Here. This was like a month ago. Lost in some thread because I was never a create a thread kind of guy. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=10169269&postcount=6 Sums it up, dude has no communication on defense. Doesn't move on offense when he doesn't have the ball. Sure go look at the box score and see he's 25/5/7 or something similar but his energy as a top dog player on this team leak onto others.
LOL. If you're going to play that game, people can list 100x more things that are a direct result of Harden's lazy play. Give it up, you've been exposed for being a fanboy who doesn't give a **** about the team.
The problem with Harden is that he just doesn't play the right way. Everyone else on the team wants to push the ball and move the ball. Harden doesn't really fit. I really don't know if a coaching change would help much. Harden is going to be Harden. I don't know if he can play any other way on offense. I do know he could play much harder on defense if he wanted to. Harden is tremendously talented, there is no doubt about that. I just don't think we can win a championship with Harden as our leader.
Teams can win games consistently when role players perform below par. When your ultra high usage superstar guard is historically bad on defense and astronomically turns the ball over game in and game out while wasting 8+ attempts per game at a low percentage jacking up 3s thinking he's Steph Curry, yes he would be the largest contributor to the Rockets being barely at .500 team.
James Harden is a superstar player having a subpar year based on the high standards set by his past seasons. He's playing on a poorly constructed team that can't seem to generate offense without him. He's a poor defender, but not the lone source of our defensive problems. The blame and hate he gets on this board is unjustified. It's fair to critique and even be frustrated, but I don't understand why people seem to detest him.
How can anyone say that he is anything but just terrible this year?! Redick went off for 40 pts on him. Brewer went off on him for 52 pts a couple years ago? How does no one see this? How does Morey not see this. How can anyone pretend that it is ok. The problem with having a guy like him is that for every point you make you allow the other team to make a point. Teams have figured that out. Put a physical body on him and he is lost. Give the ball to anyone he is defending and watch them score lights out. He has no consistent 3 pt shot like Curry has to stretch the floor out for Dwight so it is just a recipe for disaster. When we lost Dmo and Josh we lost our ability to spread the floor for Harden to Euro step in. That destroys his ability to get his game going and be effective at all. Trade harden for Butler and this team goes to the finals. No one is compensating for anyone's inability to defend. Has everyone forgotten what happened when Artest and Battier were the starting wings instead of Mcgrady? We almost beat the Championship Lakers. Dwight has shown that he still has it in him and if Harden can't get it together soon we should trade him before everyone figures put what most of in Houston have and some teams have. Many of us may not agree with what DaDakota says but it is obscene if no one can see just plain logic. You can not win ball games by just trading points. Especially when your weakest defender which happens to be James Harden is guarding 3 pt snipers and people who have the ability to drive at will and either get a basket or get your bigman in foul trouble.
I see you have moved the goal post. Look I get it, I know why you are doing what you are doing. Its the natural human response. Be mad, be enraged! Its gonna make you feel better.
Not sure if trolling or not... - They were playing without Griffin. We should have taken the game even without Dmo and Bev - How are you going to bring up FTs, when Harden missed more than Dwight? We already know Jones and Capela can't shoot FTs worth crap - Small ball isn't going to win us the game. It can be used effectively in certain situations, furthermore, blaming a loss on not playing 4 quarters of small ball is like saying we would have swept the Clippers last year if we just rolled out the comeback squad for 4 games - now you're just being an idiot. - Harrell plays well in spurts, but 40 minutes of Harrell isn't going to be much better than Jones.
He has the 2nd highest usage rate of players who get regular minutes, higher than even Dwight's... Yes having your team's 2nd highest usage rate while being a complete negative can certainly swing 9-10 games. Harden is a positive when he's on the court, the issue this year is he isn't as much of a positive as he was last year, but he's still about the same as he was the year before.
Kudos on having to post stuff that is common sense, but that guy is as dense as they come. Go look in his "the real issues" thread. Wants a stats only argument, but only validates his own cherry picked stats in his own context. He's the equivalent of a LOF. I mean, its not like any of us hate Harden, all of us were super high on him last year because he helped the team. His play this year is an absolute disgrace, and justifying it is pretty much a slap in the face to good basketball everywhere.
Got any historically bad defensive starts to back that up? Just curious if you seen something or just throwing insults out. He's bad defensively just not sure it's historical
I haven't moved the goal post. Pay attention to nuanced diction. I never stated Harden is responsible for EVERYTHING. He is the MOST responsible. That has always been my position this season.
^^ That last clippers game was really the fault of the basketball gods . They just got so hot from 3 . Yeah our defense sucked , but even with bad defense they still hit a lot of contested 3's . In a vacuum that **** shouldn't have happened . Harden was probably responsible for reddick maybe 25 % of the time . Jones and Capela and montrezl not knowing where they were supposed to be hurt us more defensively . Of course , ty / pat/ jet / James/ Marcus didn't exactly hold down the fort o the perimeter either .
I've never seen an NBA player in my 15 years of following the NBA that basically hovers around one area of the half-court set playing a quasi 'zone d' by switching at every opportunity so he can limit the amount of feet he travels in a defensive position. I've never seen that with an NBA player. If you are in the NBA and are a guard you absolutely should have the stamina to fight through screens and chase around your man especially at the sg position where the opponent sg is lily to run around screens and curls.
dude if we win a championship or something i'll gladly eat my words but. i don't want harden on this team anymore. he hurts the team. it breaks my heart to see dwight just dominate for four quarters and the "best" player on the team just is a turnover machine who gives zero effort. we know we aren't winning anything, if there was ever a chance, it was last season. he's not going to get better. i'm basically just "done" with him at this point. i'd rather have demarcus cousins on the team. i'd rather have chandler parsons back on the team. i can't think of a single other "star" player who shows so little effort. sometimes john wall comes out flat but everyone in DC loves him, he's such a great guy. harden is just...garbage.
You certainly implied it. When I made the statement that I didn't believe that Harden was the root of all our problems, DD disagreed, and then you asked for me to provide a nuanced argument why he was wrong. I gave a list of problems that he was not responsible for.
Harden is becoming a cancer. He needs a real coach to keep him in line. If the organization doesn't realize this then they are screwed. The hate Harden is getting is justified.
