Bill Simmons Absolutely Hates Harden

okay so passing to a cutter for 2 points is "extra special"

while driving and attracting 5 defenders and kicking out 30 feet to an open 3 point shooter is "cheap"

and you act like harden never passes to a cutter

 

Drive and kick for open 3s isn't cheap, and no one is saying it is cheap.

 

so what type of assists is he pertaining to when he talked of cheap assists?

The thing with Luka is the assists aren’t, like, cheap assists.

 

That is exactly what Bill Simmons is saying.

 

I think it should be strictly players and coaches voting for this type of stuff.
And you CAN"T vote for anyone on your own team.
Players and coaches are the ones going up against these guys night in and night out.

 

Can you quote where he is exactly saying this?

 

Exactly. He said he doesn’t get cheap assists and follows that immediately with comparing some of his assists (the drive and kick to open 3 variety) to Harden’s. To infer from this that such assists are therefore “cheap” would be illogical, as it would clearly contradict his statement that Luka’s assists are not cheap.

 

I can see how you're interpreting it but I can see how it can also be interpreted the other way as well because why mention "cheap" assists and not provide an example of said assists? Why not elaborate and say something like:

"The thing with Luka is the assists are good/quality assists. He has the typical James Harden type of assist, where he brings the second guy over and hits the guy in the corner, the cross-court, all the stuff he's doing to get guys open threes. "

Simmons is a smart guy and he knows what kind of reaction he wants to get out of his comments.

 

Bill Simmons is a biased pos hater.

 

Perhaps that would make it more clear, but again there's no good reason to infer that "cheap assists" is a reference to generating open 3-point shots. Everyone knows those are high quality plays. You have to assume he is directly contradicting himself, ignore his statement moments later where he clarifies that Harden is a "really, really, really good passer and creator" and also ignore all the previous statements he has made about Harden and his ability to create good open looks for his teammates. And you have to rely on doctored quotes on social media rather than the words he actually spoke to make the case that he said Harden's assists are cheap.

There's plenty of bad commentary about Harden out there that we should point out and criticize. But I think it undermines the case that Harden often gets a bad rap when we choose to complain about stuff like this by misrepresenting or twisting the words that are used. And I'm definitely not the only one in this thread who sees that.

 

I'll counter with what I said before by saying there's also no good reason to state anything as a "cheap assist", especially if you don't provide examples/evidence to define these "cheap assists". If you've been a fan/listener/follower of Simmons as I've been since his Page 2 days Simmons is just like any other sports columnist / talking head--this isn't the first time Simmons contradicts himself and it won't be the last. Granted he is more sensible than say Stephen A Smith or Skip Bayless but it's not above making outlandish comments to drum up attention.

And I'll agree that there are more egregious articles/commentaries that have been made about Harden over the years and this really don't register as an all-time worst, however, at this point most of us have been conditioned to defend Harden at any slight criticism and that's a part of being a sports fan of your local team/star right?

 

When he said "cheap assists", I understood it as stat-chasing assists. He often criticized Rajon Rondo for this type of thing.

Being irrationally defensive is a common trait of sports fans, agreed, which is why fans of opposing teams often look at eachother as unreasonable buffoons.

 

And if he would have used that as a reference/example during his podcast it might have made things a lot clearer.

And that pretty much sums up fandom

 

If it's just based off the bubble games, Booker is more deserving than Harden.

 

I think Booker and Lillard (after his 61 point detonation) should be before Harden. I love Harden but those guys are carrying their teams right now to a playoff spot.