Does CBS Sports publish the formula they are using for their player ratings? I'm assuming, like NBA.com's EFF, it isn't minutes or pace adjusted, and that's why Harden's rating is so high.
Btw I never knew that scoring and TS% determines how good you are. I guess Hakeem was never at any point a top 3 player in the league. I guess only the SG and SF positions count.
I dunno what the formula is but its one of the worst formulas of all time. Just scroll down the list. Look at some of the names and players ranked at the top and the elite players that are ranked below top 20.
Melo is a better scorer than Harden and yet no one will ever consider him as a Top Five player. Yet some think that somehow Harden is better than him ? And don't even try to bring up Melo's horrible defense after Harden gave almost zero effort on D since the beginning of the season. He is the worst defender among our starters and it's not even close.
Harden's a better overall offensive player than Carmelo, IMO. Neither are consistent defenders. Not sure who's worse on that end.
Right now Harden is in the top 10 for sure. He is in the Melo tier of players. If he can improve on defense next year he will be in the convo for top 5 player for sure.
I find these 'best player in the league' ratings by points is a joke. This should be changed to 'best scorer in the league'. The fact that Tim Duncan is not listed in your so called top 5 completely invalidates this list. I know they're the Spurs and your probably tired of them but c'mon Tim Duncan not in the Top 5?!
"What these young bloods have to understand is that this game has always been, and will always be, about buckets,"
Not undermining. Harden is an elite scorer ( not a great shooter, at least when compared to Durant ) but he is not the 3rd best player in the league.
Exactly, making buckets AND preventing opponents from doing so too. Knicks fans like to make that argument too to prop up Melo. There is actually a good term describing the predicament in which such stans find themselves ( a term incidentally coined by a long suffering Knicks fan who has a lot of experience in that area) : starphuched. Or the state of being a stan for an elite scorer who plays no D.
Have you seen melo try to get others involved in the offense? Stop with those blanket ignorant statements. The reason people say that about Melo is because he doesn't give a crap about stuff more than his shots. Denver made the smart decision and they are better now than they were ever with him. Melo doesn't make his teammates better, hell, tmac made his teammates better more than Melo ever did. Its not just about horrible defense. There are so many facets to the game. Yea Melo can be unstoppable, but next time you watch a rockets game watch how tentative Harden is in the 1st half and getting people great looks.
