I'm not sure that this is accurate at all. People were complaining about Harden as far back as Jeremy Lin, and beyond. But what you seem to be saying is that we need a good team around Harden to mask his weaknesses. I think his detractors (and I) agree with you there.
Pretty much agree on the differing ideologies... imo, I already watched Allen Iverson's career - I don't need to see it again (with a beard) to know it doesn't win you a championship.... The guy could adapt his style, with the proper coaching, to be a critical piece on a championship team... but thus far, I have seen no willingness to do so....
He didn't play the same. Regressed on defense (to the point of barely moving), turned it over more (and worse turnovers), and settled for more jumpers and got to the rim less.
Yes Hakeem was a center and depended upon others to get him the ball. Harden on the other hand has the ball much of the time and can shoot it whenever he likes. Despite that Hakeem took more shots than Harden and took a higher percentage of the teams shots than Harden does. That was kind of my point. If Harden truely just wanted to pile up points then he could shoot much more but he doesn't. I was at UH during Hakeem's Phi Slamma Jamma days. He's easily my favorite player ever but let's be truthful, if Hakeem wasn't getting the ball then he demanded it. Please don't think that I'm saying that's a bad thing. He was a great offensive player and having a guy that good shoot the ball is a smart move. It's just funny that nobody claims Hakeem dominated the ball and there were no shots for his teammates.
This is true. Houston Rockets ranked bottom 7th on WIDE OPEN 3 POINT SHOTS and bottom 8th on WIDE OPEN 10+ft JUMPERS. Probably majority of those shots were created off of Harden's hands, it's sad that his teammates just couldn't convert. http://stats.nba.com/league/team/sh...ange=>=10.0&CloseDefDistRange=4-6 Feet - Open
actually that was about Open Shots. For WIDE Open Shots, we ranked bottom 9th on 3s and bottom 5th on 10+ft jumpers. Still not much better. http://stats.nba.com/league/team/sh...=>=10.0&CloseDefDistRange=6+ Feet - Wide Open Houston Rockets were ranked
I was referring more to the media. Rockets fans complain about everything so that's not even in question. But as far as media almost all media was gushing over how good Harden was. The only difference between this season and last was his defense fell off but Robert Reid is saying that because of Harden, Rockets had no offensive system. Lol Mario Elie had a comment about Harden after the season and it's completely opposite what Reid says but that comment isn't out floating around. It just sucks.
Iverson was one of the most inefficient players ever. Harden is one of the most efficient players ever. During Iverson's best years he was shooting the ball 24 to 27 times per game and his TS% was between .478 and .530. Harden has never even attempted 20 shots per game and his TS% has been right at 60% every year as a Rocket. If you think Iverson's game and Harden's are remotely similar then you either didn't watch Iverson or you don't understand basketball.
The problem that Robert Reid is referring to isn't on the defensive end he says that because of Harden they had no offensive system. I feel as if he played the same style he played last year. Only difference was that guys made shots last year. Harden will play the exact same way next year and guys will make shots and nobody will say a thing lol watch!
That's like if Draymond was passing the ball out to Klay and Curry and they shot 31% from 3. They probably wouldn't be very good if this was happening to them too. There's just not a lot you can do if guys are missing all the time.
Howard plays half a season: Harden attacks the rim at will with an open lane because guys understand their roles and aren't posting up. Howard plays full season: Harden has trouble getting into a crowded lane bc Howard wants his post touches and wants to be on the block posting up.
All these NBA players are calling him out, they see what is going on, why do we have so many blind homers on here defending him? All anyone is saying is he can be better, no one is saying he sucks. DD
Maybe because they 'calling him out' on the one aspect of his game that does not require being called out about Rocket River
if we have a couple of solid scoring options, players who can get you 15 points a game or a spark plug/6th man type, Harden wouldn't have to resort to iso.
