Stephen A. Smith calls James Harden the heir apparent to Kobe Bryant

You know he struggled to team up with superstars kyrie and love to get cavs only 51 wins in the least correct?

Plus he was so exhausted he needed to rest 10 games

So in the west hell be lucky if he even reaches 50 games

 

Wow, good eye, I didn't realize that he played that long. He put up more win shares at 36 than Tim Duncan did at any point past the age of 33. That's nuts.

Crazy how players like that can slip between the cracks.

 

This man has been logging heavy-duty minutes for 14 years bro. Doing practically everything for his teams. Not only that add on the amount of times his teams had made the finals for what 5 years straight at that time.

How did Harden perform in that Spurs series? And what was said by the coach and Harden?
He need to start resting him so he could be fresh for the playoffs.

 

Who had a heavier load last year?

Lebron with kyrie n love n the rest of the championship team in the east

Or harden with ego n anderson in the west

Who practically did all the scoring and playmaking?

Who was the mvp runnerup to mr tripdub in your opinion?

 

Which is why I said "theoretically".

 

When did Harden ever play with Shaq, Jones/Van Exel, Glen Rice, Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum? The rings argument is not quite a fair one yet. Harden did start his career with the Thunder, but he was traded due to poor insight, not chemistry issue or being unable to play with other superstars? Harden hasn't really had to chance to excel with other supreme talents throughout his career with peak play. I don't think he is as good as Kobe, but I do think he is a better team player and unselfish, like LeBron.

 

and harden with okc got to the finals which kd & wb never got to do again

if similar aged kobe played in rockets from 2013 he would still be ringless and I doubt cp3 would want to join him

if harden replaced curry in 15 or kd in 17 GSW would still be champs with harden as their best player

 

SAS calling James the heir-apparent to Kobe is more a compliment to their style of play. Being similar threats on offense - shot-making, play-making, and at the free throw line. James used to have more of a killer instinct in 2015-16 that has waned since.

I do agree though that the amount of criticism that James gets for his poor playoff performances are highlighted unfairly. They're warranted in the sense that he chokes under extreme pressures, and it's highlighted by the fact that he essentially hasn't had the same star help that other mega stars have had. His skill and regular season performances are what gets him in the same conversation as Lebron, Steph, KD, Kawhi as Top 5. But that also vaults him into the same expectations for playoff success, which easily exposes 1-star systems. Now he has Cp3, and you can see the playoff success that's coming to him. His playoff ceiling is much higher. In these series I'm looking for James to adjust and elevate his game to reach that ceiling. Game 2 showed me a lot in that he's willing to give it up and admit that he can't do it on his own. There are still so many things he can do to mix up his game and show up in ways we haven't really seen since he's become a Rocket. Think... James coming off the ball in OKC, except from Cp3's passes. I want to see more of that give-in-go he tinkered with Clint against Utah. Kobe and Shaq needed each other. Kobe needed Fisher, Fox, Horry to hit big shots. It wasn't all Kobe. Same can be said and expected of Harden and the rest of his teammates. Since we're on the topic of Kobe and these Rockets, where is his "Detail" coverage of how we can beat the reigning champs GSW?

 

You went there, bruh.

 

^^ totally agreed with you and I am the biggest kobe fan that i know. I see kobe broke down lebron and other players, but i guess he havent figured out how to beat the warriors yet? then last night happened, so hopefully there will be a video soon.

 

Harden to me is a weird hybrid of Pete Maravich and Magic Johnson. He has all of the clever moves that makes him impossible to guard like Pistol Pete and the vision to see the whole floor like Magic. Kobe was a killer and the greatest scorer of his era but he was never the play maker that Harden is.