With harden on this team, no hope to win a championship

You cannot fulfill your potential if you don't consistently work/play hard.
It is not in his nature to go hard on both ends, which would be ok if he was some 5 star freshman recruit at Kentucky. After 2 seasons in college, and 5th in the NBA, why is it going to change?

It was infuriating yesterday, after Tucker stole the pass late 2nd quarter, you have Bev and Garcia down floor. It ended up being a 3-2 where Tucker laid it in over Bev, and you saw Harden just didnt care. Ball was stolen, he walked like 2 steps and was content and gave up. We see those lays ups missed all the time , you gotta hustle down floor, especially since i think they were down 10 at the time.

 

James Harden is my favorite player in the league right now and i want to defend the guy but he's the reason this team has lost the last 2 games with his lack of interest and leadership. Doesn't matter how many points you score if your giving up just as much..

Defence=Chammpionships

 

Certainly glad you're not the gm. I'd flip harden for George, but there are very few other players in the league I'd deal him for. Yeah, he's a below-average defender, but it's something he can improve upon, it just takes diligent coaching to get him where he needs to be. Right now, the team has shown no real sense of organization and unity defensively, and are still a top half defensive team. When you watch a defensive-minded team play, they make consistent plays, whether it's doubling, jumping out over screens, going under, switching, etc etc. Right now the team is too reliant on using its naturally talented defensive players (Howard, Asik, Jones, Beverley) to make plays rather than sticking to a singular philosophy. Harden's ineptitude defensively certainly doesn't help, but there are schemes where he can be hidden on defense and utilized effectively.

On offense, yeah he makes some boneheaded plays. But who doesn't? And furthermore, pinning the blame on his offensive blunders squarely on his shoulders ignores the fact that his teammates often stop moving once he catches the ball in a lot of spots, and that his teammates are equally bad at setting screens for each other off the ball to get free for open looks. That's an unfortunate effect of our relatively scheme-less offense; it leads to lots of buckets, but also makes execution that much more difficult.

 

With all due respect, there's no hope for the OP. This thread is absurd.

 

This is also his 5th season in the NBA. There is no 'hope' that he'll improve as a defensive player. The worst part isn't his ability to defend, it's his mental state. He doesn't even THINK about defence, and ballwatches so much that he forgets his part of the defence. I know this is hyperbole, but it infuriates me that even guys like Brooks (who was terrible on D when he was the main guy on the Rockets) are now putting in effort defensively, and James Harden, as the supposed leader, can't do so. If he wants to be the best SG in the NBA, he'll have to do it on both ends.

 

I don't live in a fairy tale where one or two games is representation of all games.

Get to the playoffs with a reasonable seed, manage your effort where you aren't completely broken down by season's end and lets see what happens.

Our whiny cry baby massively entitled fans frustrate me way way more than a loss without 3 of our best players against a team we beat by 50 last year.

 

OP may be harsh, but Harden is quickly turning into a Melo/ Rudy Gay type of player. If this goes on, Houston will not win a championship.

 

The problem is that Harden didn't even care and try. How do you have a good team defense when one of your players kept losing his man and others have to help out. It doesn't matter you're man to man or zone or whatever, we'll always be a crappy defensive team until Harden at least gives a ****.

On offense, he's a beast on some nights even when he did boneheaded plays, you know he was trying to create or to find higher percentage shots. But some night he's just as lazy as his defense. Lazy pass, lazy shots, holding the ball til there's 3 seconds. Those are not boneheaded plays. Those are lazy offense. I've seen plenty of time teammates moving around and he was still holding the ball until the defense got set.

 

Go root for the pacers

 

how do you figure

 

Because Paul George is clearly obtainable. Amirite?

 

This x 1000

 

DeRozen seems to care more. He seems way more engaged than Harden.

 

I also think it's unfair to compare Ellis to Harden. Monta Ellis have it all. Clearly, Harden doesn't. It's no contest.

 

I would put Harden on the same level as Melo. Both are top notch offensive players, but can't defend their own shadow. Melo will show up with solid rebounding games along with his scoring. Just as Harden will put up 39 points and 9 assist to dazzle the foolish in believing they have a well rounded game. Both are selfish but not talented enough to carry a team to a championship.

Most of the posters here are probably too young to remember what a championship team looks like. Hakeem was the best player on those championships team but depended heavily on his teammates to help carry the load. I just don't see Harden as an Hakeem. Not talent wise, not character wise, and definitely not the heart and dedication of a champion wise.

 

While you can't really downplay the major role Clyde played in #2, Hakeem became the only player in nba history to win a championship whilst scoring more than double the next leading scorer in the playoffs all while anchoring the defense in 94.

Could Harden emulate that? no, hell not even Lebron could emulate the 4 scrub ring.

 

Well, if people are so unhappy with Harden find a way to get Lebron here or if not we can go to the first 3 years before we had harden with the AWESOME championship core of Lowry/Martin/Scola.

I bet that makes the OP happy.

 

I used to think monta ellis was a chucker.
but when i compare his stats with harden,
i found out that monta actually shoots less (fga & fta) and have more assists

 

I wonder how the GARM would be if we had a losing record, cause I mean we're 13-7. And great players have a bad game or two every once in a while, especially when they're not 100%. Yes, Harden needs to step up the defensive effort, but the Rockets are still a good team, and Harden is still an elite player. Some of you guys need to WOOSAH

 

Harden has ne of the best offensive games in Basketball. He can score in a variety of ways. He can put the defense under immense pressure by drawing foul after foul and put them into foul trouble whih means less aggressive defense. He can get to the rack at wil and he has sublime playmaking skills. He is probably a top 3 pick and roll passer in the NBA. Only Parker and Paul are better at that.

His defense is all about effort. He can be a solid defender when he gives a lot of effort. McGrady syndrome number 2.