My beef with Harden has never been his inability to stay with a player. It's his lack of attention. He's not doing it this year, but we all know how he would tend to turn towards the all and allow his man a wide open back door at least twice a game.
those are defensive win share in basketball reference. stop with that garbage Harden does not play defense. Another LOF like you started it so which superstars defense should his be at the same level with? he may not be close to DPOY material, but he DOES play defense he's not gonna be close to draymond green on defense.. if he does then other aspects of his game are gonna suffer. which aspects of his game do you want to suffer for his defense to be elite? last year alone: same deflections per game as Westbrook and Rondo more than Lebron, Anthony Davis, Durant same loose balls recorvered per game as Lebron, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green more than Durant and Klay same charges drawn as Lebron, Anthony Davis more than Steph Curry, Butler, George double that of Durant, Kawhi, Westbrook, Klay more 2pt shots contested than Lebron, Kawhi, Curry, George, Westbrook, Butler more 3pt shots contested than Lebron, Durant, Kawhi, Curry, Westbrook more overall shots contested than Lebron, Kawhi, Curry, Westbrook, Butler same defensive reb % as Lebron slight lower than Durant better than Kawhi, George, Butler, Klay, Curry and lastly, similar defensive rating as Lebron, Avery Bradley, Ariza, slight lower than George
You have missed the entire point of this thread. Do you think Harden is good at defense? You can't possible think that. He's THIS DAMN GOOD and he isn't even considered respectable on defense, despite his win shares THIS season. His flaws are correctable, which means as otherworldly as he is playing this season, he can get EVEN BETTER. Good lord, get off your knees a second and relax. You don't need to defend Harden. We know how good he is.
I thought you said he does not play defense? Back pedalling on your stupdity now Give me a superstar who has "good" defense by your standard
i think harden can improve on his uncontested layups. last night he missed lefty-no-one-in-paint-but-him layup.
Not back pedaling. Look at what I wrote and what I have written in the past. He is playing semi respectable defense this season, because he got called out in the offseason. He did the same thing 3 years ago. His issue has not been playing good defense, it's his absolute lack of attention on defense much of the time. Again, he's not doing it this season. But historically he has. So...back to the purpose of this thread, where can Harden get even better? Defense. Do you understand now? Superstars good at defense: Only one name necessary. LeBron. But again, Harden doesn't need to be "good" at defense, he just needs to attempt to play it consistently. When he puts two seasons in a row of decent effort on defense, then and only then will I consider him a decent defender.
LOL rockets wouldn't win 55 wins being single handedly carried by Harden if he wasn't "good" at defense Lebron, PG, Draymond, Klay, nor Tony Allen would have won more games than Harden he did put effort last year and is doing it this year so why you still crying about him "not playing defense"? if you were Morey and going to rank what you think was offseason's biggest problem and need to be addressed first before we can truly compete for a ring what are they: 1) harden needs to be extended to a max contract 2) harden needs another playmaker superstar since he has the heaviest burden in the whole league in relation to the success his brings 3) harden needs another playmaker superstar so he can rest after playing mvp calibre bball frantic pace night in night out 4) morey needs to replace dekker and harrel with solid 3&D defenders like Ariza 5) harden needs to be called out to play defense
Le sigh. What is the title of this thread? Not sure why you injected all this nonsense about him being unable to win a ring or Morey's next steps... The thread is about how an already stellar Harden can improve. I've mentioned the areas that come to mind. You've taken such extreme offense to the much recognized fact that James Harden has consistently throughout his career played matador defense. If you can't accept that reality, then this discussion is futile. CONSISTENCY is the key. That means more than every other season, or the first 24 games of the season. It means multiple years of decent effort on the defensive end. Until then, this is a valid and legitimate mark on his game.
Klay Thompson will win mvp if he joins the 50/40/90 club. That's this year's magic number. He plays defense too. That makes him better than Kawii.
so you go from no defense, to no effort, and now to he's not consistent night in and night out you're a f*kin joke of a hater and LOF so name me a player/s who play winning MVP level offense and defense consitently at a nightly basis this year that you want harden to surpass?
No. Read my comments. They are consistent in both this thread and others. I will break this down for you one more time. If you're too thick to understand, so be it. First, I said he plays "practically no defense." I was speaking historically. You are the only person who thinks Harden has ever put together consecutive years of decent defense. He played poor defense last year, he's playing decent defense this year: Second, his issue is not that he can't play defense, it's that he doesn't. Easily correctable; pay attention. Third, READ THE GOD DAMN THREAD TITLE YOU ILLITERATE DEGENERATE! Did you just want to see repetitive comments about how Harden is the best ever and can't possibly improve in any manner? Lol. A) that's not true B) why would you want that to be true? He's his good. And he's been considered a joke on defense his whole career. That means he can get so much better. Is this sinking in yet? And again, as was the answer before, LEBRON MF'IN JAMES. Is that the L you're referring to? Honesty I thought you were referring to Lin, because I have no love for LeBron, just respect. But go ahead and label me and enjoy arguing with yourself. Hope you get a nice pair of knee pads for Christmas.
lebron bandwagoner I need at least 2 other superstar james? lebron F*n james who could't co lead a team with kyrie and love and championship roster to more than 51 wins in the least? lebron I need to take 10 games rest james? would you trade harden for james right now to shut up about harden not having perfect defense?
You would think the Thunder and Spurs were terrible defensive teams, or that Lou Williams was an All-Star, or that 2015 was last century the way people talk about Harden in the playoffs...
Only thing in my opinion that he can do would be to improve his team defense. It has already been much better this year.
