That's true. Not picking up Parsons less than $1 million option is one of the strangest moves of DMs tenure. And dumbest, whether in hindsight or not. Don't necessarily mind losing Dragic. Less so the Lin move. Yes, Lin was super frustrating against the Blazers leading to that classic sequence where he lost the game for them... but on the other hand, Lin was signed pre-Harden, so different motivations there.
Sure. Okay. That's fine. It still doesn't solve the problem. We don't need a different star. We need another star. That's the issue.
I can't do it justice, but this is what clutch said, not me: Harden didn't put up run of the mill numbers, he put up down right historic numbers. He put up a season that we haven't seen in ages. People may dog me for putting him in a similar conversation as dream, but the numbers are clear, Harden isn't the problem. The problem is he needs a second star. He needs a running mate. This is a multistar league, and every team above us (and even some below) have two stars. Again, the problem is James needs that other guy. Trading him puts us at a two star deficit.
This completely overlooks an entire half of the equation. Ok, don't think defense is as important as offense? It overlooks 40% of the equation. Just as sure as you need multiple stars to win a championship, you need a top 10 or better defense and a leader committed to that. Which Harden is not and increasingly looks like won't ever be. It also completely overlooks turnovers, where Harden obliterated his own nba record. I'm like a broker record here, so will give it up soon. but Harden's prolific offense numbers are as much about system and scheme as anything. He averaged nearly 20 points on 3 pointers and FTs alone. Which is great except his 3 point % always drops in the playoffs as do his FTAs. Anyway, again, broken record. Only checked back in to note my dream of Harden for #1 pick this year, Nets pick next year plus something extra from the Celtics remains alive!!!
This is just complete hogwash... Two way superstars are the exception, not the norm. Players like Hakeem, Jordan, Lebron, and Kawhi are rarities. Most superstars lean completely towards offense and rely on their teams to help pick up the defensive slack.
Harden wins the game we will be saying he the MVP the man have a bad game and we bash him talking about trade him lol smh these threads or pathetic
He didn't win the game. He didn't even come close. At all. So he's not the MVP nor did he even resemble a superstar or star for that matter. So we bash him. Makes sense to me.
It doesn't matter b/c that offensive system is built for the regular season. It doesn't translate into playoff success. Why would a second star want to play with Harden? Let's say we're talking about Gordon Hayward. Don't you think he knows that Ariza is a 3/D SF who has to guard opposing star wings so Harden doesn't? Do you really think Hayward would relish that role? Would Jimmy Butler? What about Paul George? Don't you think they all know that when Harden doesn't have the ball, he tends to stand around beyond the 3pt line? I've repeated this argument in many threads, yet not a single Harden apologist has been able to explain why another star would want to play with Harden.
Well that is in the future. Different star? Yes, we do when we find out that our 2 Allstars are worse than all the other Allstar and Superfriends duos. We dun get to choose how good the other Allstar is. If Harden cannot win a ship with his OKC 'adolescent friends', it is doubtful and tough to believe he can create that same chemistry with another Allstars. Remains to be seen.
1) Tell me who our 2 All Stars are. I see one, where is the other? 2) Because at age 22, Harden lost in the Finals to Lebron James, it's "doubtful" that he can create chemistry with other All Stars? Is this a troll?
I was creating a What If scenario that you guys like so much to justify Harden's outwordly existence on this roster. I am rewatching lowlights of Game 6. Harden trolled himself. Millions could watch it on TV. I dun need to do that job, you are just one of his followers, Sir Sizzle. 2) By that I mean sharing the ball, letting other players control the ball, as the ball hog Combo PG is holding onto the ball 90% of the time. You tell me that this is creating chemistry? Above all, he isn't creative. He makes the same passes and same mistakes over and over again.
1) The guy who lead the league in assists this year is now being called a ball hog. OK. 2) Eric Gordon and Lou Williams both handled the ball plenty. Gordon has openly said he likes that this offense allows him to be a playmaker. Was he lying, I guess? 3) Who cares if he's "creative"? Some of y'all are letting Game 6 melt your brain to hilarious levels.
Choking implies that he failed because he was scared of the moment. James Harden is a lot of things, but he's not scared. You can't make it to that level of pro sports and be scared of big moments, not to mention the numerous huge games he's had in the playoffs (including a few elimination games), which everyone overlooks after a game like this. "Twice I did right, that I heard never; once I did wrong, that I heard ever" In fact, I would go so far as to say that what most people describe as choking only barely even exists in the professional sports world. Mostly, it's just a stupid, non-statistically-backed, knee-jerk narrative fans use to describe good players that haven't had huge playoff success for various reasons. Hell, the fact alone that Harden shoots statistically significantly better from the FT line in the playoffs than in the regular season is proof positive that he's not "choking". That is the one place where all other variables are removed and a mentally scared person would suffer if he was really a choker. (Nick Anderson, anyone?) Harden sucked balls in game 6, but it wasn't because he "choked".
