Admittedly, I am not a real insightful observer/evaluator of defense. I guess that comes from never having played organized ball. I have read over and over on this forum how bad Harden was on defense this past year though. With Howard's signing, I wonder: 1) Will Harden be shamed into playing better defense this year now that he has another superstar on the team? and 2) Will Howard's sharing some of the load on offense leave Harden with more energy to expend on defense?
He won't have to focus as much on energy this season, which will allow him to focus more on D. Also Howard's presence will make the whole teams defense better.
Harden's effort on D wasn't bad at all, especially If you got used to watching Tracy McGrady all those years.
^not true at all stop making excuses, I like Harden as much as anyone but the fact is he's probably the worst defensive SG in the league
i really think it will actually; dwight isnt afraid to call out his teammates on defense. its the one area of the game dwight feels plenty of confidence and leadership responsibility. i remember him getting on his laker teammates and urging them to play better, sound team defense frequently, even if it was kobe.
If anything it will let Harden rest a little more on D and conserve his energy / effort for offense... But I'd rather he play both ends like LeBron.
It better improve his defense. Howard is the anchor on defense and he won't be afraid to call anyone out for their lack of defense. Harden was literally laughable on d in the playoffs. He would just get beat by one dribble and do the reacharound reach in.
Harden won't have to work as hard on defense. All the perimeter players have to do is funnel opposing players the right way and stat pad Dwight. A monster year defensively could be a way for Dwight to tell the league that he's back 100%. It should keep him happy.
No he is not. Harden is actually a solid defender, as evident from his OKC days. His defense dipped this season because of the offensive load he had to carry. And the title of worst defensive shooting guard probably goes to Kevin Martin.
I believe Howard's presence will change the team's attitude towards defense which in turn will probably and hopefully make Harden play better defense. To me, defense is more effort than anything in the NBA (if you made it into the NBA, than you should be able to play at least par defense). Now that Howard is here and hopefully Asik stays, we have a great chance to be a lockdown defensive team (Lin, Harden, Parsons, Beverly, Garcia are all decent perimeter defenders and Howard and Asik are great players to have around the rim). Granted we are still a young team, as long as we can get the players to put in the effort on defense, the natural talent is there! Now I do not know about you guys, but steals for pgs-sfs in my book tells is part of the perimeter defense. I believe our starting 1-3 can take more risks out on the perimeter knowing that Asik and/or Dwight are behind them to have their backs.
Josh Smith would have been nice because any lineup with smith roaming a bit and Howard in the paint would be dangerous. Definitely would have covered up a good bit for Harden. I think we need a go to perimeter defender that is not Parsons.
Harden was a better defender with the Thunder and the Rockets. I guess, if you're feeling pessimistic, you could say that's a result of team culture. More optimistically, however, I think the amount of energy he expended on offense impacted his defensive play.
