Brewer, Covington, Canaan, Smith, and maybe Garcia. Kobe has had his moments. Especially during the 2005-06 years post Shaq pre Gasol. Kobe can play great defense at times, but his effort at that end like many other superstar players had its moments. What other players have had questions about their defense- Melo, T-Mac (see T-Mac Toronto game), Amare, to name a few. Superstar players not giving 100% on the defense end for stretches is nothing new to the NBA... especially early in their careers, in difficult stretches, and in the regular season. Harden has all three of those working against him. He's new to being a superstar, the Rockets are in a difficult time, and its the regular season. Its called business. Its not charity, or a non-profit organization. They are there to make money. If they didn't we wouldn't have NBA basketball to obsess over. They can charge whatever they want to and people will buy or they wont buy, but they can't just have a pricing structure that makes business stable, and able to forecast revenues properly to balance expenditures. I'd love for free tickets and comps for everyone all the time, and for Les to throw 100 dollar bills from the rooftops of Houston but that's not going to happen. Its a business, and you would run it the same way if you are educated enough in the field to do so successfully. Houston is better than they give themselves credit for, just a very negative cynical fanbase for the reasons previously stated. Always talking about the good-ole days instead of moving forward and enjoying the teams you got right now. Still Houston fans will show up and get their Rockets/Texans/Astros gear out when the team is doing well... its just rough to listen to them gripe and complain the other 95% of the time.
When you ignore your man and gamble on every single possession to get steals and blocks, you are not a good defender.
so yes he does play defense so is having less steals better when guaging someones defense? oops thougt LOFs said he's lazy or doesn't care about defense opp FG% for defensive specialist Thabo = "no defense" Harden look it up its on NBA.COM
I'm not saying that harden is the greatest defender but it's obvious that he is hurt. There is a big difference in the way he was playing in the preseason to the way he has been playing in the regular season. In the preseason he really seemed to have a lot of pep in his step and he was moving good. In the regular season he started off with the stiff neck or back I don't remember which, then he turned his ankle pretty good the second game and has been complaining of sore feet ever since. OP it really doesn't matter if you have ever played BB, but there is going to be a difference in your play if your trying to play on injured feet or ankles. You just can't move the same and you have to try and be as efficient as possible to keep yourself in the game, the pain does take a toll on you even though you try to push through it.
