I can't say i disagreed with any of his points. harden is a seriously flawed player on defense. his offense is 2 dimensional - he can hit 3's and draw fouls... but the fouls aren't called the same in the playoffs, forcing him to be just a 3 point shooter. maybe he doesn't deserve all nba first team. who cares. i'm more worried about relying on this guy as a #1 or #2 option. IMO for him to be that, he'd need to improve to just a bad defender, rather than a laughable one. and he needs to stop trying to draw the foul and start trying to score on the drive.
^^^but compared to the opposition, those of whom were legible (Westbrook missed half of season due to injury) he's the best choice.
Truth hurts? I I live in Houston and have been a rocket fan for over 20 years and I don't like the way Jardin place he's not versatile can't play defense he isn't a consistent shooter he can only drive to the rim to the left side etc etc etc cetera why is it that you guys take offense when I'm pointing out everything that you see on TV. The guy has flaws the guy takes horrible shots the guy can't play defense no. He's not efficient when driving to the paint because against good teams his shot gets blocked. Wesley Matthews took him to school that series on both sides of the floor. I saw Steve Blake take Harden to the whole countless times I've seen JJ Redick abuse harden on both sides of the floor and all of crap clutch fans was crying about it but all of your minds have the been wiped clean and the popularity of the rocket made quote on quote superstar has seriously blinded people here.
I think aelliott dressed you down pretty nicely, not sure what 'Truth' you are talking about. Also...
Come on, there are people here who actually thinks that Harden are offensively flawed? You got to be joking..... Back to topic, Harden have a bad ankle? Last time I check my ankle is not effecting my sight of following the player i'm defending. His standing in no man zone. I love Harden to bits, I really do. But those defense of his, which are products of lack of focus and effort annoy the hell out of me.
Yeah Harden is still young and HAS to improve on the fundamentals of his game. Harden needs discipline. If Harden plays for the Spurs under Pops Harden would be a much better basketball player(changes his game) or he would be on bench/traded(if he plays the same way as he played in Houston). The Beard...Talented but Flawed
The article is bit extreme. However... If you watch Harden on a nightly basis over a whole season and on into the playoffs...and watch also other superstars like Durant, Lebron, DWade, Chris Paul, and Westbrook...the differences becomes clear that Harden is NOT one of the 5 best players in the league. Not only is Harden not the defensive player that those guys are, but, nor he is as hard a worker or as much a team leader as those other guys. Watch the Finals and see how Lebron fires his guys up both on and off the court. Watch Duncan and Ginobili, how with their quiet professionalism and calm assurances are able to make teammates like Patty Mills and Danny Green play to their full potential. Watch Chris Paul make his teammates better. Watch Harden and Howard and all you see is a lot of finger pointing.
A few things... I don't think many are here to claim he is a top 5 player. Coming into this season I would have him for sure in my top 10 and any argument to me would have just been pure hating. Coming out of the season I can see how some such as Zach Lowe attach "one of the best 15" guys descriptor to him. I don't think he took a step back so to say, just that he didn't take that step forward that I hoped. His offense went up a notch, the defense as we all know left a ton to be desired. How exactly do you decide who works harder? Are you talking about just how it appears they play in games, amount of work put in the offseason and in practice? What exactly are we talking about? And where are the logs that keep up with every players time into practicing and improving their games? I don't exactly get the Duncan and Ginobili making role players play better angle. You are taking away and diminishing all the effort and work those guys themselves put into making themselves better and the Spurs system/Pop to which I would attribute a great deal of those guys success, not Duncan and Ginobili. It helps playing with veteran stars, no doubt, but let's not go too far. Lastly to say that neither Howard nor Harden do anything to make their teammates better is just disingenuous. Just sounds like grass is always greener syndrome. The ANYTHING is better than what we got, because after one season it didn't work perfectly BS that his been flowing ever since the playoffs ended. Ridiculous if you ask me.
You tell us. The truth makes you look like a clueless chump, with all respect due, with aelliot running rings around your absurdity. I'm surprised that he's even bothering to show you up, but shown up you have been. Perhaps you should take a vacation, come back when you find both sanity and maturity. Good luck with that should you make the attempt.
I agree. Harden is in a key period of his career. If he doesn't invest the time to improve the other facets of the game, he will drop off fairly quickly.
