He has his moments, but he's often matador-ish. His offense is unbelievable, though, just behind Kobe, Melo, Durant, Lebron.
I don't care if he takes it easy as long as he doesn't miss his rotations and gives up easy baskets, which is exactly what he did in the 1st three quarters. I hope the coaches make him accountable so as not to create bad habits, the last thing we need is for Harden to descent to Martin's level on defense.
Lack of effort and probably also below average lateral quickness. But he's got good instincts and he's strong, so he can be a decent defender with the right focus. If we can add more help on offense and a strong help defender at PF, that can help.
Harden's defense (or the lack of) is mostly forgotten/forgiven by the time a game ends when his offense leads us to a WIN.
Lebron, DWade, Kobe.... they were all bad defenders when they first got their leading roles. It will come with time. Obviously, I don't think he'll be all-defensive team locks those guys were but I think eventually he'll be a +defender.
He has shown that if he is focused on defense, he is able to. It's just a matter of being able to put up the kind of energy for the whole game night in and night out. http://youtu.be/63TDVWnZ5K8
last night he let Shved go UNCONTESTED for 2 layups in a row and was looking around for help. His offense made up for it but in the long term/playoffs that wont cut it
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Once Harden figures out how to successfully partition his energy between offense and defense through not only each game but really the entire rigorous NBA schedule, his defense should naturally improve. We know Harden is capable, now we just need consistency, which will come.
No, it is not bad. Yes he takes possessions off but he makes up for it offensively. Without Harden, we are below .500 and you're going to nick pick for taking possessions off. Good ole CF
It's a bit of both. It does seem like Harden gives effort on defensive plays, but either he just makes mistakes or cannot physically defend NBA players. I would say Harden needs to be a better passer/playmaker. He really isn't that great of one. It's a very overrated part of his game. He turns the ball over a lot when he passes. He is still a good one though, but he could be better and he could be the passer most people in the media say he is, because he isn't right now. His scoring is elite though and his rebounding is solid, so right now he is in Melo range.
He has to mitigate the amount of energy he puts on defense because he knows on offense, in the 4th quarter, he's the #1 option. If we could get a PF that scores, and adds help on low post defense, that would be a huge boon for this team.
