[The Athletic] ‘Another tool in his Swiss Army Knife’

Great read but if I have to hear about the San Antonio series again.....geesh. For ****ks sake I hope Harden lights up someone in a series this year so the media has another series to talk about.

 

"Per Synergy, Harden has already attempted 189 floaters this season — connecting on 90 of them for a 47.6 percent clip through April 1."​

I don't get how people are quoting these Synergy stats. NBA.com provides floater stats, too, and they are from Synergy, right? And it's much different.

NBA.com Stats defines two types of Floaters from their Synergy, Sports Vu technology data.

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TOTAL: Harden is 52.1% (109-209) -- per NBA.com Stats/Synergy

Floating Jumpshot (which includes "Driving Floating Jumpshot" in the results)

• Harden is: FG%: 49.7 % (93-187)

SOURCE: https://stats.nba.com/events/?flag=3&CFID=&CFPARAMS=&PlayerID=201935&TeamID=1610612745&ContextMeasure=FGA&Season=2018-19&SeasonType=Regular Season&RangeType=0&StartPeriod=1&EndPeriod=10&StartRange=0&EndRange=28800&section=game&sct=plot&CF=ACTION_TYPE*E*Floating Jump shot
​

Driving Floating Bank Jump shot (which is not included in the above floaters)

• Harden is: FG%: 72.7 % (16-22)

SOURCE: https://stats.nba.com/events/?flag=3&CFID=&CFPARAMS=&PlayerID=201935&TeamID=1610612745&ContextMeasure=FGA&Season=2018-19&SeasonType=Regular Season&RangeType=0&StartPeriod=1&EndPeriod=10&StartRange=0&EndRange=28800&section=game&sct=plot&CF=ACTION_TYPE*E*Driving Floating Bank Jump Shot
​

 

He takes his failures and works on it.

That's what a real leader does.

 

the floater baby!

 

I love how he is still looking to improve even more. I don't even know what else he'll add to his bag of tricks by next year. It's crazy the stuff he comes up with that he ends up mastering.

 

He’s like no other before him

 

Our failures are a big part of how were got to where we are today and Harden embraces that in order to become the best player in the world.

 

Post game maybe? I can see him being really good at that given his size, strength, and footwork.

 

Hit up Dream and learn some "punishing" moves in the post, like what Kobe and Bron did.

 

The only problem I have with the "Swiss Army Knife" analogy that so often comes up with a multi-tooled player (I've used it myself) is that Swiss Army Knives are puny little things. Jacks of all trades, masters of none. Harden's a master of all.

I'm going to liken Harden more to a Medieval knight, a multi-tooled engine of total destruction. Knights had horses; harden has the power of a horse capable of breaking through all but the most disciplined lines of defense. Knights had lances for distance attacking; Harden has his three-point shooting. Knights had shields and armor; Harden is basically wearing armor and shield given how he shrugs off "attacks" on the field of battle. Knights were masters of all sorts of weapons from long swords to daggers to warhammers, and could fight mounted or not; Harden can score from any place on the court by bludgeoning you, slicing you up, or slipping a Capela dagger in your back. Knights had squires; Harden has the rest of his team doing various tasks for him. Knights had vision of the battlefield; Harden frequently has 10+ assists.

Raise the Bearded Standard and drive it into the ground next to the enemy general's corpse once the battle is over.

 

BEAUTIFUL

 

I thought Capela was Harden's swiss army knife ...

 

I'm probably the only one, but I don't really "get" all the Athletic love...

 

Every year I keep saying, better finishing with the right hand.

Maybe next year will be it, as he is occassionally shooting floaters with right hand, and doing righ handed layups, so we know he works on it. That said, Ginobody never developed a right.

 

I'm by no means a professional athlete, so my own experience might not translate...
But I find it easier to add stuff to the part where I am really coordinated than to get much better on the part where I'm not.

Don't get me wrong, as a right hander, I used to be way better at my left when I was playing regularly, since practice makes perfect. But it still reached a limit. Harden isn't bad with his right by any means. But he's obviously not MVP level or close with his right.

That said, I wonder, is it worthwhile to focus on his right, or add something else??

Personally, what I've said every year is just 3 point %. Which is mostly true for the playoffs. Harden consistently in the high 30s+ could average 40 a game easily, or conversely 30/15 type thing.

But that said, even that probably wasn't right. He was better refining his step back, then just focusing on being a better 3 point shooter. ANd that probably still comes down to math. More and more varied ways to shoot threes, get fouled on threes, etc. Has he reached the 3 point limit?

 

Is my arithmetic faulty? "He and Harden had worked on their chemistry the summer before, concentrating in part on where Harden liked screens to be set, how hard to set them and when to roll or get out of the way. With that chemistry and repetition came dunks for Capela — a lot of them. One hundred and sixty-three to be exact, in a season in which he finished tied for fifth in the league in that category.

"Against the Spurs, however, Capela registered only nine dunks during four regular-season meetings. In a second-round playoff series between the two, San Antonio would give up a mere 11 dunks to Capela over the course of six games..."

In each of those examples CC has @2 dunks/game.

 

Needs a nice post game. I would love to see him add a consistent fadeway for when he needs it. I'm sure he can draw plenty of fools down there

 

Defenses surely find it worthwhile to focus on his right, by not giving him his left.

But, I should have said my #1 going into this year was stamina. And like everyone else, I didn't imagine a world of a GoTo Step-back 3 that is so lethal, he can get it off any time he wants...at a higher 3P% than the rest of the team.

It's like he said, "gdammit, 0-27 is NEVER going to happen again." Then went to work.

Yeah, he focused on volume, instead of pure shooting. Ability to get it off by himself, when the rest of the team is going 0-27.

I agree with you that he definitely made the correct decision. More valuable for him/us to create an unguardable GoTo 3pt shot/play, than to increase his percentage on open ones, that he rarely ever gets. We also see the effect that has on defenses. Nut shell: adding that GoTo 3pter has knocked defenses on their heels (so to speak), with him dictating what they do more this year than past, when defenses could dictate making him pass the ball.

bottomline: his adjustment prevented defenses from refining past ways to guard the Rockets. They have to learn new ones.

 

why would they not talk about it? and why, as fans, should we so easily dismiss it? it was hands down one of the most inexplicable clutch performances i can recall, as if he was disinterested or incapable of performing. and it's not harden's only playoff choke job.

if you can't or won't recognize your shortcomings than you are doomed to repeat them. harden is otherworldly, no doubt about it, but to toss his massive playoff shortcomings aside doesn't mean they didn't happen. everyone hear b****es about how he gets no respect but everyone also wants to glance over one of the biggest reasons why that is... if you want to start shutting the haters up the only way he can do that is by stepping up in the postseason. you shouldn't sit here and defend him, you (and he) should sit here and demand more from him. we know he's capable.