The official James Harden is not a legitimate #1 option thread

Um, when did LeBron do this? He joined a team in his prime with two other legit all-star players. You can argue he did it with the Cavs, but the East was so weak that season it's not even funny.

Where was this thread when Hardeb had his 25+ point streak going and they were on a winning streak? Exactly.

He's hit a wall and is still learning (at 23) to be THE guy. Let's give it some more time (a season or two) before determining if he can or can not a #1 option. Geeze.

 

dude. I'm not saying he ISN'T a number 1 option!



im just saying he isn't and will never be, LeBron! That is a whole stratosphere on its own!

Harden just has to be Harden and work on being Harden, better. He IS a Number 1 option. But he needs a 1a and 1b

 

Id take Paul George over him

 

Yea, just like LeBron and every other great player in the league has.

Harden is doing what he's doing with no other consistent offensive option on the team.

That's impressive as hell...

 

We have 30 teams in this league, so if you are a top 30 player, you can comfortably anf rightfully play the no1 option at a team.

I believe harden is among the top 30, probably top 15, meaning rox should max him out until he passes his prime.

 

Only complaint I have is when he is having bad shooting performances where he isn't able to get to the line, he should find teammates more and work within flow of the game till he gets going again. Last game parsons was on and there is no reason he should have only shot 9 times if he has 16 pts. Harden is a legit #1 option and just great all round player who can win games with other ways if his shot is off, he needs to trust his team little more. He is young though and is not a selfish player so I am not saying he is but there are games where u got to allow others to help carry the load.

 

Who in this league is a #1 option, in your view?

 

seriously.....u cant let the man have a whole season before comparing him to joe johnsons best career stat line....if he is already doing what johnson did, and its only his first season as a starter, dont u think he will get better? tragic thread is tragic.

 

Smh.....u know nothing. I am ashamed for you .

 

Harden's first year as the alpha dog at 23 years old is better than Joe Johnson's best year. I'd take that.

 

james is OUR number one, but he doesnt have to be our second, and third, also, lol. he or lin basically has to create the offense since mchale doesnt even draw up any decent plays. we are so predictable

 

On a playoff team, he's a legit #1 option.

On a championship team, Harden is a 1A player (unless it's like the '04 Pistons).

 

What do you mean "you can argue he did it with the Cavs"?....


OF COURSE he carried the Cavs to the finals! If ANYBODY thinks ANYTHING otherwise, then they're just a damn fool.

 

Nobody said he's Lebron James.

 

He's a top 10 player verging on being the best SG in the league. Stupid threads like this are bound to pop up in the midst of losing streaks. Of course this guy said nothing 6 games ago. Such is life as the youngest team in the league. Harden is 23yrs old and literally has every tool on the offensive side of the ball. He can shoot, pass, and has high willingness to attack the rim. Guy is a rising star. Ridiculous thread.

 

Yea sure because Paul happens to be on fire that game at home... The Pacers have a good team and every position is solid. The Rockets weren't zero in on Paul George because other players on the Pacers were a threat also.

David West was just raping both Patterson and Morris, DJ Augustine and George Hill was making shot after shot, and Roy was a handful in the paint. The Pacers main goal that night was to stop Harden. Their defense was to swarm Harden and make it tough for him to take a shot.

Whenever Harden took a 3 pointer, it was heavily contested. When Harden was driving to the basket, the Pacers defense collapse on Harden, surrounding him and forcing him to pass it back out... That's why Harden was having such a hard time. Paul George on the other hand, was just on fire that night and he was coming off a bunch of screens for open shots. The Rockets wanted to stop him but they also have to stop all the other Pacers who were scoring at will on Houston.

Yes Paul George is a good player but he's a different player than Harden. James Harden blocked Paul a few times last night also. They were going at it. But the difference is, the Rockets were guarding George 1 on 1 while the Pacers aim their defense to stop Harden and ignored everyone else on the Rockets... If other teams defenses were set up to stop Paul George, I'm sure it will slow him down tremendously. But they can't do that because the Pacers have so many scoring threats besides Paul George.

The Rockets on the other hand doesn't have any scoring threats beside Harden. So its much easier to just swarm and surround James Harden and let the other Rockets player try to make something happen... If the Rockets actually have some other threats to help Harden, the defense will back off Harden a little and give him some room to work.

Like I said before, Harden is the only star in the NBA that have the least amount of talent around him. That is why he has to work so much harder to get his shots off. Every star in the NBA besides Harden has talents around them.

Teams not only have to stop Lebron, but they also have to stop Wade, Bosh, and Ray Allen. Same goes for OKC. Teams worry about stopping Durant but they also have to stop Westbrook, Ibaka, and even Kevin Martin... You get the point right? Paul George is a good player but teams doesn't set up their defense to stop him only. Because the Pacers also have other threats other than Paul George. If Paul was playing the same role as Harden is right now, and teams would set up their defenses to stop Paul George, he will struggled mightily.

Harden being able to average 26/4/5 with defenses setting up to slow him down is proving that Harden is more than capable to be the main player. But he just doesn't have enough talent around him to help him out. The Rockets are depending on him way too much and expects him to carry this team every night. If you put Paul George in this position, he will probably do much worst and the Rockets would be in a worst position right now.

 

Anyone saying they'd take Paul George over him is a certified idiot. They clearly saw George have one good game against the Rockets and somehow forgot Harden carrying the Rockets all year. Calling Harden selfish is also pretty ridiculous, he came off the bench in OKC without complaint despite the fact he has superstar talent.

 

I like Harden and the fact that he is willing to take it to the rim instead of settle for jumpshots. He hasn't been getting the same calls when he takes it down there lately and that is frustrating. He is a team player, but you can only make lin, asik, and parsons so good. We need better talent around him.

 

The problem is other players on the team can't seem to make any shots. Harden does find his teammates and get them open shots but they can't make anything. Parsons did a good job at scoring but he can only score so much... Right now the Rockets really need to find other ways to help Harden because right now, our PF sucks so bad that they are basically useless even though they're wide open.

Patterson and Morris continues to miss wide open jumpers. Patterson has gotten so terrible, that he will pass up open shots even though he still standing at the 3 point line... What pisses me off is that if he can't hit any open 3s, and he's going to pass up the open shot anyway, why in the world is he still camping out at the 3 point line? Makes no sense at all to camp out at the 3 point line when he knows he's not going to make a shot and that he's going to pass it back anyway. Why don't he or Morris just attack the basket?