Can we talk about James Harden's defense for a minute?

Those video clips of Harden getting burned on defense a few years ago were real no doubt. But that is when stupid McHale was coach and Harden being a guard, McHale had him defending other guards. He just doesn't have the foot speed to move and stay in front of quick guards. Dan Tony uses a switching defense and gets Harden on 4's and 5's where his strength allows him to play good defense. Much better plan. As far as the steals go...Harden has long arms and strong hands and he reaches in and get steals which is great. Ask yourself this: when did Harden ever back petal in front of a perimeter player and defend him to the rim? Like never. That's just not something he can do. So he will never be considered an elite defender because he can't defend his position (guard). Saying all that...he is the best player in the league hands down and all the top players on offense in NBA history take it easy on defense to conserve their energy for the other end.

 

I have black friends!... foreelz

 

Harden's post defense is legit ... but it still has a critical weakness .... his lack of size .

I think that a prepared bigger player will be able to score over harden fairly consistently .

1) they make a move quickly before help can arrive and before harden can poke the ball away

2) they opt to use their height and shoot over james .

It's option 2 that I'm worried about . Harden is a good post defender .... but if he's matched up against Aldridge or someone with some decent finesse / shooting ability .... they are going to come in prepared and probably destroy him .

 

I am fine with a big trying to shoot over Harden all day any day. That is a 50% shot at best as opposed to having a quicker guard or SF blow past him and potentially putting us in foul trouble.

 

I don't agree, defending the post can wear you out a lot faster especially when you give up that much size. As good as Harden is in the post, it's not wise to have to banging with 7 footers constantly

 

I legitimately can’t remember the last time I’ve hated his defense. He stoppped getting backdoored entirely around January last season.