Rome wasn't built in a day. Harden is still young and young players tend to improve their game until they hit their prime. Any I believe he will improve his defense this season and the next. Whether he realizes he needs to improve himself or an external force makes him improve, he will play better defense over his career.
You guys are awfully hard on a player who only has been a starter for a year. Olajuwon was throwing punches and connecting on the court when he was around Harden's age... People always said Jordan was selfish and would never win a title. Got to give guys time before you condemn them.. Basketball is a marathon not a sprint. We had to wait almost 10 years before Olajuwon was ready to take this team to a title. Hopefully it won't take these guys that long...
Baseless. Harden is another tier of player than Paul George. Defensive players are not all that impactful unless they are bigs. A wing defender cannot be a defensive anchor. You cannot build an elite defense around George, but you can build an elite offense around Harden. George is having his best offensive year and Harden is off to a slow start, yet Harden is STILL more efficient than George is offensively. The Pacers are pretenders, the Rockets are not.
Rose is broken. So is M.Gasol. Wade is breaking down. Howard is ours. Durant will be ours in 2 years. DING! Duncan has 2 years maybe 3 left in the tank. Parker is awesome, but not a good fit. Irving? See CAVS. That leaves LeBron & CP3. LeBron in a heartbeat! CP3? Why when we have an excellent pg in Lin? I thank God that you are not our GM.
Yea, replace Harden with George and this team would be the number one defensive team in the NBA... Harden is the guy holding this team back. All the other players on this team are excellent and so is the coaching. If Indiana had Harden _ they wouldn't be any good. Their coach suxks, the players suxk, and Larry Bird knows nothing... I'm sure Indiana would be a terrible defensive team without George and if they had Harden. And playing in the watered down east _ they probably wouldn't make the playoffs...
I don't know who I think is better, it is pretty close IMO, but for this team I would take George. George is a DPOY candidate and it would be amazing to have that kind of defender to put on the other team's best wing every night, the team has offense under control so losing Harden's offense wouldn't hurt too badly, and George is a pretty good scorer in his own right' Also Lin would be able to play his game and not have to defer to Harden, so we could see what he's capable of.
As to Harden or George..... I know it's hard to quantify for some, but Harden is a budding Superstar who, when healthy can lift a team to another level...Take over games/close....... George is an all star player. Harden's a guy that will likely end up in Springfield.
Keep in mind we've been seeing Harden play this year with a banged up foot. His efficiency is at an all-time low as a result and it's probably affected his defense as well.
I provided one example of a published article as support for my claim. There's more, but I'm not going to dig out all of them. This topic is also discussed throughout OKC and now Rocket games by the announcers. If you don't want to believe the "rumblings", fine , but I stand by my claim that this is an unpopular rule with probably more supporters than removing "Hack-a-Dwight". I completely disagree with your assessment of the foul calls, in fact I don't think you understand the proposal or the current rule. The proposal is to change foul calls where the offensive player INITIATES contact. Harden will swing his arms into a defender, jump into a defender while attempting a flop shot or down right barrel into a defender ball first. Lebron does this as well. Wade doesn't really, except jumping into defenders. Parker doesn't do it at all. However, no one abuses this rule more than KD and Harden. I don't see why association is even an argument against this rule change.
A published article from Bleacher Report...??? Funny, I always hear about how the best players look for contact when they go into the paint. This Nah Parker does it all the time, he goes into the paint for a layup but looks for someone to run into while he does so, then if he's hit especially hard he'll stay on the ground longer hoping to get some kind of flagrant (this he admitted jokingly himself...) What you are proposing is taking away the main way a lot of players get points in the paint. Harden does nothing different, except that he actually gets a lot of and1s from doing so, so the whole "He flops! He doesn't look to score when he drives!" is also complete BS.
I'm addressing opinion pieces, so what do you expect? Do you have any citations to counter? I agree the best players do look for contact, because it is a powerful tool. It doesn't mean it is fair. The whole discussion came up, because some players are abusing it. We can argue about Parker back and forth. I don't see the same thing you are claiming when I watch Parker play. He does flop, I see that, but he shies away from contact and attempts floaters. Parker isn't nearly strong enough to be successfully drawing contact from opposing Cs and Fs. I disagree that this is the main way other players use to score. Only Harden and KD use it as one of their main offensive weapons as evidenced by the fact they are 1 & 3 at FTA per game. Other players do try this as well, but none of them use it as heavily as these two.
This is no brainer, George is better now, a player who plays both offense and defense on an elite level is much valuable than a one-way player. Harden is a star like Glen Robinson, Glen Rice, Carmelo who do not play defense. Harden is not even as good as the prime Ray Allen. But you have to work with what you got, so that's why Rox will get a defensive wing player to complement Harden.
we are very fortunate to have Harden. that being said, George this year is a better player than Harden period. as a fan of the rockets, Harden is who we have, thus I'll roll with him and hope that he can play at least average defense.
The problem is you said there were rumblings about it being changed. There are rumblings of the draft lottery system being changed. Doesn't mean a thing. Quite frankly this is the first I've seen it mentioned. This and the actual article talking more about players kicking out their legs is something different entirely. I don't need citations because the rules are what they are. I'm not the one saying that they may change or should change. Basketball has always been more about offense than defense. This is something that's been in the league and in the sport since practically forever. The offensive player that is in the paint has always been favored by the refs. As Phil Jackson once simply put it. "It's all about penetration." What they do is get into the paint, it is on the defenders to keep their hands to themselves and stay disciplined on defense. You are calling driving into the paint as initiating contact, but the fact is if you get into the paint as often as someone like Harden does you'll get to the line alot. Funny enough they talked about this tonight, Bill said you see it a lot where the offensive player runs into the defender to get to the line and Clyde said exactly what I've been saying "That's how it's always been."
Ok good, now you've heard of the complaints. It's up there with changing the draft lottery and changing Hack-a-Dwight. I am not calling driving into the paint as initiating contact, you are. I dictated what initiating contact was in the post you quoted earlier. As of right now. Defenders can still get called for a shooting foul even if they "keep their hands to themselves". The offensive player can initiate the contact on a defender for a shooting foul. Harden not only drives a lot, but he (and KD) looks to draw contact first. This is what sets them apart from everyone else in the league. They are exclusively looking to abuse the loophole. "That's how it's always been" is not an argument to not adjust the rules. The 3-point line didn't use to be this far. There didn't use to be an exclusion zone either.
