The media agenda regarding James Harden's "defense"

There's no media agenda. Harden is one of the WORST superstars in defence. It's entirely justifiable this year.

 

Wait, how does he get so much mileage with so little speed? He just keeps walking and walking?

 

Harden's defense isn't lockdown at all times, in no small part because he us making the same trade off that most gifted offensive players who carry a massive burden make....all of them.

Unfortunately he is singled out to an extent others are not largely due to memegenesis. Whatever. It happens.

The Rockets are better for it regardless.

And yeah i love me some Harden. Call it a man crush or being a Rocket fan. Whatever

Better for him to be one of the actual greatest players in franchise history/best oin the universe right now....... than one of your serial parade of great white hopes that end up plying their trade in various Balkan backwaters despite DD promises of alphadogdom...

 

I'll field this for him. He constantly told us storied NBA flop and DD favorite Spanoulis was the next Steve Nash.

Turns out he was more of a Nash Bridges.

 

Yeah, tell that to Hakeem or Jordan - stop making excuses for him NOT trying hard all the time.

It is not unfortunate it is the truth - the man needs to play defense.

The nose dive of this year is directly related to the lack of defense - and Harden is the main culprit....better for it my ass!

I like him too - I love his game on offense - I hate that he gold bricks it on defense. I think a better stricter coach would bring more out of him.

He could be the 2nd best to ever play, but without playing defense he can't touch Hakeem.

A lot like Harden on defense - but the way he passed the ball and shot the ball made him a better player than Harden - Nash was the best shooting PG ever until Curry.

DD

 

So, you still love Harden's offensive game, tho not as much as Nash (which is fair). yet you agree they both were liabilities defensively. So why all the hate? Shouldn't we be happy to have a player of Harden's caliber then? That is not to say that he is above critisism. However, these posts read like he is some sort of cancer we need to get rid of. I think people forget how much we clamored for that sort of player.

Yes - lowry, ab, scola years were fun to watch. But the board wasn't any less whiney about the team and were constantly complaining about the lack of star power.

 

A classic El Rushbo take...St. MJ and Hakeem never took plays off...therefore something something Harden.

None of this is actually true. Jordan suffered from the "sure he can score but he can't defend" bulls hit for years early on his career, probably he was dragging stiffs like Ed Neely along.

Hakeem was accused of quitting on the team and faking injuries by management and nearly ridden out of town for Danny Manning.

They also had the comparative luxury of playing in the laughably poor defending 80s and 90s where a Harden swipe would have gotten him 3rd team all defense. But I'm sure if vine existed back then there'd be sub maximal effort plays by both, just like there are for LeBron, Curry, etc.

It's reality over here where the rest of us live.

 

I don't hate Harden - I hate people making excuses when he plays lazy.

Stop making excuses, hold him to a higher standard....I expect my team's superstars to play like it, and at LEAST try on defense.

DD

 

Really when was that because he was NBA defensive player of the year in his 3rd season.

Tis true, but he was always playing hard on both ends when he was on the floor.

WTF? ??????????????????????? You mean when hand checking was allowed, and the Pistons were the bad boys, and the Knicks would lock teams down?

It is NOW that teams are not playing defense - much worse than the 90s....

I do agree about the media exposure being higher though, all the more reason to play harder.

You make more excuses - just stop, you are looking silly here....hold him to a higher standard..

DD

 

every thread you click on in the GARM, you'll see three DD posts on the same page arguing with a bunch of people. don't you guys see it? he's a troll with an agenda. which is unfortunate because i do think he's a fan...but he's got his agenda so far up his ass that he's blind towards what's actually happening on the court.

blaming harden for lawson's ineptitude is a ****ing joke. anyone with eyes should have seen how timid and unaggressive lawson was even with the ball. there's a difference between not being able to play off the ball and NOT TRYING at all, which is what lawson was doing. even ****ing jeremy lin showed more balls and occasional big games next to harden than lawson as a rocket. and it's harden's job to do everything, and it's fair to pick him apart on any mistake he made yet lawson takes NO blame for not adjusting his game on a team that won 56 games last year and made it to the wcf the year before. nope. he's TY LAWSON, a mini cp3 (ROFL), so it's expected we turn the offense over to him completely, and everyone else adjusts...how the holy hell should we expect the great ty lawson to make movements like he cares, try to play defense, try to push the ball in transition, try be an off the bounce playmaker when there's another player on the team that likes the ball?? c'mon guys, it's mini cp3. brewer might suck, but the dude at least tries to push the ball in transition, something lawson didn't even attempt to do. and don't tell me he didn't have the opportunity when brewer tries to take the opportunity at least a couple times per game...

lawson didn't even attempt to fit here - i agree our coaching staff didn't know how to use him and it's not an optimal fit with harden, but when you played as bad as lawson did, then it goes beyond anything else and the onus falls on the player itself.

i love how DD holds other guys accountable for EVERYTHING. but the guys he chooses to defend it's everyone else's fault. look in the mirror and realize how hypocritical you are. it's why no one can take you seriously and you feel like you have to post 1000x in a thread because of how flip floppy your arguments are.

and harden worked before with other guards, he worked well enough with westbrook at times in okc. he had some occasional big games with lin in the backcourt, but lin wasn't good enough to be consistent at it...we thought lawson could be, but he wasn't. AND LAWSON was showing he could be an impact player even his 2nd year in denver while playing with carmelo ****ing anthony (off the bench i might add). melo is a complete ball stopper on offense too. didn't denver also run with 2 pg lineups often esp. when they had billups?

so don't give me that bull**** that lawson never has experienced coming off the bench, has never experienced playing with other ball stoppers, and was somehow cheated. the guy was one of the biggest liabilities i've seen on the court...you don't go from "not fitting off the ball (which is a negative)" to a "walking deadweight" without it primarily being the players fault. give me a f'ing break.

 

You know I get as many people repping me for telling it like it is as people whining about it...just not afraid to speak my mind.

And I freely admit that I can get out of hand at times but if you look closely, it takes 2 to argue and Sam and I have been going at it for years....but somehow it is me, right?

Let me guess you agree with his stance on Harden therefore it is my fault for pointing out he doesn't play D.

Ok fine...I get it.....you do make a point about me posting too danged much....that I need to stop again...

And for the record, Sam has 26 posts in this thread to my 16.

DD

 

Thanks Trump. I could not think of a better parallel and was going to post that metaphor earlier today and here you are basically quoting him unintentionally.

You are amusing, I will give you that.

 

Trump,,,is that you?

 

I'm one of the biggest Harden supporters here because he's so good on offense, super under appreciated by the media and fans. He's one of the best offensive players to even play the game he's that speacial.

I agree with DD in the sense that if Harden did play lock down defense he would be one of the best players off all time and could seriously rival kobe for 2nd best SG of all time. Obviously that would have to end in a few titles but the actual play would be there.

I still think a coach can get that out of him, he can elevate his game to top 20 all time with the proper coaching. Ppl want to complain about his domination of the basktball but really who else is going to create offense? When we get another real threat out there Harden will change and his game will becomes even more effecient like it was his last year in OKC but with the bigger numbers here in Houston.

He's putting up 29/7/6 shooting okay. Get him KD or somone that can get him more open looks and harden will put up curry numbers with similar shooting numbers. (Not quite as good he's the best) but 48/40 is not out of the question. He would also cut down on his TOs.

I could see him getting 30/8/6 with KD on this team with KD getting 28-30 a game also. I think harden can and will attract some top talent here very soon.

 

if possible, I bet someone could find a 10 second clip of you being lazy as **** at work too

you're annoying asf and probably haven't even realized he's at least trying and putting up much more of an effort on the defensive side of the ball since the allstar break

but nah you'd rather consistently bash on a once in a generational talent on our team and try to convince others you're right....you're worse than ESPN

 

Ummm obviously his first two seasons.

That was part of the narrative at the time and now it is part of Jordan mythology (they said he couldn't defend and he proved his doubters wrong! )

Read any Jordan bio:

I'm not going to bother with the rest because you weren't knowledgeable enough to realize the above.

 

You are one of the few rational posters on here. Thank you. Harden has greatness inside him, and I believe he's been playing off virtually his talent alone. He's had zero elite coaching nor exceptional teammates around him, which makes me seriously wonder just how good this guy can be if he gets everything out of himself that he can.

 

[rQUOTEr]Defensive lapses don't paint accurate picture of James Harden's game

Spoiler

PHILADELPHIA - Of all the times the six-second snapshots of James Harden's defense were repeated throughout the day, Harden caught a glimpse just once. He did not pay enough attention to see both instances cited. When texts offered to fill him in, he cited a lack of concern with the media narrative of the moment.

After all the times he said last season he was not interested in the praise of his play, he could not now say he was offended by the criticism. The one sighting of an ESPN conversation on the subject came from the television running in a teammate's room.

There was one detail he was willing to add to the discussion. He did not cite his numbers from Sunday's 113-107 win over Toronto in which he had 40 points with 14 assists, giving him as many games with 40 points and double-digit assists as the rest of the NBA combined. He did not mention his 30-point second half or the 83 minutes he played in the back-to-back games against Chicago and Toronto.

"We won," he said, adding the fact that would seem relevant.

Of course, if the 31-32 Rockets had won more often this season, or at least more often than they have lost, there might not be the efforts to find someone to blame.

"It comes with it," Harden said. "When things are going really well, I don't get too high. When things are not going well, I don't get too low. You're going to get criticized. I don't pay attention. You're going to have haters and people that love you. If it bothered me, it would take away from what I need to be doing, what I need to be focused on."

In fairness, the latest discussion generally acknowledges there is no fairness about showing two plays taken from consecutive games in which he played so much and carried such a heavy load.

Yet, the pair of dreadful defensive moments against the Bulls and Raptors had been shared so often that Rockets general manager Daryl Morey weighed in on Twitter, sarcastically saying that rather than cite Harden's statistics in one of just seven Raptors home losses this season the emphasis should be placed on one possession.

"It's much appreciated," Harden said of Morey's social media effort. "I don't know what it was. I don't pay attention to stuff like that.

"It doesn't bother me because I don't pay attention to it. And to be honest, I've been playing some really good defense as of late."

'Look at the total body of work'

Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff praised Harden's defense in Toronto the day before the Harden video made the rounds, specifically citing his work in the small lineup in the second half when the guard had four fouls but never left the floor.

The Rockets' defense has been an issue throughout the season, and Harden's play can be fairly criticized. But his issue is with consistency, rather than the inability that the six-second glimpses suggest.

"You can find one play on anybody," Bickerstaff said. "Look at the total body of work, look at the results. We're picking on easy targets. James is the target of choice, so they pick on him, pick on him, pick on him. It came out a few years ago and everyone jumps on the bandwagon of negativity.

"He's been much better. The focus, coming out of the break, has been really good defensively. You don't make those comebacks if all five guys aren't defending. It's the joke of the moment, but we know what's really going on."

Harden said the play in Chicago in which Derrick Rose beat him off the dribble was not the only one that night on which he did not defend as he would normally prefer. But on other occasions when a video might make it appear he is not defending, it was because of his actual assignment at the time.

Sniffing rarefied air

"There were a couple plays in the Chicago game," Harden said. "I had two fouls early. I didn't want to pick up a third foul. That's important for any player to stay on the court. And we have defensive principles - I'm strong side. We don't help off the strong side. I'll take a stab at the ball, but that's not my help.

"(Criticism) like that, you don't focus on. You focus on winning the games. Who doesn't make mistakes? Just being solid, rebounding the basketball, no back cuts, just learn and focus on things I can really do."

The latest criticism of Harden comes when he has been on an offensive roll, averaging 35.5 points in his past 11 games. That has pushed his average to 29 points per game, putting him on pace to join only Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James in averaging 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists in a season.

"That's an unbelievable club, but I just try to go out there and fill up the stat sheet and win games," Harden said. "That's my job. I approach the game in attack mode and let the chips fall where they are.

"I think I'm playing at an extremely high level. But I still have better games in me."

[/rQUOTEr]

 

^^^ whoa, I didn't realize Harden played the entire second half, and with 4 fouls.

And they nitpick one possession?

Bickerstaff: "He's been much better. The focus, coming out of the break, has been really good defensively. You don't make those comebacks if all five guys aren't defending. It's the joke of the moment, but we know what's really going on."​

Did JBB just call out ESPN?


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http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14921784