Good post, but converting FTA to FGA is kind of weird to me as FTs are not only the best shot(at least for Harden who converts at 86%), it also puts opponent in foul trouble therefore further effects their tendencies on the defensive end. I can see your argument, but another attribute you probably overlooked is pace. Rockets play at a significantly faster pace than the Knicks and Lakers. If anything those numbers should be adjusted based on per 100 possession.
#1 Harden isn't the worst defender in the NBA at his position. #2 Harden isn't a high volume shooter. Also, dominating the ball is not the same thing as being a high volume shooter. Chris Paul dominates the ball but is not a high volume shooter. #3 Using your definition LBJ, Durant, Kobe etc.... virtually every single elite player fits your definition. Just stop while you are behind......
A post on the prior page shows how he is a high volume shooter. His average FG attempts per game are lower but that's because his total shot attempts are masked by leading the league in free throws and drawing fouls
Again, respectfully, by your definition virtually every elite player outside of Dwight Howard qualifies as either a volume shooter or monolpolizes the ball. Typically "volume shooters" are regarded as inefficient shooters, which is clearly not the case with Harden or LBJ or Durant. Almost all of the top players in the NBA are either volume shooters or ball domiant, an overwhelming majority are both. There are a few outliers, that are post players that defend at an elite level (Howard, Yao) but they are the exception to the rule. So you are stuck where you started....... the players you attempt to differentiate are the same as the group you attempt group Harden into.
James Harden IS a special player. He has unique elite skills, very efficient scorer, draws tons of fouls, attacks the paint, great shooter. He needs to take the next level though to move past the tier of Carmelo Anthony or Kyrie Irving. He needs to be more than a great scorer and start playing great defense, and also learn to trust his PG to run the offense.
I would agree with this. If you are a star that scores a lot, you are going to be a volume shooter. Being a volume shooter is a very good thing if you are efficient. Harden is efficient.
You may be right. I think to some degree every 22+ scorer is a volume shooter irrespective of their efficiency at it. You take that as a negative, whereas I see it as neutral as simply reality (not negative or positive). There are lots of studies though that show that iso-ball is one of the least efficient forms of offensive basketball
Dude, what are you smoking? Neither Melo or Irving is as efficient as Harden, both are about as bad as Harden on the defensive end, especially Irving...Not to mention Irving is far behind Melo and Harden as a player.
A volume shooter with high efficiency is a good thing to have, that's dominant offensive player. Nobody ever accused Jordan for shooting too much. Too much ISO is a different story. That makes other team a lot easier to defend. Without so many ISOs, I believe both Hadren and the teams offense would be even more efficient.
This makes no sense.... first off, LBJ (21 shots) , Wade (19 shots), Kobe (23 shots), Durant (23 shots), Anthony (25 shots), Russell (22 shots) all would be considered volume shooters like Harden (21 shots). Also, LBJ, Kobe, Anthony, Russell and Wade all dominate the ball, and no one says they should "trust their point guard". Indeed the only one that does not is Durant and that is because his point guard is Russell. So the "trusting his point guard" point doesn't really hold water. As for the defensive point, Harden does need to get better, but it did take LBJ and Durant years to become decent defenders (In LBJ's case GREAT). If you cut your "level" off at LBJ, Durant and Paul then I agree with you.... but any of those other players are every bit as guilty as Harden, if not more so.
Kevin Martin was also extremely efficient until they stopped calling the fouls he used to get. Harden's efficiency depends highly on his being able to get to the free throw line, just like Martin was. Without the foul calls, he would still be efficient but not at the elite level. I still believe that somehow the coaches need to get through with Harden and the whole team that letting Harden ISO-ing a lot can't be a good thing for the team in the long run. (I am assuming that the ISO plays are not by design, but by Harden being sticky or teammates not moving or both.)
Thats what I thought too until I looked at the stats. Lets look at the top 10 teams in the league and see how much how they ISO based on percentage of total plays. Houston 10.7% .83 PP Miami 11.5% .93 PP Pacers 7.9% .67 PP Thunder 14.2% .9 PP Spurs 6.1% .83 PP Clipper 12.7% .87 PP Nuggets 11.1% .83 PP In general teams ISO more when they're better at it. The only outlier seems to be the Spurs. If we leave them out, then we're actually not ISOing more than the rest of the top teams.
I'm not following every team, but based on my observation of Rockets games, less IOSs usually means more efficient on offense. That can be true for other teams as well, unless their role players can't make shots at a reasonable rate.
I agree, there should be adjustment for pace however if I adjusted Harden's numbers for pace then you'd have to adjust everyone's numbers for pace and quite frankly, I'm too lazy to do that right now. That said, Houston playing at the highest pace of 99.7 (highest pace in the NBA) and New Orleans playing at 89.7 (slowed pace in the NBA) means at the most from top to bottom you'd be talking a pace adjustment of only approximatly 10-11% (depending which direction you're adjusting). http://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/possessions-per-game Median NBA pace is 96.0 possessions per game (96.0 with Washington), while average NBA pace is according to Hoopsdata is 94.4. http://hoopdata.com/teamoffstats.aspx If you wanted to normalize pace, then you'd be talking approximately a 5.32% downward adjustment for Harden (1 shot) and 1.29% upward adjustment for Melo (less than 1/5 of one shot) given the Knicks' pace of 93.2. So really, it's not as much as you would think when applied to an individual player.
First I don't agree that the Rockets are overly ISO centric compared to most other teams with an elite player. Being a player that shoots a number of times and controls the ball does not necessarily mean there is ISO ball. Concerning your second point, the Bulls 6 peat, Rockets repeat, the Lakers 5 titles in recent history all have relied on 1-2 players dominating the ball, with the player dominating the ball being the best scorer. Hell, even the Heat last year qualify. This is a superstar league, there is a reason that players like Shaq, Hakeem, Jordan, Bryant, James have dominated with titles through the years.
I'm not big on Iso play. I love seeing Harden come off a pick. I also love seeing Lin come off a pick.
Harden goes to the line 10 times a game.... but same applies for Durant (10), Anthony (8), Kobe (8), LBJ (7), Westbrook (8). The truth is that almost all elite scorers are dependent on going to the line. Harden only gets 2 more FT's a game than the other elite scorers.
These stats are team wide isolation play, so not really indicative. It could indicate not a lot of ISO play in general, but doesn't actually tell us how much isolation play a particular player is using. Percentage of shots from Isolation According to Synergy Stats.... James Harden - 26.1% Jeremy Lin - 12.3% Chandler Parsons - 5.2% Omer Asik - 0.5% Greg Smith - 0.0% For comparison... Kobe Bryant - 27.9% Lebron James - 25.5% Kevin Durant - 22.4% Carmelo Anthony - 27.1% Russell Westbrook - 18.1% Tim Duncan - 6.5% Kevin Garnett - 2.6% Dwyane Wade - 15.5% Joe Johnson - 27.5% So yah, other superstars/stars ISO a lot, but there aren't very many who ISO more than Harden. Does that mean Harden ISO's too much? That's really a subjective question. Everyone will have their own opinions.
