What is the main reason for this teams struggle this year?

That's just your opinion. I have objective facts and numbers on my side.

End of Story.

 

Forgot to add: if anyone disagrees with me, they've clearly never played basketball.

 

It is certainly blown out of proportion. There's a difference between being just average bad and being worst in the league. Believe it or not, Harden is not the worst defender in current NBA. Go watch Kyrie Irving or Damian Lillards game and look up their defensive stats and see how well they're doing.

 

If you have empirical evidence on your side that Harden isn't a defensive liability, than either it's time for me to not believe in empirical evidence anymore and start worshiping Jesus... or

You are taking 'numbers' out of context and not realizing that analytics only tell part of a story and does not compensate for variables such as the butterfly effect.

 

I have and I am pretty comfortable stating that he is at that level especially with his patented "I'm going to try to stay in one position on the defensive end as much as possible by pretending to play zone d so I don't have to run around" style defense.

Seriously, he plays like a pack a day smoker who tries as much as possible to limit his movements when playing a full court game because his lungs will give out any second.

 

All numbers point to Harden being just below average defender, which is what I see in his game with my two eyes. If you think Harden's D is so atrocious that it actually hurts this team more than anything, to the point that his offense can't possibly compensate for, than obviously you are not looking at things objectively.

 

Again, that's just your opinion and numbers tell different story.

Even based on just eye test, Kyrie and Lillard is more of a defensive liability than Harden ever was.

 

it's just not that simple.

for what it's worth:

http://www.poundingtherock.com/2014/4/8/5594238/problem-with-real-plus-minus

http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2014/4/9/5591108/jae-crowder-problem-espn-real-plus-minus-rpm

 

nitpicking the problems with Real Plus Minus does absolutely no favor to you, since any objective metric out there, however imperfect it might be, is way more reliable than one of your subjective feelings based on just eye test.

we can debate whose defense is good or bad all night long, but without some kind of data with which to settle the issue, it's all meaningless and waste of time.

 

dude, I honestly don't care what you think or what you believe. It's all good.

 

1. Too many changes to roster
2. ALL role players worse than previous year
3. Coaching change
4. Bad start snowballed into bad season due to weak mentality of team

 

If RPM provides you with a conclusion that Harden is just a SLIGHTLY below average defender, it's time to question RPM.

 

I'm just trying to be rational here. If someone comes to you and asks why Kawhi's such a good defender and you show his game videos, but if the person is still unconvinced what will you do? Everybody sees different things while watching basketball games. Micheal Jordan's greatness are all captured in numbers. You don't need to see his game per se to know why he is the GOAT.

Stats are not perfect, but it is the only way to come to any kind of agreement. Otherwise, we will be debating til the end of the universe.

 

I didn't say slightly. Harden is just your average bad defender. That's all.

It's just not RPM. BPM, Drtg, DWS etc. all point to the fact that Harden is just bad, but not the worst.

 

Actually, if I only looked at a stat sheet, I would assume Wilt being the GOAT.

 

Obviously, rings and MVPs are all included what I call 'objective data.'

BTW, Wilt's advanced stats are not as good as you would think. MJ def tops him in many categories.

 

No, you don't. He's 43rd among Shooting Guards in defensive real plus minus. (Last year he was only -.16, 25th among shooting guards)

That's just one stat. By RAPM his even worse.

Also, by Player Tracking Plus Minus, he's not even a top 30 player because he's defense is so bad.

http://nyloncalculus.com/2016/02/04/player-tracking-plus-minus-pt-pm-top-thirty/

James Harden and Isaiah Thomas narrowly miss the top thirty due to defensive rating.


(NOTE, by player tracking plus minus he was a top 10 player last two years. A legit MVP. So if you want to use stats, you have to agree he has not played as well this year. Pointing out that he isn't as good this year isn't "hating." But saying he's just as good as last year is just delusional at this point).

 

Harden's DRPM is -0.8. That's less than 1 whole point. He's just a slightly below average defender.

 

is player tracking plus minus adjusted for the level of teammates and opponents like RPM? Otherwise, it can be quite unreliable like BPM.

 

There are 97 Shooting Guards in this league. 43rd would mean he's just mediocre bad defender. Def not the worst. Which was what I've been saying all along.