Paul Pierce: Harden is the best player in the world today

All previous statements by Paul Pierce regarding how he invented the step back are now forgiven.

 

Jalen Rose is a babbling idiot that needs to be off television. My god he sounded like a junkie.

 

Fast forward to 3:00

 

Playing next to future 2 MVPs and DPOY?

What has he done on his own? Certainly has not come close to Harden's historic production.

It's nice that he is a physical freak and skill to potentially do historically amazing things. But production always trumps potential.

That Harden is not the physical freak but still accomplishing freakishish numbers is an indicator of greatness.

 

Ding ding ding. Ur last statement is my whole point. That's actually what I'm saying. Pound for pound harden has maximized himself more which I think as well is a huge achievement.

N saying he played with future mvps is really not a arguement. They weren't mvp players when he played with them...he was.

 

I like to look at this question like this:

Take the best player off of a team and replace him with the other player in the best player discussion and are they better or worse.


Doing this exercise and I think the clear answer is Harden right now.

Not only are other teams better but there’s simply no other player that can/ could have carried this team the way Harden does.

 

Man these guys switch their position more than our switching defense does

 

Jalen Rose is such a hater. So to him, Harden isn't the best player currently because of what happened in game 6 with San Antonio a few years ago? We're talking about Now. Not who was the best 2 years ago....

 

The argument that durant carried that OKC team to the finals has 2 big flaws.

2 future MVPs chipped in.

Hell the rockets have been the second best team recently too. The best team just happened to play in the same conference.

 

Ahhhhhh every player that has got to the finals have had guys chip in....the 2 future mvps weren't even close to the players they are now so why even bring that up. He was the mvp on that team. Period the best player

 

I disagree( with ur method of determining)...have them play one on one. Who wins.

 

The irony here is that Billups picking Curry and Jalen picking Durant, two players from the same team, weakens their own arguments.

Durant is a scorer. He is not a playmaker and he does not know how to dictate the team's offense. Harden can do both.

Curry can do both but he does not have the durability and the strength to carry the team like Harden did without his other best players.

As for the playoffs, Harden and CP did just fine against the Warriors last season.

And when CP went down with injury, Harden lost to a team of superstars...which does not equate to choking in playoffs.

You know what choking is? Watch Durant choke it up against the Warriors and then run and join them the next season. That's choking + cowardice all wrapped up in one delicious package.

I have yet to come across someone on ESPN that can actually debate in a logical manner, which is why they are on ESPN.

 

I agree with everything except the Lebron part. How much of the "Lebron's the best in the world" argument is media generated? We hear this but anybody with a IQ would ask how much of Lebron's success has come at the expense of not playing in the West. Yes his stats are great, but if being a leader is truly about making guys better, then why do u need a superteam everywhere you go. Wouldn't you make anybody better? KD played Lebron in the finals & cooked him every time they matched up. Lebron does more intangibles, but KD's offense is so much better none of that matters. Hes BEEN better than Lebron since OKC

 

Ok ima push back....when had lbj ever play kd in the finals n had a better team...n remember kd lost to lbj when he was with okc in the finals. N best player is not a yearly award. That's mvp. Best player is a multi year thing n u dont give that crown away unless the guy who has it just drops. Lbj had been to 8 straight finals. I dont care if it is the east. U go to 8 straight high school finals that's impressive. That's hard to do no matter what league u play in. N u cant just say his stats are great n he dont make guys better lmao.did u see who he took to the finals last year...remember when he used To have guys like boobie Gibson lmao.

 

Stats I just pulled from ESPN

LeBron James Vs. Kevin Durant With Thunder
DURANT JAMES
Wins 4 17
PPG 29.3. 29.1
FG pct 49.7. 50.8
RPG 6.2 7.5
APG 3.3. 7.1
FGA PG 20.7. 21.1

Now when kd went to warriors
LeBron James Vs. Kevin Durant With Warriors
DURANT JAMES
Wins 10 2
PPG 32.1 32.0
FG pct 53.9. 53.1
RPG 8.8. 10.2
APG 5.5 8.3
FGA PG 20.1 22.8



Lbj whooped him all day long until he teamed up with curry n klay

 

Curry's ankles would crumble under the workload. If you think he could do what Harden done and stay healthy while avoiding fatigue then that's interesting.

 

Harden is better than KD now, people need to stop the nonsense

If KD is so great, why was GS so mediocre when Curry was out? He can’t do a carry job like Harden. He just isn’t capable of producing points like Harden is, and his defense doesn’t come close to making up for that.

If Harden was in GS he’d have multiple rings too. KD took a team to the finals back when there was no GS level team in the West.

 

No I'm not going to ignore it, I'm just going to rationally take into consideration that he had Russell Westbrook, a young James Harden and a spry Serge Ibaka as teammates and the team he lost to was not better than the team Harden had at his mercy with a 33 year old Chris Paul, Clint Capela, Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza and PJ Tucker.

That's an EASY assessment.