[NY's Alan Hahn] Is James Harden an entertaining player?

All that Flailing

The only flailing I see is from the legion of Rocket and Harden haters and co-conspirators attempting to denigrate them as they stomp all over the league.

 

https://clutchpoints.com/gregg-popovich-only-watches-film-rockets-james-harden/



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pop said he doesn&#39;t watch game tape on the opponent this time of year. &quot;Except for the Rockets. Harden is ridiculous.&quot;</p>&mdash; Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) <a href="">December 23, 2016</a></blockquote>
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So the 3-4 alley-oops Harden throws to Clint/Tarik per game aren't exciting? And the no-look/look-away passes he throws at impossible angles to a driving Nene -- I suppose those are boring as well? Cross-court laser skip passes to open shooters are lame? This moron doesn't even mention Harden's exquisite passing game. What a knob. It's beyond me that people get paid to write this drek.

 

Max kellerman says the same bs and my spurs fan roomates go on about how frustrating he is to watch lmao

Dude is extremely exciting to watch for me. I even thought so when he was on okc so it isnt a homer thing.

Dude has such a graceful and smooth game.

 

Can you blame the writer? Its hard to appreciate boring wins

 

Why doesn't he ask Rockets' fans if Harden is fun to watch..... because I get the strong feeling he is a hell of a lot more fun to watch when he is playing in your teams jersey.

As my 5 year old would say: "35-10-10 is fun Dad!"

 

I think the culture is changing as analytics has become an integral part of any successful NBA franchise. Sure, some media members still have distaste for Morey and Harden, but I'm also seeing quite strong support from many NBA writers, especially those who are more knowledgeable about the game of basketball. And if you think about it, there is a direct correlation between shallow analysis and hate towards Harden & Morey. Zach Lowe, for instance, often uses the word 'genius' to describe Harden's game, and Bill Simmons is pretty high on Harden too I think.

Overall, I don't think it's too big of a deal because that narrative doesn't match with reality anymore. Even when Harden gets to the line, it looks much less forced and artificial these days.

 

Harden had the most boring 50/15/15 game I've ever seen against the Knicks last year.

 

I've found the people who say he's "frustrating to watch" are the ones who don't actually watch him play, beyond cherry-picked lowlight videos and Shaqtin'-A-Fool clips. They parrot the nonsense that's written & said by hacks like this guy here and Max Kellerman and *vomit* Michelle Beadle, and act like they're servin' up spicy-hot takes to the starving masses. Media narrative is REAL, unfortunately, and Harden is an admittedly easy target if you're focusing exclusively on the most negative parts of his game. But to act like that stuff makes up the majority of Harden's game (or even a significant portion of it) is disingenuous at best and malicious at worst.

At the end of the day, people just like to hate. I wouldn't care if it didn't affect the Beard's capacity to earn accolades for his accomplisments.

 

he just butthurt they were up 25 he thought they gonna win. then they lose by 15 he didn't even notice harden drop 37 pts, 10 assists with just a turnover

there's a reason he's Harden is 2nd in points produced in history. he's so creative with ton of moves with everything effective which makes him unstoppable hence defenders has no choice but to foul. and the passes...

 

If these clowns want to watch someone twirl around and make expressive gestures maybe they would be better off going to a ballet or to @Batman Jones musical

 

Even as a Rockets fan, I still find that Harden gets his points quietly. All too often I'll look at the box score and see "WHAAAT he has 35 and 11?"

There's not much "flash" to his game - especially now that he's gotten rid of the cooking thing.

Golden State? Any time someone scores a layup, everyone's making hand symbols, choreographed dancing, fireworks, cannons firing, everyone's chewing on plastic or towels, people are rolling around on the bench, etc.

Harden just goes about his business. It's not flashy, but I love it.

[But can he do it in the playoffs?]

 

It's a perfectly understandable viewpoint from a non-Rockets fan / casual NBA viewer. He plays solid, fundamental, unflashy ball most of the time. He doesn't dunk as much as he used to, nor his crossovers and eurosteps.

We appreciate him because we know how good he is. We're entertained because we know what he does every night is special, but don't expect casual viewers to be the same.

If they want to be entertained they can just go watch the likes of Russ, Giannis, Kyrie, Wall, Lin, etc, guys who are athletic freaks or love to razzle dazzle, and feature in all the top 10 clips. That's all they're looking for.

 

Alan Hahn - "...after watching two games this month, I can name at least 10 players — maybe more — who I’d rather pay money to watch than him (Harden)."

The butthurt is strong with this Knicks "writer". The 2 games he watched, Harden laid on 68 points, 19 assists, and +18.5 point differential.


*edited for correction*

Players in NBA history who have had multiple 31+pts/9+assists games against the Knicks in the same season:

Allen Iverson 2005

Michael Jordan 1989

Stephon Marbury 2003

Oscar Robertson 1964-1967

James Harden 2017

That's it.

And out of that small list.....how many of them took home the Win in both games? Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson in '67, and Harden.

 

James Harden has only average 28 points a game the last 6 years.... and his scoring average has increased for 4 straight years.

Not quite sure how you define entertaining then.

Maybe he should stick to watching games as Rucker Park.

 

They called Tim Duncan and the Spurs boring too, so whatev.

 

Exactly. I get the other complaints, but a good euro step can be just as nasty as a cross over. Harden has pretty good handles to go with his step back j. He's definitely a unique type of "star." I still can't decide if he is better than Tmac, basketball skill wise. They both did a lot of the same things, but in such different ways. Harden doesn't explode and dunk on people, ie he is boring to most people who watch basketball for the oos and ahs (the dumb weekend crowd fans).

 

I guess I just disagree with this entirely.

First of all, he's a pretty turnover prone player so not sure about "solid, fundamental" and I totally disagree with "unflashy."

I get that this is the media narrative, but Harden is pretty freaking brilliantly flashy. Alley oops from silly angles, touchdown passes from one end of the court to the other, dribble fake step back 3s. Hell sometimes he tries to be TOO flashy. He gets into this "dribble GAWD mode" where he has turnovers because he wants to be spicy.

I think the idea that he isn't entertaining stems entirely from pre-conceived notions and pre-existing dislike based on the fouls or anti-Morey/Rockets issues.

Take Steph Curry for a minute. I hate watching Steph Curry play. Everything he does annoys me. Why though? He's a GREAT player and is insanely skilled. You know why? Because I'm annoyed by the media love for him, I'm annoyed at his MVP win over Harden, I'm annoyed that Durant left to join that team...all of that annoys me and I channel it into a dislike for watching Curry that is pretty irrational. If I'm honestly viewing I should admit that Curry is fantastically entertaining.

That's the same way the national media treats Harden. He's had a lot of "I'm annoyed..." issues heaped on him. Be it the issues with Morey, be it the TNT feud with the Rockets (Shaq with Dwight, Chuck with Les) be it the backlash against the fouls, etc. it's all compounded to people just not liking him and so everything he does just annoys them instead of entertaining them.

 

I don't know Sam......... 32/10/5 is so "Bleh".

 

I've grown to accept his game but in the beginning it was neither really explosive or beautiful in the 'high flyer' sense.

Sure, Duncan was not spectacular either and he got it done but as a guard? I guess winning cures it all.