For people crying about the obvious. (James Harden speaks on his defense)

Harden playing good defense because the coaches are engaged and put more emphasis on defense. I could hear Thibs barking defensive orders from the sideline, McHale or the other coaches don't do that. They don't engage and challenge him. He needs to be challenged.

 

Bowen, World Peace, and Battier should all come and work with him. Bowen can Lui Kang him in the head, Peace and Muay Thai elbow him, and Battier can get him in the groin area if he doesn't comply....

 

He's only 25.

What were most of you doing at that age.

 

Playing championship defense.

 

Giving the proper effort to be good at every aspect of my job. Definitely making sure I wasn't utter garbage at one aspect of it, solely due to a lack of effort.

If Harden were just no good defensively I don't think people would harp as much. It's that he isn't trying out there.

 

McFail is incapable of teaching good team defense.

Thibbs is just what the doctor ordered for Harden. He looked fantastic last night in the scrimmage.

 

I don't think it's a matter of physical effort. Seems like harden has ADD on the court.

 

Not getting millions of dollars to play what is essentially a child's game, that's for certain...

This age excuse is really just that... When a situation demands for maturity, being responsible and holding yourself accountable then it's up to the individual how he responds to that demand... In the end, age has little to do with it...

There are precocious young individuals just as there are immature full grown adults...

 

Harden looks like he will be in his best shape heading into this coming season. I can't wait to see how his D will improve this season and having Howard, Beverley, Ariza, and Jones will be fun to watch on the D side of court.

 

If he can be anything like an average defender, he'd be easily be a top 10 NBA player,
if he isnt one already.

Hope he can make the transition though it would certainly help if McH only played him
a little less than the 38m a game he played last season.

 

He's a top ten player already. People just raised a valid point about whether he was a superstar or not. I honestly don't even think he needs to be an average defender. The most concerning aspect was his effort and lack of self awareness.

I think it's safe to say that he is headed in the right direction.

 

If basketball is a child's game what does it make a person who posts about the Rockets on a forum?

If Harden plays average defense this year does it mean that age still had nothing to do with it? I think it's a combination of him being young and playing too much offense. No one could call him out for his defense before because he carried this team before Howard showed up. He needed to be humbled about how poor his defense was, but I don't think it necessarily makes him a poor leader or selfish player.

 

Wow, the lack of Basketball IQ and reading ability is astounding.

He does try, however is lack of FOCUS is why he losses his man etc. When he is focused and engaged he is a decent defender the issue is he doesn't do it all the time. That directly goes to his focus.

He needs to get better at maintaing his focus on every single defensive possession.

People like you get an idea in your head and only see what supports that idea. It stops you from having the ability to be objective and see the entire picture.

James Harden CAN DEFEND and he can do that at a high level, the problem again which he just acknowledge is being focused on every possession. The fact he brought that up should be a positive because without that acknowledgment he is never going to improve. However, the fact he will address it should be a positive for the fans of his team.

 

He'd be around the 10 area. Maybe I should have said he'd be closing
in closer towards number 5.

Off the top of my head, the players I'd rank in front of him (in no particular order). No disrespect intended.

LBJames
KDurant
CPaul
TDuncan
PGeorge (may he recover completely)
DHoward
BGriffin
LMAldridge.
DRose (when he is healthy)

Maybe Melo. Maybe Nowitzki.

This is with his current 'D'. But would leapgrog a few of the above players
with average 'D'.

My subjective opinion only, of course.

 

TBD

 

I vary in opinion and would think the debatable ones are not better but would be ok with in your list. Duncan/Dirk are just too old, could slip at any time. For sure PG and LMA I would say no.

 

I for sure wasn't all NBA first team. Neither do I think was anyone else on this board.

 

No. 1: James Harden is better than advertised defensively

I spoke to several members of the USAB staff, and behind the scenes they were amazed at how good James Harden has become as an overall player since his last tour with USA two years ago. The fact that he came in and was focused on being a lockdown defender blew them away. When he wants to play defense, Harden is very capable. We already knew he is one of the premier offensive players in all of Basketball. Love him as a player (have always loved lefties) for his unorthodox moves in the open court that allow him to get to the rim, and also knowing how to draw fouls. But now I am being told he is getting it done on the other end, which has always been the major complaint about Harden’s game.

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2014/0...idnt-know-about-team-usa/#wSBdWZuph8zPJEwC.99

 

The first line is something I'd expect from a chick who hates sports ball, not a from a basketball, let alone a Rockets fan.

BTW, I did jack **** at 25.

This is a fair point, though I disagree with the part I bolded. Some people just don't like Harden's personality. They want their cornerstone to be some typical mold of an athlete who will smile or growl in order to sell shoes or sugar water. Harden is not that kind of guy, so he's "fat, lazy and a shady character who goes to strip clubs".

The man stays out of trouble. He hasn't shown signs of drug or alcohol abuse, and he has tried to up his game every year he's been in the league. He's fulfilled his guaranteed max contract when he really doesn't have to, and he's playing more minutes than that point in time where "he used to play good defense".

I'm not giving him a pass, but it's more than fair for the home team to give their star the benefit of the doubt than bandwagon the national hatefest. Sometimes it feels like the board is embarrassed because of him. I didn't really see this with Steve Francis until Superbowlgate.

If he's still like this at 28, we have a problem. But if he's still like this at 28, maybe that problem isn't that bad as it seems. He'd still be a top 10 player and it'd be up to a great GM to build around him to form a top 5 team.

Again, it's a reasonable point, but it's slowly being drawn out by haters who have the reek of p***y that just want to remind people that Harden isn't Lebron or Durant.

No ****.

25 other teams would still kill to have him.

 

Out of curiosity. Does your job involve you being a leader at another aspect of your job where all the work is dumped on you because you are the best at it, and requiring you to lead the entire department?

I'm not excusing Harden. But I have trouble believing normal 25 year old having to shoulder as much a load at their job as Harden does on the Rockets offense. And I certainly can speak from personal experience that when one aspect of my job requires more dedication, other parts suffer a bit as a result. More than I would like to think.

Now, if the Rockets get a 3rd scorer. Let's for the sake of argument Dragic even if I think it's unlikely, and Harden still doesn't try on defense, I'd have a lot more issues. But last year Lin was suppose to be that guy and he played like a scared kid.