The media agenda regarding James Harden's "defense"

Why are we even remotely surprised? Anything that will generate any publicity and hits will always be posted online. The Rockets are losing against teams they should be consistently beating and one of the biggest reasons for that is the teams defensive efforts. Who is going to be the focal point of that scrutiny? The franchise player of that team James Harden. Even when the Rockets were playing beastly last year, Harden didn't really get the correct credits he deserved.

 

I think ESPN is only trying to discredit James's incredible game and low-key protecting Curry because he's their favorite. Notice Saturday nite against the Bulls pregame had nothing but Steph Curry highlights from last week???? He wasn't even in the game

 

How in the world ANYONE can defend harden and his defense amazes the hell out of me!! That guy is beyond awful and it would be one thing if he didn't have the skills but as most point out he can play great defense he just chooses not too! Which is a billion times worse!!! And please don't come back with the reply that it's because he has the ball in his hands all the time, he chooses to stop and dribble the damn ball for 20 seconds before giving it up and making our other guys take terrible shots which lowers their shooting percentages!! If harden wouldn't dominate the ball so heavy I think our offense would be a hell of a lot better and wouldn't rely on him so much, but back to the topic don't defend him about his defense I have never seen a player as bad because they choose too!! We will never win a championship with him because the good teams will tear him apart he is not a leader in anyway

 

Also it doesn't matter very much if you score 40 if you give up 40 or 50.... Stop gobbling up stats! Harden will always have good stats because he always has the damn ball but defense wins championships, and when you have arguably the worst defender in the league as your leader that does not bode well

 

Do you even watch the games?? That hardly ever happens. Everyone on this team gets plenty, PLENTY of wide, WIDE open looks. Problem is, they aren't great shooters and collectively have underperformed hitting wide open shots.

Yes, as can be seen almost every night when Harden sits and this team manages to give up leads or if behind already, manages to get blown out within minutes.

 

When has this ever happened?? I tell you - NEVER!!!!

 

Either the answer is no or he's some trolls long dormant sleeper cell.

I refuse to believe someone who's been around since 2002 hasn't figured out how to use paragraphs yet.

 

Harden is easily the worst defender in the entire NBA. He deserves the scrutiny.

 

He is possibly the worst defender in the NBA. I don't like ESPN, but I'm happy if they're piling it on because I feel like he doesn't quite understand how bad he really is.

In the environment he's in, I don't know if there are people telling him he is among the worst defenders in the league. I think teammates and coaches tell him he needs to try harder and he thinks he just needs to improve it by 10-20%. Obviously JB won't tell him. If they're not already doing it, the team should distribute defensive stats to the team after games which includes a comparison with league average defensive stats.

The guy has an attention problem. I think he actually has mild ADD. It would explain his movement off the ball on the offensive end and defensive end. It's hard to lose focus when you're holding the ball. It also would explain why he's better at defending bigger guys in the post - it's hard to lose focus on the guy you're defending when he's bodying you up vs running around.

That's why I think we could see a small defensive improvement if we moved him to the 3 and got a quicker defensive specialist than Ariza at the 2 spot, someone like Avery Bradley.

 

He's nowhere near the worst defender in the League you clown. Horrendous post.

 

Name one worse than he is. (Kobe doesn't count)

 

Terrence Jones

 

Here is the bad thing about James. He is not a bad defender when he chooses to play D, he just chooses not to play defense. A player of his caliber should never be a turn style, especially in crunch time. It was under 3 minutes to go in the Toronto game. Granted he had 4 Personal Fouls but look at his positioning and body language on D. At least show a good defensive front, give your team mate who got rubbed off a pick a chance to catch up to the play. You never know you may turn the man on defensive stance alone. Also, your team mates know you have 4 they will protect you, but you have to put forth the effort man!!!

 

Exactly!! James harden is all about himself , he is not a team player and that pisses me off!! It's one thing if you can't play defense but he WONT play defense ! He takes some really really stupid shots at times, the rockets will never win with him leading ! I love my rockets but never have I disliked a player on my team more

 

Not even going to bother responding to this question. You're clueless if you think Harden's close to one of the worst defenders in the League. He's not even the worst defender that's an All-Star. I can name 4 or 5 other players that are clearly worse defenders.

Harden's a notoriously lazy defender, he's shown he can play great D when motivated and fully engaged.

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He was literally a defensive stopper back on the Thunder.

 

Define "win".

 

People criticize Harden for many things but IMO the over dribbling thing is very valid and it happens very frequently...

Harden is a very polarizing star among his own fanbase, meaning there is probably merit on both sides. Just like Tmac.

The problem with both haters and apologists is that they have selective memories.

 

best post in this entire thread.

 

I was one of his most vehement defenders last year, but he has regressed badly this year so I'm fine with him being called out. He needs to try harder.

As for being the worst defender in the NBA, he's not close. Granted he has been terrible, but he hasn't even been the worst defender on this team, much less the whole league. Terry, Lawson and Jones have been much bigger liabilities this year

 

Why don't you actually prove it?

Like chart a game and see if it's a problem.

This is a common refrain from types like DD and such - and nobody every provides any evidence of it.

All of the plays are archived - you could do this if you wanted.


http://on.nba.com/1QF0djQ - here is the tape of every FGA from Sunday. I watched maybe the first 6-7 then got bored and shut it off.

I didn't see a single example of something you say "happens very frequently" - it's mostly Harden dribbling and creating space and then passing or shooting within a few seconds and the flow of the game, not the "runs the shot clock down then jacks one up" that, in the minds of Harden haters, happens somewhere between 48 and 134% of the time.

From what I recall, hte only time Harden dribbles the ball down and shoots is towards the end of periods.

Regardless - he's still the most effective on-the-ball player in the NBA and the Rockets have one of the best offenses in the NBA - about as good as last year.

This is a major point of cognitive dissonance among a large proporiton of Rockets fans.