Harden may seem to be going through a rough path recently but I blame this on general hype setting unrealistic expectations for him. He was a former 6th man on the Thunder often playing against bench players so he is still adjusting to level of play expected as a starter. Essentially in some ways, this could be considered his sophomore season. Take Kidd-Gilchrist who has recorded nearly as many starts in his young career as Harden, yet is being lauded for minor improvements in his game. Side by side hardens raw numbers would blow most other sophomore players out of he water by a long shot. If it wasn't for the exorbitant contract, I don't think anybody would have a problem with his current level of play. And secondly, harden's always been a defensive liability and I don't see why everyone starts to jump on him now just because we're on the precipice of being considered legit contenders. People say he doesn't put forth any effort on defense but perhaps he just isn't capable of trying. Few people are capable of being as tenacious as Kobe Bryant so perhaps physicality and defense are just not ingrained in him. Nevertheless he makes up for it when he's hot by being a solid scorer in transition or off the swing pass. And despite being extremely cold tonight is usually one of our better options from three. So let's all just lay off the Harden criticisms for just a while and let Parsons and Lin come back and get the W's rolling
