Base on the games I watch, the reason he gets steals is because he hangs around the 3 point line a lot. I think most of steals come from there. At least base on what I seen. Steals don't really mean you play defense either. He's young, he'll learn obviously. He'll need to get that superstar mentality though.
You are actually insulting his team mates by claiming that he can half-ass defensive duties since he is carrying his team on offense (which is itself ludicrous as what would you expect out of a max contract 1st option but to be the one carrying the bulk of the offense?) while his team mates are leaving everything on the court on both ends - they may come up short in talent but not in effort. A true franchise player leads by example: he may never be a lock down defender but he should absolutely put in the effort on defense: it's not a question of being a tony allen but of actually giving a ****. To his credit, Harden has reponded in a very positive way when he was called out by his team mates. It was a very crucial moment in his early career as a franchise player, this being his first public challenge from his team. He could have taken the easy way of his stans : "Yo Ppat, sat down yo ass while I'm carrying the team". He could well have claimed this team as his and put Ppat back in his "place" and continue doing what he was doing. But he didn't, he gave up the ball, tried to play more into the flow of the offense and has actually started giving a lot of effort on defense in the past few games. And you don't give Harden a pass because he is on a young team. On the contrary, maximum effort is required on defense because it is a young team who must be taught good habits and discipline and more will be expected from the guy actually leading the team on the floor. Ok, I'm off now to watch United- Southampton.
First off _ I didn't CLAIM he was carrying the team offensively or win games by himself. You're making 5h!t up or read someone else's post and mistaken it with mine. And FYI _ his max contract doesn't start till next season (he's still on his rookie contract)... I notice you and others ars singling his defense out like every other player on the team is a great defender. You guys always talking about team ball _ well in a team sport no individual wins a game by himself and a team doesn't lose a game because of the play of a single individual. And if you don't give Harden a pass because he is youn and on a young team but you are singling him out and give the other players a pass... Very hypocritical of you...
I don't know how many games you have watched but if that's your opinion on how he gets ALL his steals than ok... And if its your opinion that steals don't mean you play defense even though steals are considered a defensive statistic than ok as well. I can't debate you on what you think. I could but what's the purpose...lol..
Steals is an indicator of good defense, but there is not a causal relationship between the two. Steals typically indicate high risk/lazy defense instead of good defense. A player that plays the passing lanes (which is how harden gets a lot of his steals + he has long ass arms). Harden rarely is in a good defensive stance and is constantly blown by (I rarely ever see him force an offensive player into defensive help). If he were getting steals with good defensive principles (which he rarely does) then I would consider him good defensively. I've watched almost every single game this year and I can say that for Harden (anyone else would agree with me) getting steals does not mean good man to man defense. Question then: Do you consider Chris Paul to be a more lock-down defender than Tony Allen because Chris Paul gets more steals than Tony Allen? Anyways, I don't think anyone cares that he is bat-crap terrible on defense, its whether he tries or not -- this directly impacts teammate relationships and overall play of a team. Don't you end up hating and getting annoyed in pick-up basketball when you pick up some dude that just never tries on defense and thinks he's hot sauce and never passes?
(1) You clearly said that since he is the most consistent on offense, he can be given a pass for not giving effort on D. (2) When did I say that his team mates play good defense? Lol, the rockets are one of the worse defense in the league. Harden's team mates are not especially good defenders but that is not due to lack of effort. (3) I am not giving his team mates a pass! Now it's you who are making **** up. This is the Harden sucks on defense thread and he usually sucks on D not because of inexperience but of lack of effort. If for example Parsons or Lin sucked on D because they are slacking on D, then by all means call them out but the fact is that most of the time Harden's team mates gives maximum effort on D for they know the coaches will sit their sorry ass otherwise.
Dude, all I said is that he is in the top 10 in steals so at least he gives some type of effort... Maybe not the effort you or others would like to see but something is better than nothing.
Like I said.. I didn't say that.. Better yet.. point it out where I said that... And your post are worst than evryone else so you're not putting forth effort... Hard to judge effort by comparing to other people's effort. That's ridiculous.
When we were fouling Denver towards the end of the game we had a chance to sub in our defensive set. Who did McHale put in? Delfino/Parsons/Lin/Asik/Douglas Take note Harden and make yourself a better player.
Harden's defense in the Denver game was really frustrating. Iggy kept blowing by him and then Harden would just give up on the play. Also, one of the Gallinari 3s was because Harden was busy ball-watching and lost Gallinari when he shot out to the corner, giving him a wide-open look.
Steals may not mean you're a good defender, but it's a very good defensive play. And the Rockets obviously encourage it. Morey has said more than once how Jeremy Lin gets a lot of steals. Also, Parsons has become much more of a gambler this year compared to last year. Obviously coaching is part of the reason. If you think of it, there's no reason not to play the passing lane if you're even somewhat sure you can get it. A steal is worth A LOT. A steal on the perimeter leads to a ton of layups. So combine that with the defensive aspect of it(steal = forcing a missed shot + defensive rebound) and you can see why the Rockets encourage it. On the flip side, what does whiffing do to you? The opponent goes to the basket and face Asik. Which is a foul or a contested layup or an open 3. Sure, not a good result, but relative to a normal possession? Only slightly worse. So if Harden isn't a great man-to-man defender, he can actually maxmize his effectiveness on defense by gambling a lot. Even if he succeeds maybe 1/3 of the time, in the long term that may end up being more of a positive. Same with Lin or Parsons. I don't have the exact data, but it makes sense.
I saw more effort from Harden last night. He let IGGY drive by him a few times, and Gallinori monster slam when he went to the swipe. Dude is young and improving.
Kobe didn't suck on D when he won championships. He sucks on D now, that's why he no longer wins championship.
i think harden is a good defender. the issue for this team are the possessions on defense where they are just tired from running all game. every rocket player on the team struggles with that - this team runs ALoT.
lol wut There's plenty of times where Harden would turn the ball over on offense and make zero effort stopping the ball or get back on transition D. 9 people on the floor running one direction, and you stick out like a sore thumb casually walking back with arms raised talking to the officials about not getting bailed out with a call. In this case, yeah, he's almost Tmac-esque.
One thing that really irks me about Harden's defense is that he gives up to easily. If his man beats him, he'll just take a lazy swipe at the ball and just stands there and watch him go to the hoop. And on screens, he sometimes doesn't even try to fight through them. He'll just lean on the screener. It looks like he's catching a breather by having the screener support his weight.
It is most worrisome that the coaches seem to be afraid of holding Harden responsible, and overuse him to gamble for short term wins. Harden is young, talented and coachable with good BBIQ. Too much green light may not be good for him. It's critical for his development into a complete player at this stage of his career.
