What changes will we see from Harden in the Silas era?

True but teams also game planned for Harden, including playing defensive specialists designed to slow him down, and he averaged 30PPG on world class efficiency over 14 games.

Other than double teaming Harden, I'm not convinced there is a legit way to stifle him on offense...even if they know his shtick.

 

What's the obsession with mid-range? When was Harden ever good at mid-range?

Basically the '17-18 season was when Harden stopped shooting mid-range. In the 3 seasons since he's averaged 0.7, 1.0 and .03. mid-range attempts per game.

In the seasons prior to '17-'18, he shot a few mid-range but he also wasn't very good at them:

09-10 - 1.5 attempts 38.6%
10-11 - 1.2 attempts 40%
11-12 - 1.0 attempts 40%
12-13 - 2.8 attempts 33.5%
13-14 - 3.1 attempts 40.6%
14-15 - 3.4 attempts 37.3%
15-16 - 3.9 attempts 40.5 %
16-17 - 2.0 attempts 41.4%

When he did shoot mid-range he wasn't very good at it. Does anyone really believe that Harden shooting mid-range is our missing ingredient?

How many mid-range shots do you want Harden to take? It's not like anyone is going to change their defense if he starts shooting mid-range. Teams would gladly accept him shooting 40% from mid-range instead of the uber-efficiency that he's currently putting up.

Mid-range is an inefficient shot that few players are good at. Here's the list of players that attempted at least 3 mid-range shots per game last season and hit at least 50% on those shots:

CP3 4.2 attempts 54%
Middleton 4.8 attempts 52.7%.

That's the entire list.

Here's my crazy take on it. If you have a player that is so good that he forces other teams to send doubles when he crosses mid-court and having to play 3-on-4 on the other players, then the guy forcing the double team likely isn't your problem. Especially when they are still putting up incredibly efficient numbers even with the double teams.

 

Step back 3 dollar bill rain.....

 

Cant wait to see @fchowd0311 asinine response to this.

 

He’s going to bring back the euro step except from behind the three point line.

 

The changes from Harden? Jerseys probably

 

The Harden era is over unless the org pulls a massive rabbit out of the hat.

 

Rabbit out of the hat? Tilman still here? Oh it’s over. It’s been 2 years in the making. Year 3 has already started out like complete garbage. The dumpster is getting full

 

The dumpster overflow-ith.

I agree it’s over.

 

Those percentages look like a breath of fresh air compared to some of his 3pt % performances. There are some instances, especially towards the end of the game, where it's a better shot. Points are points.

 

Except that your only getting 2 points per make from midrange.

Let me put this into perspective. 40% from midrange equates to 26% from behind the arc. Westbroorook shoots about 26% from behind the arc.

So our silver bullet is as efficient as WB from 3?
I don't think do.

 

Bump. Him not playing with westbrick

 

At the end of games it's about getting the highest percentage shot only. The 3pt shot has too much variance, over an 82 game season it works, but in one game you need to be able to adjust if it's not falling.

 

The problem is it's very easy to double Harden in the 4th. He doesn't out much effort in trying to free himself hence why team defenses are going to more willing to do it on Harden than other stars players because they know Harden is going to put up less of a fight to free himself by sprinting and going through screens or catching the ball at different spots on the half court.

 

Teams double Harden in late game situations because they know he won't fight to get free. They won't do that to someone like Curry because they know trying to shadow double Curry off ball is going to cause more discombobulation in the defense because Curry is going to take those toe defenders with him through multiple screens and curl actions which is going to mess up the defense and place everyone out of position while also making everyone more winded.

Harden's lack of variety also allows defenses to pack the paint and defend the three point while letting all of our players including Harden to operate freely in the mid range uncontested. This makes it far more difficult for Harden to get good shot attempts in late game situations in the playoffs.

Harden needs to shoot mid range shots for the same reasons the Kansas City Chiefs need to run the ball sometimes.

 

The problem is that at the end of the game, Harden is going to get doubled. In the last 30 seconds of a close game (+-5pts), the other players on the team got more shots than Harden. Additionally, in the cases where he did shoot, he's only shooting a 3 pointer 33% of the time.

In the last 30 seconds of a game where the we were tied or down 2 or less, he didn't take a single 3 pointer in the regular season or playoffs last year.

He didn't shoot any threes when we only needed a two.

Teams aren't going to let Harden beat them. They're going to double him down the stretch and make the other players beat them. Why wouldn't you do that until somebody else shows that they can consistently make a clutch shot. It's the smart move.

 

Same question that I asked earlier. If it's that easy to double Harden then why don't teams do it the entire game? Opponents don't mind him scoring 30 to 35 on great efficiency?

What players are freeing themselves from double teams? Players beat double teams by passing to open teammates. Of course, they have to hit shots.

 

Again, like I said before, it's an energy cost to have two people double someone off the ball for an entire game.

Second, yes star players when they are doubled usually try to pass out. But when they don't have the ball in their hands, they are more willing to move their feet compared to Harden which makes defenses less willing to try that tactic with other type of star players. Harden being so stationary makes opposing teams feel elecomed into doing it.

Other superstar guards when opposing teams try to debt thenlm the ball, they will do curious juke moves, rub through a screen, do something to free themselves while Harden just just stands there trying to have shoving marches and hoping a ref blows a whistle. It's led to white a bit of offensive foul calls on Harden.

And it isn't just just what happens during the double. Watch what happens during a possession where someone like Steph gets doubled and is forced to pass it off. He passes it off and then will try to reengage himself into getting free and an open look through some off ball action. When Harden passes out of a double, he's done for the possession.

 

Nobody gets doubled like Harden does. Nobody. He gets doubled with or without the ball. We've even seen teams play a defender behind him.

Who double teams Curry? Sorry, but if you're getting doubled you're not going to rub two guys off on screens at the same time. One of them will still be guarding you. Curry's not great at creating his own shot.

If a team doubles you, you're not going to free yourself up. You have to make them pay for doing that. Two defenders can recover too easily since you have to free yourself from both. Nobody is getting doubled and freeing themselves up. By the time you'd free yourself from the 2nd guy, the first guy would have already recovered.

So if it's takes so much effort to double Harden that it can't be done for more than 5 minutes, then maybe you shouldn't refer to it as "easy" or "simple". Secondly, if that's all it took teams would gladly rotate a hosts of defenders in to double him throughout the game.

So if a teams doubles my start player, you're suggesting that player needs to free himself up rather than just hitting the unguarded teammate? Harden already averages 35 ppg. Are you thinking that he just needs to average 50 for us to win?