When Ariza hoes straight up and down he is a great shooter. Not so much when he is the primary shot creator.
It is making a difference that Canaan is not playing behind Harden when Harden sits. We do miss Parsons' (and Lin's) playmaking and the only guy we got on the roster at present that can run this offense when Harden sits is Canaan. One of two things is happening here: 1. Either we are conserving Canaan's minutes to trade him. or 2. McHale is just that bad as a coach. I refuse to believe #2. McHale played this game too long not to understand needing Canaan in there when Harden sits. And even before Bev returned Canaan has been basically shadowing Harden, only playing without Harden for a few seconds of real game time and getting a few minutes without Harden in garbage time. That 'feels' like to me that we are trying to make Canaan look even better by lining him up with Harden. Because it makes ZERO, and I mean ZERO, sense for Canaan to be sitting and Terry and Bev running the show when Harden sits. Terry and Bev cannot initiate and run an NBA offense cleanly nor efficiently. I believe that Canaan will be traded. I have felt this way since before the season starts. I think there's a major playmaker coming. Probably Rondo. Maybe.....maybe Goran......and maybe Rubio. But it feels like another primary playmaker is on the way since we aren't running Canaan out there behind Harden and we are severely limiting his minutes right now.
If terms are generally agreed to, they've got to limit his minutes and potential injury. You tell me....does it make sense that Terry and Bev are running the show when Harden sits instead of Canaan? Look I like both those players but Bev is a 3&D guy and Terry is a spot-up shooter. Asking and depending on either player to initiate and run this offense as a playmaker is simply not good.....especially when Canaan is on the roster.
Well, we signed Harden for this role didn't we? Harden is asked to do what top 5 players are asked to do. Look at Curry. I don't expect Harden to shoot 37% even if we asked him to do more. He's taking poor shots too, which I continue to emphasize he needs to diverse his game. Either it's a 3 or a layup (you can say that's the team as a whole offensively). He needs to mix it up. Cuts, drives, post ups, 3s, speed up the tempo... Hopefully his shot selection improves, which in turn should improve his fg%.
Ye but Curry is shooting 40%, if you are shooting 27% (Harden 3pt %), you should stop jacking up 7 3pt apg ( Harden 3pt apg).
not sure why so much crap on parsons' D....not like he's one of the worst defenders..... and I don't think ariza's d is THAT much better. Ariza got off to a hot start, and he's coming down to earth now, so let's try to be a lil unbiased and fair on this comparison folks.
I actually took the liberty of watching all of Deng's 13 FGs that game, and Parsons was assigned to him for 4 of those shots. The rest were on Aminu, Crowder, and Jefferson. Can we stop the wild misrepresentations? I know we're sore at Parsons, but the revisionist history is kind of disgusting. Just like how Batum "torched" Parsons in the playoffs whereas Parsons outscored Batum in 5 out of 6 games. By that logic, Parsons also torched Batum.
Currently, Harden is taking 24.6% of his shots between 10 feet and the 3pt line. That is the highest number in his career. He is making those shots at the lowest percentages of his career. Clearly, Harden's problem is too many midrange shots.
He is working pretty hard on both ends of the floor, and with there being no Lin or Parsons, he's the primary focal point of the Defense. He's not going to get many open 3's and they are going to close off the lanes. He's going to have to have more of a midrange game. But as long as he is getting to the line, you live with it. What it really does say is that Harden needs some help.
Huh?? Parsons D WAS that bad. And Ariza IS that much better. That switch right there is the majority of the reason we are auch a good defense this year.
That's what Im trying to say. Harden's game is either a 3 or a layup, which leads to poor shot selection. Nothing in between. He's not an elite shooter like Curry. He's a scorer. He needs to mix it up and diversify his offensive game to keep the defense guessing. I think his poor fg% correlates with his poor shot selection more so than the workload. Harden is a tall and strong SG. He needs to get his butt in the post, or at least high or mid post and punish the guards.
Per basketball reference, his fg distance per shot this year is 14.5ft, pretty much on par with his entire career. But take a look closer. % of FG attempts 0-3 ft - 27% (lowest in his career) 3-10 ft - less than 10% (lowest in career) 10-16 ft - less than 9% (on par with career) 16ft to 3pt line - 16% (highest in career) 3pt - 38% So basically he's taking long 2s or 3s, or at the rim (but career low at the rim). Or what you would say with long 2s and contested 3s - > poor shots. james is a scorer, not a shooter.
