James Harden is as good a playmaker as Jeremy Lin.

That's because people are confusing playmaker with shot creator.

 

Playmakers make plays. It can be for others. It can be for themselves.

 

Stoudemire was playing... And so was Tyson Chandler... Lin still had two All Stars on the court with him.

He was still good. Was just talking his outside shooting..

Relax..smh..

 

I guess a guy who scores 26 ppg and drops 5 assist and handles the ball just as much as the point guard on a team where no other player is averaging 15 ppg (No other player in the NBA is putting up numbers like that without another player on the team averaging 15-20 ppg) is not a playmaker...

 

Notice that harden when he controls. Tends to slow the pace of the game.

 

Harden is a turnover waiting to happen averaging 3.5 turnovers per game at the shooting guard position.

 

His turnovers are way down in December though.

 

I completely disagree. Playmaker is someone who "makes plays". He could make plays for himself, or he could make plays for his teammates. Either way, one person in a team of five ends up shooting the ball. Assuming all players are equally likely to get the ball, more often than not the ball would be shot by someone else other than the playmaker. Thus, the reason why scoring would seem "secondary".

 

By your definition wouldn't this make a ball hog or chucker a good playmaker? I always thought the term applied to guys that were exceptional passers. Steve Nash, Lebron James, etc. versus Carmelo Anthony, Michael Beasley.

 

It's just semantic. The important thing is, you create the best shot for the TEAM, and you are part of the team.

If Harden going to the basket has a better chance of scoring than Lin shooting a wide open 3, then Harden driving to the basket is the right play even though Lin is open at the 3 point line. (I know this is oversimplification because it also depends on the positioning of other players on the court.)

Like I said earlier, even if a player can create good shot for himself most of the time, it is still important for him to get his teammates involved. That's why excessive ISO play is never a good strategy even when you have a great ISO player.

Harden is a willing and good passer. So I am not worried about him being a ball hog.

 

If that player gets a lot of good shots for himself and makes them at a reasonable rate, then absolutely he is a good playmaker. Wouldn't you agree that if James Harden consistently gets to the rim to draw fouls or lay ups he would be "making good plays"?.

Like I said earlier, more often than not the ball is shot by someone else other than the playmaker because there are 4 other people on the court.

For example, imagine if basketball is a game where there are teams of only two. Playmaker A takes 50% of the team's shots and the team scores 80% of the time. Playmaker B only takes 20% of the team's shots but the team scores 60% of the time. Obviously, playmaker B passes a lot more, but playmaker A gets his team to score more consistently. Would you consider playmaker B a better playmaker than playmaker A?

 

LOL , this thread is so lame , for god's sake . We have gone through **** to get pass this and this threads brings it up again. Harden was doing too much and (NOT HIS FAULT) and it had a negative effect on winning games.

You want to GAS our star player on the 4th?

 

Yes, both Harden and Lin are good playmakers. We are starting to use both players more in that capacity. That is why we are winning more and Harden's TO rate is down. I hope it continues so we can get more Ws.

 

Last year is a testament to your prejudice of low expectations. As D'Antoni said, "why not? He's done it before. Sure he could put up those numbers again."

 

Would you say that Jordan is the greatest playmaker of all time or that Wilt was the greatest playmaker of all time? I know what you guys are saying and I agree that sometimes the best play is to call your own number, but we all know what playmaker really means. When we think, at least I do, of playmakers, we think of Magic or Kidd.

 

I have a sneaking suspicion that if Lin looked for his shot more, averaged 24 and 5 and Harden averaged 18 and 10, everyone would flip flop on the definition of what a playmaker is. The bottom line is our backcourt can create plays, period. With Chandler, Delfino, we are a playmaking team! That's why our offense is so highly rated not just cuz we like to run. Do you know how many teams want to run like us. They just don't have the playmakers to make it happen.

 

Because we already have a star player to build the offense around.

Lin isn't the centerpiece, get used to it.

 

yep Lin never turned the ball over passing to Asik

 

True. But it's like the Lakers. Yes, Kobe is still the man on that team but Nash should run the offense as he is the floor general of that team. And in no way am I saying Lin is as good as Nash as he is as good as they come but I'd like to see something similar.

 

This.