Regardless, you can't even compare Dwight from back then to Dwight in his Rockets years. Not even remotely the same player. Dwight was a top 2-3 player in the league for a few years.
I agree. And his role was entirely different. Which is why I said it's not really a comparable situation.
I am quite sure that there are more Kobe haters and LeBron haters, maybe even Jordan haters out there than Harden haters. But these guys also have tons of fans not from their own teams. I don't think Harden has many fans outside of his own team's fan base. I guess part of it is because Harden has not achieved much like the Kobes and Lebrons in the sports world. But the main thing, at least from my contacts with non-Rockets fans, is that Harden's game is simply not pretty to the casual fan, and he doesn't have a good personality (or a personality to speak of, period) that is larger than life like those other stars.
The reason a lot of posters hate Harden is because he is a bit of a man w****. A number of posters went to high school and college with Harden, and James being the man w**** he is, stole a number of their girlfriends. James gave them back when he was done, but some posters this was an insult to great to bear.
Why do folks around here keep bringing up Curry in discussions of harden defense, as if they're in the same vein? Curry is a great defensive player, he's just overshadowed by all-NBA D teammates. Didn't you read the post just above yours, that Curry has the same drtg as Lebron James? With meteoric O? The MVP is lightyears ahead of the MVP wanna be of 2016.
This is where you went wrong. Any stat that puts Curry, an undersized guard in the same category as LeBron in terms of defense is suspect. Analyze your sauces people, don't trust things at face value. Curry is no defender, he is a sharpshooter and a runner. Don't get me wrong, he's the best sharpshooter we will ever see, but don't be so quick to give him any more than that.
LOL at the low bball IQ fans here who would rather hate on harden than hating on morey, les, mchale, jbb, d12, tjones, brewer, terry, jsmith, mcdaniels, dmos back, pbev's pg skills, ariza's decline, and capela's slow development
Well before you guys compare Hardens hate to other good players......those guys have still a bunch of fans from fans outside of the players team. Harden on the other hand not so much. Its become like a cool and funny thing to hate on him because he does not try to prove them wrong and seems to not care.
This is where you went wrong. Curry is a very good defender, and he's nowhere near the defensive liability that Harden fans wish he was. Sure, the Cavs exploited him with Lebron, but how many point guards can guard Lebron? And yes, Irving hit a lot of clutch shots while being guarded by Curry, but that was simply good defense being beaten by better offense.
It's not often you see a 26 year old superstar regress from the prior year. And Jones, DMo, Brewer, and Dwight have all received significantly more hate than Harden.
Nope, he's not. That's been the narrative since he was a rookie, but he's evolved into a very good defender.
Simply put....People are sheep. ESPN Tells them what to like and not like and people can't make judgement or think for themselves anymore. Look no further than that Harden new shoe fiasco...Anyone with a brain knows those shoes are not done, hell they didn't even start on them but they went viral and idiots believed that those shoes were getting released. THe media constantly hates on Harden so the casuals hate him too.....The NBA plays to the casuals.
Again, not sure how any rational and sane person can construe all these as regressing especially when you consider the rockets coaching and supporting cast last year were basically the worst in the league One of only 4 players (LBJ, MJ, Big O) who have averaged 29, 7.5, 6 in a single season Played all 82 games League leading 38 mins/gm Led the league in drawing contact while in the act of shooting Scoring runner-up 29.0 pts/gm First among non-PGs 7.5 asts/gm (more than Lebron and Curry) Tied for 2nd among guards 6.1 rebs/gm Tied for 4th among guards 0.6 blks/gm Drives, scores off drives, and passes off drives as much as Lebron http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...t=DRIVES&dir=1 Moves around as far (works as hard) on offense and defense as Steph Curry and more than Lebron, WB, and KD http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...IST_FEET&dir=1 Generates points off touches as efficient as Steph Curry but more efficient than Lebron http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...=TOUCHES&dir=1 Catch and shoots 3 pointers more efficient than KD http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...gular Season Shoots pull ups more efficient than WB http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...L_UP_PTS&dir=1 Defends the rim almost as good as WB http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...M_FG_PCT&dir=1
I dont hate him. I just dont credit him being a superstar like many on here do. Dude is a offensive beast but that is it....until he changes that.