If your starting your NBA franchise with either of these guys at 23 years old you can't do much better than that either way. I think both players are very different, but close to equal in value. Maybe in a few years (if we are lucky) we can see these two guys duke it out in the finals year after year. Then we will be able to actually say who is better or worse instead of judging two players whose skillset, and position are completely different.
Harden by a whisker, but it all depends on who is willing to work harder on their game and fitness in the years to come. Both have substantial additional upside, which is saying alot given that they are both outstanding already.
I pretty much agree with this assessment however would like to add some additional points. While Harden is currently light years better than George offensively, he's already shown how detrimental he can be to his team with his hero ball antics. In the OKC series Harden had one good game and the rest he played horrendously, to the detriment of the team. Imo George probably will never pan out to be as good as Harden offensively, but he already is impacting the game more just by playing elite defense, hustling consistently and buying into a team concept.
Uh, George's also benefiting from having a 7 ft center who can score in the post and a stretch PF who can score 10-20 pts a night, Harden's basically had to be MJ-lite because we don't have a post/big man scorer. PG's really good, but at the same time he can't be the focal point of the offense because he hasn't reached the level where he can draw double teams and create for other people. Obviously though as far as D is concerned PG has the edge so I sort of understand why people think it's closer than it really is. At the end of the day though anybody can learn to play decent D, but playmaking is pretty much a talent, either you can do it or you can't. In a couple of years PG and Harden will be the new-age Larry and Magic IMHO, it will be interesting to see how these two size up when/if they meet in the finals.
Of course George has benefited from having a front-court that can score while Asik and the rookie PFs have made life a bit more challenging for our ball-handlers. However, I think attitude is being understated here. Harden has consistently gone against McHale's play calls and offensive strategy and you can see them both somewhat deferring a bit of the blame to each other with McHale saying
*such and such was not part of his design and was caused by certain players and the ball getting "sticky" or Harden addressing the issue by saying that he's the leader etc. and he stands by his decisions. Harden has good play-making skills but his ball-handling, BBIQ and game management has certainly got a grey cloud over it for me after this season with the overdribbling, ISOs and his pronounced struggles playing against good defenders and defenses compared to other elite players. Again, I do think Harden's the better offensive player than George, but George just needs to keep his offensive production close in order to effect an overall greater net positive for the team. Not everyone can be an elite defender, that's why wing defenders who are offensively challenged get rotation time. What Harden has demonstrated so far is that there will be sporadic periods where he'll be a good defender, but is typically disengaged on that end.
George is the better player but not by as much as some folks think. Both guys need to feed off a true first option offensive player to get their buckets. Oh wait, this is about Harden vs. George. I went with the better comparison of Parsons to George. George isn't on Harden's planet.
George isn't on Harden's planet and George isn't that much better than Parsons.... I'm laughing my @$$ off how fans here think its a close comparison between the two when they should be comparing Parsons vs. George.
I have a feeling I'll look at this thread in a few years and get a good laugh that anyone dared compare George to Harden. George is good, but he ain't no Harden.
No it is not. If that was the case guys like Tony Allen would get max contracts. But feel free to think George is the better player.
George is a super glue guy in the mold of scottie pippen, if you want him to be your first option, you're doing it wrong. If you could pick any guy in the league to be your 3rd option though, I'd go with George, he doesn't need the ball, and because then you don't need to be overly concerned with him being worn down on the defensive end (where he plays his best basketball usually).
This. I'm reminded of the saying you hear when watching the NBA... Might not always be word for word, but essentially "Great offense will usually beat great defense"
Both will be studs down the line, but gimme Harden. Elite scorers are a rare commodity, and we have one. I enjoy it.
