Interestgin video. Its really interesting to me that he pigeonholed Harden at number 5, like he truly didnt believe he was above or below this number. I'd also prefer if people who dont know what they are talking about go "SEE WE TOL U HARDAN SUK"
So, based on this, the Rockets lost to a team with the top 2 players in the game. Hard to get too down on them for that.
Especially when the 2nd option on our team was playing bad basketball all playoffs long. You can't expect Harden to overcome that sort of crap productivity.
haven't watched the video, but AD doesn't get to vault to #2 just because he's teammates with lebron and has like 80% of the actual work of leading a team off of his shoulders.
-"Impact metrics view him as a top 3 player which carried over to his short stint in the playoffs" -#3 in MVP voting So i'll just go ahead and slot him at #5
So somethings here. In regards to Harden. I think Taylor really overvalues scalability. In the sense that putting two sheer talents together kind of trump whatever marginal scalability get from better fit. Or being able to fit in anywhere. He talked about how Cp3 and Harden didnt have great on and off numbers together in another but ignored just how dominant having them on the same team was. Its not like Cp3 was a bad fit either, he can shoot. Also like if you put Harden on the Lakers,do see them not winning a championship? At least as far the top 10 is concerned. Give Harden any of these other guys on this list and lets see how that Lakers series goes? As for off ball movement, I dont know if there is evidence that Harden CAN'T be effective off ball either. I can however, see some issues with defensive scalability. Im forgetting what kind of coverage we ran with Dwight in 2014-2015? I dont believe that was switch everything? I have no reason to believe he isnt better than Kawhi, Davis or Giannis. At least in my opinion. Davis's hot shooting will never be sustainable ever again. And interesting to know he didnt even affect our already poor offensive rating during the playoffs.
He holds a lot of value in player's being "scalable" as in being able to go into any system or role and still be effective and be there best self. I personally dont. But to be fair I think Harden can be put in any offensive system and still be amazing. I think if you put the talent together, they make it work. I'd like to see literally any of these other top 10 players play with Lebron(or Harden) and see what happens. The fact that they are the only two top 10 players playing tother makes their stuff look super inflated as well. Regarding defense though, I can see how sclablity in that regard for Harden would be a knock. But again, i think he really ignores how good Harden was on defense. He was most likely the 3rd best defender on our team behind Covington and Tucker. Even in the video....you see we were 3 points better with Harden but 7 POINTS worse with Westbrook during the playoffs. That's so laughable.
I notice the small print "At full health". One of Harden's strengths is he's able to play as if he's at full health for more games than a lot of these other players. That's an easy thing to overlook about him, but a proper valuation should take that into account.
I guess he's really valuing playoff production here as he should I guesss.. As far as availability goes regarding playoffs. I know Harden is a tank but its hard to really talk about full health this playoffs when most of these guys played all their games with the exception of Giannis and Lillard. Even then though, they played in the majority of their playoff games.
Ben Taylor is a huge Steph Curry nuthugger, he had harden at 7 and curry at number 1 in 2019 and lost a lot of subs over that video
that was all of 2019 when harden led the regular season in scoring at 36 ppg( broke ben taylors per 75 scoring metric) and then led the playoffs in scoring as well He had curry number 1 in 2019 lol, and look at the weakness he put for harden as to why he had him 7th( the rockets scheme to cover for his defense). But had curry at number 1 when klay, draymond, and iggy basically guarded the lillards and cp3 of the world while curry got to conserve energy for offense. Ben Taylor never thought harden would break his per 75 scoring metric and once he did he looked for anyway to downgrade hardens success. Look at how he is uplifting Luka for playing the same exact heliocentric offense that harden is. Luka and Harden are this close in his rankings when Luka is a worse defender and worse offensive player. It makes no sense, How can harden be 7th in 2019 behind lebron and anthony davis when neither of them even made the playoffs and harden was better than both in the 2019 regular season
Ben Taylor’s and the Dunc’d on podcasts are two of my favorites for actual basketball analysis without all the bullshit, but man do those podcasts love them some Steph.
steph is the nba babyface and james harden is the nba heel you will never find actual objective analysis of james harden unless you go to basketball reference and do the research for yourself. The majority of nba media members have to kiss up to Lebron and Curry and hate Harden because that is what sells. If Ben Taylor had Harden above Lebron in 2019( like he should have... that video would have been downvoted into oblivion by casuals. Ben Taylor and the rest of these nba media members have to make a living somehow, and Harden being seen as a top 3 over a lot of their paying customers favorites is bad business
Also, I really dont believe that Davis is better than Giannis. I honestly dont care that he doesnt have a jumper, put him next to elite talent. And you'll see whats up. People take this for granted. You gave Harden one year of prime Chris Paul and look what happend.
Lol. Ben Taylor is useless for big picture opinions. Sure I’ll find out Anthony Davis is really good because of a signature two dribble face up move I never noticed, but rankings and opinions ? Mainstream trash. Look at his garbage hyped list. LeBron and AD #1 and #2, Lillard and Butlers, the gods of bubble hype, somehow in the top 10. Harden underrated even if slightly. Luka right NEAR Harden even though Harden is a much more complete player. Casual dummy approved top 10. Idk if he sold out to popular opinion for the views and clicks, or if he’s just susceptible to hype. Probably both.
Mind showing me your top 10, Im pretty curious. I will give no opinion on it, I just want to see it. Or do you just think lists are stupid in general?
Lol Anthony Davis that high is absurd. Dude had his own team for years and could barely make the playoffs.
