Ultimate "James Harden Doesn't Play Defense" Video

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/9/11/6137089/james-harden-defense-is-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-bad

It seems that Harden gets the media hate now more than anybody in the NBA. Every lapse magnified. I'm personally looking forward for Harden to prove them all wrong this coming season.

 

Proving what wrong? he only needs to do it once every 5 games and they'll feel justified.

 

I fear you might be right. The only way I guess for him to redeem himself is to have a deep post season success.

 

who cares what media thinks? we only need to win. I doubt it bothers James what media thinks.

 

Yup. Harden will likely be a media target for years to come, and possibly the entirety of his prime. Unless he becomes simply dominant defensively, he'll always get media hate.

 

if u think he is going to change right away you guys guy are mistaken..he is a one type of player and that is just to score

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>VIDEO: Watch James Harden not play defense, again. <a href="http://t.co/fziRYbJ6cv">http://t.co/fziRYbJ6cv</a></p>&mdash; Deadspin (@Deadspin) <a href="https://twitter.com/Deadspin/status/511262970471800832">September 14, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Not gonna lie I laughed at the possession. Hardens defensive awareness is horrible when it comes to offball defense. If only he wouldnt "ball watch " so much

 

He needs to be evaluated for ADD.

 

Patrick couldn't set a pick to save his life. Harden can't stay focused longer than 5 seconds on defense. Its sad to see these simple duties can't be done.

 

Hopefully, he gets tired of the media and people embarrassing him that he decides to take the Defensive end serious.

T_Man

 

Oh man I only saw a short gif of that play and I assumed he lost his man in transition or something. Nope, just flat out forgot he was supposed to be guarding someone. Cue the endless cycle of "it's only FIBA, he'll do better in the regular season" -> "it's only the regular season, he'll do better when it matters in the playoffs" -> "he has to do SO MUCH on offense in the playoffs, he'd do better if he played fewer minutes/had less of an offensive load. He'll play great defense for Team USA!".

Honestly it's a testament to his greatness on offense that he's still a top ~5 player in the entire NBA even though he's probably one of the worst defenders at his position.

 

As much as harden is an offensive genius, he is the opposite spectrum defensively.
For simpletons in general, you have to give them one task.
Tell Harden not to worry about help defense and he should always be touching the jersey of his assigned player.
Watch him somehow hold on to his own,teammate's... Lol

 

That's what I am hoping for Harden...but I won't get my hopes up until Harden shows that he really can play and WILL(most important) play defense.

 

Harden is maybe the only player in the history of the nba that will have an "omg you suck at defense" based upon a late close out. For us there were extended periods of nothing defensively, for team usa there's really no different to everyone else's lapse here and there.

 

Dirk had the reputation for a long time for being soft and a weak defender. While at times he fit that mold just as harden does with his defense, people didn't shut up about dirk until he took his team all the way.

Let the media dog harden....he needs to be pushed to excellence.

 

I don't know what's more believable. The dragic is coming to Houston or Harden for the million time will be motivated.

 

People are literally watching games just waiting for Harden to make 1 defensive mistake so that they can record it with their phone, upload it, make a gif, and post in to Twitter so that they can be in on the "joke" and everyone can laugh.

It's "cool" to hate on Harden's defense right now.

I mean, don't get me wrong, his defense needs work for sure, but people are literally uploading every single one of his mistakes to Twitter.

It's strange.

 

It's absolutely bizarre. The power of a "narrative" is amazing.

You can make ANY player in basketball history look terrible if you blow one individual play out of proportion. There are so many possessions and so many games that even great offensive players are going to have individual trips where they look completely inept, and elite defenders are going to completely lose track of things. LeBron James has multiple bad defensive plays every game. It happens.

Now, I'm not saying Harden is a great defender. For one thing, his lateral quickness is average at best. But he's been MUCH more engaged throughout the World Cup. Particularly today -- he was closing out and trapping the ball with an aggression like I've rarely ever seen before. But he loses track of the scheme for 3 seconds on one possession and the Simpleton Mob on Twitter has a field day. Not saying you can't criticize Harden's defense in the World Cup, but get back to me with inclusive data, not one random play from one possession of one game. This is equivalent to saying Jose Altuve is a bad hitter after showing video of him swinging at one bad pitch during one AB of a 162-game season.

It's disgusting and shameful journalism, as I told SB Nation today. It's click-bait trolling to get a few shares and clicks from the Simpleton Mob, and they gleefully w**** themselves out for it. Welcome to "journalism" in 2014.

 

I hear you guys, but the problem is Harden put himself in this position and now he has to pay the consequences for his actions or lack there of...

I've been watching FIBA and there are times when James is trying and then there are a lot of times where he's back to OLE defense...

He has to take the defensive end of the game serious... I had my nephew tell my son something at basketball practice, he said "you want them to leave you alone? Then just do it right and I promise you they will leave you alone."

That's what James has to do, he has to work on getting it right so people will leave him alone.

T_Man