He doesn't always put his all on the defensive end, but he's been doing it more often than he did last season, and he's been injured. In the last few games he's gotten at least one blocked shot -- and not on a layup, on a jumper. That's impressive to me. He's adjusting to having Howard on the team. He doesn't need to carry the offense anymore. Once he adjusts to that, I think we'll see him buy in more on defense. He's struggling with early injuries this season, and with having Howard down low. He'll find his groove.
This is really worth underscoring, especially on the defensive end. With Howard--and especially while you still have Asik behind him--you can afford to squeeze the perimeter and force your man to beat you off the bounce because you have a great rim protector behind you.
No defense and he never take charges for the team, he's weak. Lin and Bev take charges they got balls.
I think this post from reddit gives some good analysis of Harden's defensive short comings:http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1nnise/why_is_james_harden_so_bad_defensively_long_post/
It really doesn't matter, if he can just chase guys around screens and not let the team play 4 on 5 we can put together a top 5 defense.
I think he can play really good d, he's done it. When is the last time you seen him body someone like this. Of course i dont expect him to d up everyone like this, but atleast the effort is there. Alot of d is effort. <object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/63TDVWnZ5K8?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/63TDVWnZ5K8?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
Definitely above avg. He can block shots as we have seen (elite ability actually for his position). He got very quick hands. He do have problem with people driving right by him - don't know if this is a physical limitation or a fundamental and willingness issue of his. I think a combo of both.
You have a point there. I remember Harden's college coach stated that Harden has a small motor. A motor that is powerful without endurance. If I had to put it into perspective Harden is like a powerful 100m sprinter that can run 150m but struggles to run 200m.
No one can argue that Harden doesn't have the ability to play defense. The problem is he doesn't play defense. The only thing that makes sense is he is conserving energy to play offense. Therefore, the first thing that should happen is his minutes need to be reduced. If McHale really had control of this team, he would have Hardens minutes reduced.
I am not sure about Harden but I don't think defense is simply about effort or physical skill. Zach Lowe had an interesting article on Grantland analyzing Chicago's D and he said basically the players follow Thib's rules basically all the time. The effort was there but obviously players like Boozer just aren't that great at D. That being said I would think that just with effort and physical ability, Harden could at least be a decent defender. BTW to OP, Paul George grew since the draft. Dude's like 6'10" now. Not a good comparison to James physically.
Playing defense is generally a matter of effort. Almost anybody can learn the skills required to be a good defender, unlike learning various offensive moves, which come naturally to a certain degree. Harden has the physical tools to become a good defender, it's just a matter of whether or not he wants to be one.
Tbh, I'm coming more around to the better of the Van Gundy's (if Dwight would allow it), his defensive philosophy is solid. I've been thinking about posting a thread where the differences between him and Morey played out.
I was surprised Harden actually had a defensive game last night. The amazing part is that he had sore feet and was not in the best physical condition. I hope he keeps it up. When we have bad shooting night like yesterday, His defense is very important to win close games.
I thought Harden played great defense last night. The thing he needs to improve on is his defensive footwork imo.
I was impressed with the improvement in Harden's effort on Defense last night. For the most part he was clearly engaged. Still poor fundamentals, but effort goes a long way. Here's to hoping he's working towards making it a habit.
but if he is a sprinter, how is it that he landed on NBA TV's top 5 slowest players in the NBA based on average speed on the court? Worth mentioning that Steve Kerr stated that Harden is the only guard on the top 5, all the others were big men - Marc Gasol, Tim Duncan, and a couple of others I forget. The big men have a lesser zone of coverage on defense as befits their physical limitations, and guards are expected to cover perimeter guys because they are "speedier". Harden has shown he can be explosive when driving to the hole, or when he takes off on fastbreak finishes, so it's very telling that his average speed gets pulled down that much to land him in the slowest five, most likely pulled down by defensive "slowness" -- and this translates simply to effort.
