[Huffington Post] James Harden's Glaring Defensive Problem Is Way Worse Than You Thought

nothing surprising about this. Your best player cannot be this bad defensively and he will never win a title as long as he is considered the #1 guy on a playoff team. This puts a huge limit on the players he can play with also. Doesn't matter what he does on offense.

 

Nice, hope someone sends this to Harden. He needs to get called out every day until he improves.

 

I'll say it again...

Harden should be a 6th man off of the bench.

 

I'm happy for this. First the article even though it had some inaccuracies didn't say anything wrong. Harden's defence has fallen that much. And more importantly hopefully it will shame Harden and he will try some more.

BTW defensive rpm is a joke. According to that Evan Fournier and Monta Ellis are better defensive sg than Klay thompson and Wesley Matthews.

 

I'm what could pass as a Harden apologist around here, and I couldn't find any fault with their piece. It was essentially all true without being as histrionic about it as Clutchfans.

The team's terrible defense isn't because of Harden (after all, with a similar starting five and a similarly bad Harden in '13-'14 the defense was much better than this), it's a number of factors including notable slippage from Bev and Ariza. But at the same time, if you're going to lead a team to a title you absolutely cannot write off defense as something you skip to improve your energy on offense, like the Harden quote from last month. At the very least, you have to do a credible Tony Parker impression - Parker leans on his teammates a lot for help on defense but he never just stops and stands flatfooted.

 

Damn. "Disgraceful and indefensible." That about sums it up. Just didn't expect it to be part of an article appearing outside of a sports site.

It won't make any difference, though. From articles I've read, Harden has always wanted to be a star: "Mom," said young James, "I'm going to be a star."

Well, he is that, and his scoring numbers attest to that. But is it all he cares about?

I can't fault him much after his effort last night resulting in a triple double, but again, the poor defense of the entire team just dragged them under, and his numbers were for naught.

As David Thorpe said on Lowe's podcast (paraphrasing here), "I was hoping last year that I was seeing Harden mature. I was wrong. He's the same guy."

And he keeps getting lit up by opposing shooting guards, even if they normally are suck players.

But hell, even Ariza has been jack-squat this season. It's the entire team....loafing on defense, not getting back. Showing Forrest Gump I.Q. on defense, on positioning, rebounds. MAKING A SIMPLE G.D. LAYUP OR DUNK.

Since defense is about effort, it means too many players on the team don't care and/or don't try. And that has been the worst part of this season.

 

Great piece. Spot on. Absolute garbage on the defensive end and he brings the entire team down with his lack of energy, focus etc. As leader, he has been nothing but disgraceful at that end. SO many opposing SG's and wings light him up on a regular basis.

Waiting for delusional no bball knowledge fools like jordnnn or fizzle or lars to tell show us some random stat to excuse Harden of the absolute **** he has been on the defensive end.

 

HuffPost is 99% clickbait garbage. They weren't always that way but it's what they've become. Has anyone else noticed this change or is it just me? Even the article title is click baity.

With that said...

Didn't read the article but I wouldn't be surprised if it's fairly accurate.

 

It has officially gotten sad.
Can we end this season already? I legit have given up hope. It's one thing to ride by your team though the bad but this, this is just pathetic.

 

You're narrative about Harden bringing the entrie team down is such opinionated bull****. Players are in charge of themselves.


As to the article it's a great piece I hope it finds its way back to Harden.

 

Sadly, I too agree with the article. I have come to see James as a 1970's gunner playing in the 2000-teens. Some of those guys *really* used to play no defense, and it was okay. Run up and down the floor, score, and see who has a better shooting game. Plenty of vintage and famous players in that mold.

Everyone wanting him to change should give up. There's a large enough body of work that we know what we have. He just can't sustain interest in playing D. Maybe he thinks he can turn it on when he needs it, but basketball people know: it doesn't work like that. Habits are hard to break, and his fundamental defensive habits are awful.

 

LMAO

You say this in every post.

I actually agree with the article. Kind of surprised the Huffington Post wrote such an article, but they sum it up pretty well. Who denies James Harden is bad at defense?

 

Largely true of the internet in general. None of the economic models are working, and they're desperate. True for BSPN, etc. Grantland failed, etc.

But HuffPo (I've written for them in the past) mainly uses guest writers, so it is INCREDIBLY variable. This one was okay and hard to debate, really.

 

pretty sure a lead article on Huff Po about his bad defense is going to find its way back to Harden.

 

Wow did not know about quote from Harden saying who do you know nowadays that plays 40 minutes on both ends Is that his excuse???

I hope the national media will continue to **** on this guy and hard. Love this article and the bolded line in particular. Harden does not care and Morey and teammates need to call him out. I don't give a **** what type of player he is and how he would respond to it. It is time!!!

 

I checked out basketball reference and according to that site James Harden is a shooting guard and has started every game he has played as a Rocket.

That stat leads me to believe that Harden's defense is excusable.

 

Nothing new here, but those videos are painful to watch.

The space between Harden and his defender is an ocean.

 

Please, please, can we get Battier to teach him positional defense? Battier was not the most athletic but he knew where to be on defense. He used his brain which I know James has one...sometimes.

 

I hope more people on the national media continue to call out this clown's pathetic excuse of defensive play. I've defended this man so much last year only for him to take 2 steps back on that side of the ball. Dude has the ability to be a great defender, not sure if the Rockets ask too much from him or he legit just doesnt care either the more they call out his play the better.Grow up man.