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

Harden is a great scorer but for him to become the top dog of a championship team, he needs to be a multi dimensional player - better passer, significantly better defender and rebounder! Once he gets to that, we will separate himself from the Joe Johnsons, Gilbert Arenas and Michael Redds of the world, and become a true superstar.

 

the only reason why he can't make his teammates around him better is that they're already at their limit so far and we need solid presence in the post first..and besides he's not even a point guard or a pass first shooting guard..he's a SHOOTING guard so what do you expect?

 

What a fail thread

 

You are talking about right now --- But Harden is 23 and this team is supposed to be rebuilding.

Harden will improve, as well as the rest of roster.

 

I believe he's older than Shaq....judging by the size of their beard

 

Who would be our number one option if not James Harden? There aren't too many players out there that are available that can do what Harden is doing.

If you're basing this thread on his recent shooting slump then you're overreacting. All NBA players are bound to struggle at one point and Harden is young.

 

Agree MambaJoe they got to be able to hit the shots. I certainly don't have a problem with his passing (even on high turnover days). I also agree we need to do something about pf position. If we aren't going to get any offense out of the 4's then why not get Smith more minutes at the 4 so at least we will get some D out of position. Ultimately I want to see DMo out there at the 4 to be a post threat we need. I guess they could keep using Morris/Patterson at 4 to get their values up but that certainly isn't getting us anything but loses. At this point I would look for any reasonable deal and cut ties and give Dmo and TJones time to develop (along with more smith minutes). If we going to lose some because lack of 4s production let's use the 4s with highest upside that we got.
The comment about parsons can only make so much though, he only took 9 shots on the 16 pts so I am sure he could have done more if he had the opportunity. But yeah agree

 

Whaat?

Harden has the second highest assist numbers besides PGs behind only lebron...

He rebounds almost 5 a night for a SG... what do you want 10 a night? Hes in the top-10 for SG(#8 actually) per game...

Ill give you his D is lax but it is more underrated than over-rated...

Get your facts right before you make ignorent posts like that...

 

He's by far the worst defender on the team and its not even close. I'd agree with the rest though.

Silly thread.

 

Out of all the role players When it comes to advanced stats patrick patterson is our worst defender with a 109 D rating and a .5 D/win shares, compared to hardens(less than stellar) 107 and 1.3...

 

The question that i pose to you is, which number 1 options in the league are better than harden. If your answer consists of lebron, durant, kobe and melo, than I would say we are in a pretty good position for having a number 1 option.

Add a couple of other number 1 options in the league if you please and that still puts harden under the top 10.

If you think about it that way, harden is more than a legit 1st option.

In my opinion, the only other first options i would have on this team at this point in their respective careers are lebron, kd and some may argue melo/kobe. Otherwise, harden is better than the other 1st options in the league.

 

Dude stop looking at stats out of context and position title. First like I said, "better" passer. For a SG he has the ball more in his hands than our PG, so he does friggin need to have higher assists than other SGs and less TO. As for rebounds, he is behind shorter guys like Lowry, Hill etc. Now I am not saying its fair, but if you want to be a superstar, then you got to deliver like one. Hope he improves.

 

So if a guy can't carry the team to wins completely on his own then he's not a number one option? Even the greats needed good teams around them. There are few who are capable of carrying a team solo. Harden looks like someone who can do that when he's feeling it.

 

Harden is widely considerred a great distributer... i dont see how putting him with every none PG in my assists stat is out of context... do you want him to pass better than pgs? I will not argue his TO need to reduce drastically, but most of those come from drives to the lane...

Sure hes behind hill and lowry(a greeaat rebounding PG) doesnt mean he isnt good at it...

Hardens biggest flaw he needs to fix and work on is his TO... 2nd is defense... his TOs will go down as he groms, im not worried about it... but he needs to improve his defense... it doesny have to be world elite but atleast respectable...

I say all that in order for him to become a top5 player because hes already a superstar... 25/5/5 at 23 is nothing to shake a stick at...

 

Lebron is the best in the world and he couldnt do it alone...

EVERYONE needs help...

 

You're crazy man. Let Harden AND Lin develop for at least 2 seasons together. Then you can say whatever you want. Harden is amazing, and looking at how young he is, he's just going to improve and get better based on the progress/results he's shown us thus far. He's just on a slump right now, and so are his team mates. I blame it on the coach for his subbing decisions and iso + 3 point play play calls, but then, you can't always blame the coach, because the coach isn't playing, it's the players that are, so it's the players responsibility to show energy and win games.

Anyways, how come we can't just let Harden and Lin be... and then we can all talk when the season is over about what they did/didn't do?

Sigh... I really hope we start a winning streak today against the T'Wolves, rockets need to get off this terrible slump they're in!

Mr. D

 

FYI, you have Johnson's FG% wrong, it was 47.1% the year he averaged 25 pts/game. Also Johnson was not nearly as effective as getting to the line (only 5.5 attempts per game, versus Harden's 9.8 this year). That makes a huge difference.

 

Harden needs to com off the bench like lol

no im serious lol

Lin
Delfino
Parsons
Morris
Asik

 

Serious question to the OP, name 10 players you would rather have as a #1 option going forward. Crap, name 5!

I will get you started:

Lebron
Kevin Durant

 

hikanoo49 threads always seems whacky

Should we trade Omer Asik while his stock is high?‎
Should we start posting up Jeremy Lin?‎
Which players style of play does Lin remind you of?
Who is your favorite Rocket of ALL TIME?!?! (includes Lin as an option)
Whats makes Jeremy Lin such a true competitor?
In 1 years time, what would you like the Rockets roster to look like?