What does Harden need to do to win over the casual fans?

There is nothing Harden can do to change the negative perception of him, which is tattooed in people's so-called brains.

I've said it before and it will always be true: if Harden saved a young girl from an abandoned well, the commentators on BSPN and TNT would say, "Well, he did the right thing, but Steph would have saved her faster. And look how he nearly falls down when he brings her up. When does he not flop?"

 

How doesn't it make? You can't even explain yourself. Harden is to lazy on defense so we switch everything to comp. No team in the NBA switch like we do. For God's sake most the time Capela is defending guards and Harden on bigs. And we suck at rebounding.

 

My post was great

 

They try. They have a GM that wants to win really bad. Proudful people that like to prove people wrong from top to bottom. Compared to most organization.

 

BTW I like James Harden. I don't love him, but he's my favorite player in the NBA by default. He's the best player on my favorite team.

 

Haters hate no matter what. Even when given evidence.

Casual fans parrot the loudest voices in the room, the "influencers." And that is the hot takers. They set the agenda. Everything cascades.

Harden will always be hated because of "aesthetics" of his game. But the hottakers and influencers could come around if Harden leads the Rockets to a championship.

I mean, whatever. Right now, Harden is balling. I hope he continues to ball and his play is a FU to those doubters.

 

The full explanation is lengthy, but the short version is that it's the best defense against the Warriors. They get tons of open shots based on their ball movement and their player movement off ball, and by far the most effective counter to all of that is to switch on every action. It prevents them from getting the open looks that their offense thrives on. The only downside to this strategy is potential mismatches, and also letting them dictate the defensive matchups if they chose to do so. This is why there was so much emphasis on having a team of 5 switch defenders. The strategy had nothing to do with hiding Harden.

The reason your post doesn't make sense is because 'switch everything' actually makes it way easier for the other team to exploit Harden defensively. If we wanted to hide Harden, switching everything would be the worst way to do that.

 

Spoiler

 

Except for the pure fans

 

1-17 is definitely a step in the wrong direction.

 

I agree that the switch everything concept is the best way to defend the WARRIORS especially for the Rockets. Harden has no chance of fighting through screens or picks vs GS.

Explain why employ that strategy vs every team?

The point to have a bunch of versitle defenders IS to hide Harden. We need players that can guard every position because Harden can't guard his.

And no. Switching everything is the best way to hide Harden. He's a big guard who switches on to bigger players where he can use his size and strength. He has a better chance playing bigs in the post then switching on guards with no effort.

 

like a 6 year old girl writing a letter to curry not being able to find girl sizes of harden vol 3's, and leading to more purchases of your shoes

Stephen Curry as much as I hate the guy has an excellent pr team

 

Narrative was completely changed after warriors game. People were giving respect across the board. He has games like this and that’s what causes all the hate. It wasn’t only about shooting (which I know most national media is focused on that) but he also didn’t play any defense

 

the last time Harden didn't care about his numbers was the 2015 season, and when he didn't win mvp, he probably felt he needed to statpad to get the award, because when push comes to shove harden is not that popular among media voters. Harden has to do way above and beyond to the point where they cant deny him. Harden seems like the kinda guy if you doubt him, he will come back and make you eat your words. Their are tons of people who think LeBron deserved mvp last year, This year Harden is having the best offensive season of time per 100 possesions. So in a sense you can say guys like Giannis, embiid,leonard, and jokic don't have to do as much as harden to get mvp's. But that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes

 

Hardens defense is actually pretty great when he wants it to be, I would go as far as say top 10 in league if not better. Issue is he is either conserving energy for offense or being lazy half the time

 

With Ray Allen no one ever considered him a generational superstar, MVP, player. People are talking about harden as maybe best offensive player ever. When expectations are high then criticism is also high. I don’t think anyone thinks Ray Allen is in same category as harden

 

LOL, don't hold back!

 

From what I see after he has an occasional off-game, maybe the question should be: What does Harden need to do to win over ClutchFans?

 

Win a ring. That’s gonna be his ultimate redemption.

It’s always been the trump card for Haters. From T-Mac and Dirk to even Lebron