Paul George scores buckets too. He's got range. He's got decent handles. Harden might be marginally better offensively but George is miles ahead defensively. Not to mention physically he is taller, bigger, stronger, and just as athletic. Right now it's really not even close.
Honestly, Harden developed quicker but George seems to have matured in the right way as a rising super star. A large part of that I put on coaching but George does have a better body for playing defense while Harden's mind is laser locked on scoring so it is difficult to say which is better.
Do people realize Paul George is the 5th leading scorer in the NBA right now? Do you realize Paul George is one of the NBA's best wing defenders? Now ask yourself this can you say the same thing about Harden right now? George>Harden
Its easy to say George right now,just like late last year it was easy to say Harden. Let these two continue to grow and we will see who is the better player.
I think best way to answer this question is to switch the players team. If Harden was on a defensive minded team like Pacers,and George on a run and gun Houston team,which squad is more successful?
Well then that is a problem on the ref, not the game. A defender can't recklessly slap at other players arms and neither can they be moving. When Harden goes into the paint and holds his arms out as bait it's on the defenders to be disciplined. Also I don't think they abuse the loophole. The difference is especially with Harden he is ALWAYS down there. So he does it more often because driving is part of his game, the guy doesn't even take many 2 pointers, he's either getting a lay-up/dunk, 3 pointer, or FT. Every other player that drives into the lane looks for contact if they are smart. As Clyde said it is about being aggressive, looking for the contact instead of shying away from it. I've not seen a reason to have it changed either, there is a way of preventing it...staying in front of these guys and playing vertically. This is why guys like Dwight, Chandler, and Hibbert are valuable to their team. To prevent some guy like Harden living off layups and FTs.
If you could have Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain, who you would pick? Sorry, but it's just as relevant as OP. OP just wants some people to say some bad stuff about Harden.
I think Paul George would still be better, because he is a lockdown defender, and doesnt iso as much, he moves the ball
Is this a serious question? We would be more successful because Paul George would score more points in our system and he would help our defense. If you put Harden on the Pacers their defense gets worse and they have nobody to guard Lebron tough.
Fair enough. I think its a toss up,Harden better playmaker,George better defender. Right now i cant decide. I'll take this year to pick,but leaning towards George. Need to see where his scoring and assist numbers are at the end of the year.
Its not that simple. One of Pacers problem last season was they went stretches without scoring,George offensive game is no where near Harden right now. If he continues to be a top 10 scorer all season i will give him his props. And you guys are really not understanding the fact that the Pacers are a defensive minded team. Having Paul George will not magically make the Rockets a top 5 defensive team,it takes more than 1 player. I'm not saying Harden is better than George,I think a case can be made anyway,but for fans to act like its no contest either way is laughable
Honestly have of you guys picking George didn't know who he was before that playoffs against Heat last season.
Yeah, this is probably accurate. Its a moving target right now that we're 13 games in the season and we've only seen Harden injured, while PG has been beasting. Lets not forget how many times Harden put the team on his back last year.
One good team defender does not make an entire team defense better. The shutdown defender is such an overrated role, that's why you never see these guys get paid big money. MKG is a beast defensively. I saw him guard Melo as good as anyone could. It doesn't make us defensively better if you just put him here though. Or PG. Saying that Harden would ruin the Pacers defense is like saying that Boozer ruins Chicago's...Rose was once the guy that got blasted on for his defense, it is funny how that all changed when Thibs got there and taught him good defensive principles and had his team buy into playing great team defense. What would happen instead is that Harden's mistakes would be made up for thanks to the likes of all those dogs they have on that team. Scola is HORRIBLE on defense...do you see him bringing Indy's defense down? Also PG does not guard Lebron tough at all. One game he had 36 points on 70% shooting...
