Harden - and how to build a championship team around him

As a leader he needs to motivate others to do well on Defense and rally behind him.

He needs to talk to them, get to know what his teammates' conditions are.

 

The only way to build a champion team is getting rid of him.
He is purely a garbage player playing no defense and damaging the effort of the whole team.

 

the game in pretty different from those days in terms of pace, minute management, offensive systems etc.

But see no reason why Harden couldn't carry the offensive burden while playing defense if he had the mental / physical capacity like a Jimmy Butler.

I don't think he does though, but he can definitely play better. I think its mostly mental.

 

Jimmy Butler carrying the offensive burden all the way to the 25th best offense in the league. Also let's ignore all star PF/C Pau Gasol who is one of the best post up bigs in the game.

 

They were able to convince him to play defense last season.

 

funny how even with the 25th best offense in the league and key injuries they are still outperforming the rockets, in arguably the tougher conference this year (for once).

if you are going to give the onus of the offensive woes to Jimmy Butler, then give give the overall team success. But let me guess he has Pau Gasol, who by the way is having one of his worst years statistically offensively in some time.

 

Sure, if you wanna compare which of two underperforming teams is underperforming more. And btw, the narrative that the East was catching up to the West was fun for the first month of the season, but its not even close to arguable even more. The West still dominates the East.

WHAT??! YOU MEAN THE ENTIRE ONUS OF A TEAM UNDERPERFORMING SHOULD NOT PUT ON ONE PLAYER?! I'M CONFUSED, I THOUGHT HARDEN WAS THE PROBLEM FOR EVERYTHING???

But yea, logical absurdities aside, the narrative that Harden's defense is so terrible that it is dragging the entire team into the dumpster is becoming embarrassing at this point.

 

That was before 200 mil from Adidas....

He's a professional and shouldn't have to be convinced to play defense...

Harden is not going to change or be convinced to play defense...

Harden is what Harden is...

T_Man

 

More Jimmy butler talk?

His own Chicago media labels him the ISO King.

He's a good player but not a superstar or even close to hardens level of production.

He's seen as a star because he avg 20ppg on the Bulls, But even Bulls fans know he's not a true star.

If harden is a 2nd option on a contender like some say then butler is a 3rd option.

I would love to see harden play with a guy like butler. James for all the winning he has done here in Houston he still hasn't gotten the opportunity to play with another Allstar level player on the outside. Parsons was the closest thing and it did work very very well.

 

Harden will be leading this team to 50+ wins and a top 4 seed next year and your still going to be picking at somthing about his game.

You talked to harden? He told you he was done growing and wasn't going to work on his game?

We need more insiders like you around here.

All hail the great T_Man.

Smh

 

If Harden continues to not give a crap about defense, you better believe anyone that knows basketball will criticize his game. Playing that way is not conducive to winning basketball, much less championship basketball.

Also, it doesn't raise a million red flags in your mind that Harden has regressed after coming in 2nd in last season's MVP voting? The best players in the world take that snub and use it as motivation to prove that the voters got it wrong. Not Harden. He's actually played much worse than he did last year, while the MVP award winner, Curry, has elevated his game to historic levels.

 

didn't hear that from me. I just find it reasonable that Harden is capable be a better two way player than he already is.

 

If that's what you want to believe then go for it.....

aelliot and malakas have their stats and although i'm not a big fan of using stats for everything I do respect them for what they do.

I'm a big fan of history and this is not the first time a player like Harden has come along... I keep referring back to history with Adrian Dantley.. Two very similar players in all aspects of the game.

Harden was hungry last year and every since last year that hunger has been gone. People want to compare Harden to young players such as Lebron, Jordan and others... But he's not...

Jordan... Kobe.. Magic.. Bird.. Wade... these guys stayed hungry and took things personally... When Hakeem didn't win the MVP he didn't sulk or pout... He got freaking angry and he showed the world that he was the true MVP... Jordan was ragged about his defense when he first came into the league and worked on his game... Harden has settled and could care less.

As Codman stated, the Rockets FO love Harden and he's not going anywhere.. Harden knows that just as well as anyone else, so why should he do anything a coach says??? he knows he will be here and someone else will be gone before he does...

Like I said Adrain Dantley...

Harden is who Harden is.....

T_Man

 

Of course he is capable to be better, but the amount of attention he gets for it is disproportional to its actual impact.

 

I guess it's too much to ask the MVP runner up and one of the 5 most talented players in the league to play average or better defense. The Rockets should accept his terrible defense and force his teammates to cover for his laziness on that end of the court, then when those guys can no longer do that, replace them with guys that can. Heaven forbid the Rockets hold their best player accountable and demand he work hard to become a complete player.

Newsflash: If James Harden wants to be an MVP candidate and a champion, being a terrible defender and forcing his teammates to cover for this deficiency won't cut it. Nor will the Rockets win a championship with this approach unless he is relegated to 2nd fiddle on the team.

 

Great freaking Post and on point....

T_Man

 

You can't put Parsons defense next to Harden because the defense would be worse than it already is. That's why they surrounded him with defenders and it worked last year.

Our starting 5 currently includes 4 guys known more for defense

 

I'd wager that Harden has declined on defense more than anyone else on the team. He was about average last year, now he's probably the worst defensive starter in the NBA. Its also accepted that hes out lf shape. But people want to put the blame on role players.

 

It's a reasonable question to ask, provided his defense was the only thing separating this team from a championship.

Newsflash: It isn't.

Let me introduce you to the real world.

Surrounding your only elite player with a bunch of underperforming talent and then b****ing about him being the big problem with the team is a good way to accomplish two things:

1.) Guilt him into just absolutely killing himself on a night in and night out basis on both side of the ball, which will break down his body faster than Greg Oden, and provide no better results in the short or long term.
2.) Drive him out of town, and provide no better results in the short or long term.

So, enough of your high and mighty bull****. Harden's defense, or lack thereof, is inconsequential to our struggles right now. It has been so blown out of proportion, it's just silly at this point. When the team was on the cusp, it was not an issue.

 

I wouldn't say "inconsequential", because his defense has been a real problem this season, but I do agree that we're not "Harden being average on defense" away from contending for a title. The notion that Harden is to blame for everything remains utter lunacy, but he's not blameless. Nobody is blameless, though you'd like to see Harden get back to where he was last season defensively.