Not a fair comparison.. As numerous others have mentioned Dirk never had a effort, heart or character issue. He is a much more likeable human being than harden. I can appreciate harden's talents but as a fan it's hard to completely get behind him passionately. I view him as an asset like Morey. He's on the team and still our best chance of winning so I will root for him to do well. BUt he's no where close to being a true Rocket at heart. Doesn't come close to the likes of Olajuwon, Yao, Horry, Smith, Cassell, Francis, etc or even Tmac. He may be more talented than some of these folks but he lacks character and heart.
Umm I never really liked harden as a fan since the beginning. I don't hate him but he never endeared me like players in the past. I honestly have been indifferent to him since the beginning. Recognize he's our best talent but that's about it. Don't have the same passion as I did when in the 90s. When Dream and Barkley lost to the Jazz I wept with the team and players. Now I couldn't care less. PErhaps I'm just a old geezer now.
He improved his posture as soon as he retired. He's more like Rodman's height at this very moment 6'7 1/2.
So Harden starts slow (which you readily admit apparently) while telling everyone that he should have been MVP last year. You also conveniently ignored his defensive effort I see. Also, to the OP, Dirk would have had another championship most likely if not for the refs pulling a Sacramento/LAL circa 2002 with Wade in the Finals.
Exactly. It seems the idiot forgot why people are so against Harden...his ****ty EFFORT. Dirk has been one of the hardest working players in the league since he's been here. I can't think of a stupider comparison.
You haven't been here long enough to earn the right of being the GARM r****d. Go back to being a nobody with stupid takes. I can't think of as bad of a poster to date, but the LOFs come to mind. Your take was stupid, but I didn't mean to make you feel insecure about your lack of a proper education/ intelligence---as that is clear projection. Before I put you on ignore, I just want to point out how stupid you sound saying "literally nobody has ever told you...". You either have been told something or you haven't....there is no "literally" involved there. Its only fitting that stupid people don't actually realize that they are stupid. Do everybody a favor and stop posting, you've already showed that the only way you get noticed is through saying stupid things or picking fights with those smarter than you are.
Harden should have been MVP last year. What does this season have to do with that? Hardens defensive assignment is scoring +3 over their average. If you're pointing to that as our biggest issue then your mistaken. I know it's popular to pretend that Harden's man is scoring 25 a night but that's simply not true. He's getting the easiest defensive assignment each night but so does Curry.
Exactly what character issues does Harden have? Show me any legitimate article that says that Harden has character issues or people questioning his heart. He's been the most clutch player in the league over the last 3 years. Guys with no heart don't continually come through in the clutch like that.
It's not defensive stats that people are pointing to. (BTW, there are very few statistical tools (at least not publicly accessible) that can reliably measure individual defense. Harden's defensive lapses are well documented. I don't think it is even debatable. Looking at how much his man score above his average is just one part of it. Defense is not just about preventing your assigned man from scoring. And the criticism is not just he's a poor defender, like Dirk, but that he's a LAZY defender.
You've told me for nearly a year that you would put me on ignore, please do. I've been here long enough to remember you insisting that we should trade Harden for Kevin Love.
I don't think the point of this comparison was to say they have the exact same criticisms, but Dirk DID get a bunch of these same nonspecific general characterizations in those years, especially when he shot like **** and got beat in the first round by the Warriors in 07. 'Effort', 'heart', 'choking', 'one-dimensional player' - that all came up. Like someone in the thread said earlier, everything is forgotten once you win a 'ship. Hell, even early Jordan and post-Shaq Kobe were labelled as people that couldn't win.
We have plenty of defensive metrics. The bottom line here is that Harden, despite terrible defense, is still far and away the most effective, most positive contributing member of our team. In fact there are only three people, statistically speaking, who are net positives (Harden, Capella, Howard) The target on Harden is fairly stupid to be honest, especially considering we have not gotten anything positive from the 1s, 3s, or 4s on our team. Harden's offense makes up for his defense, five fold. Outside of the three mentioned above, they are providing next to nothing offensively or defensively. That is a much bigger problem.
I defended Ariza a ton last year but somehow he is getting no blame this year despite the fact that his defense has majorly slipped
I might not agree with aelliott on this one, but for you to call aelliott an idiot is like Snooki calling Stephen Hawking an idiot. aelliott is one of the most respected and insightful posters here. You, on the other hand...
Your level of butthurt is incredible, one of Harden's chicks? "All of you talking bad about my baby, leave him alone, you all suck mimimi. "
I have always wanted that the franchise go for a PF as the cornerstone player instead of always seeking top Centers. Porzingis as a PF is the way to go
