If you're trying to use that line of thinking to support harden, WB has far more under his resume to warrant being seen as the better player.
Of course WB is the size of an sg but at 6'3 he's at the low end of sgs, whereas at the PG spot he's actually at the big end. Obv I'm gonna be in the minority but I think he really has a lot of hype and he gets a boost from the unique composition of OKC, you have a C, PG and SG who are defensive oriented and so he has the green light to take as many shots as he likes. You have Kevin Durant who is one of the most efficient scorers in the history of the NBA making up for his inadequacy offensively. If WB played at any other team except for Memphis, he'd get flak for how bad he scores the ball, instead of getting praise for how amazing of a scorer he is. Playoff Comparison: James Harden getting ass handed by Wesley Matthews, not caring, no fire etc: FG:37.6% 3P: 29.6% FT: 90% TS:51.9% Westbrook "outplaying KD", "carrying OKC on his back", "playing with fire and passion", "bringing it all out every single second of every single game": FG: 43.1% 3P: 28.4% FT: 88.3% TS:54.5% So you're telling me WB playing out of his mind is only slightly better than Harden at his very worst? So all the fire, passion, dedication to the game and whatever kind of BS you can think off is only worth FG 6%? With WB though all that fire and heart doesn't seem to extend in the offseason, unlike Harden who has shown an upward trend when it comes to efficiency and skills WB has largely been the same player he was for the past couple of years, he entered the league as an explosive defender and shot maker, years later he still has the same strengths and more importantly the same weaknesses as when he first came in (low bball IQ, no off the ball skills, broken J, not a true playmaker). Call me a homer or whatever, I think Harden is better now and will continue to be better in the coming years, esp as WB continues to grow older and start experiencing injuries which will limit his athleticism.
Nice stats. But where are the stats for defense? Eye test tells me that Harden is one of the worst defenders at his position while WB is one of the top defenders at his position.
Who the hell is gonna go off when Harden guards him? Wesley Matthews? Thabo Sefalosha? Even if Harden was a bad defender the only other guards who can go off on him for 20+ pts would be Kobe and Wade. On the other hand, WB's defensive prowess has a limit because guess what, he guards PGs who actually set up their team's offense. So he guards say CP3 and then CP3 sets up Blake for an easy dunk. Mission accomplished? More importantly I doubt you can say WB is an amazing defender at his position, he doesn't play contain D like Battier who goads his opponent into taking low percentage shots neither is he a lockdown defender like LBJ, you don't hear stories about WB shutting down CP3 or Steph Curry or whoever. WHenever I watch him play he does indeed chase after his man, however I don't see him doing anything except matador and extremely aggressive style D like Bev does. If you're gonna accept Bev as one of the best defenders at his position, does that mean he's better than WB? Because unlike WB Bev can actually hit an open 3 apart from playing top tier defense. If he took as many shots as WB does maybe he'll also average 20 pts a game
-I am not sure why the relative height of the two players is an issue. What exactly does Harden use his extra inch of two of height for? They both score well. Harden is a better shooter from range but that has little to do with height. And Westbrook defends either PGs or SGs better than Harden does. Harden being bigger doesn't really make him a better defender even against the bigger SGs. -Morey himself called Westbrook one of the top defenders among PGs and they've used him often defending SGs, too. As protective has Morey has been with his public comments on Harden, he would never come close to saying the same about Harden. Most other commentators (Zach Lowe, SVG, Dan Lebatard, even Kelvin Sampson) and objective stats (xRAPM, etc.) would agree. Wes Matthews may not have "gone off" but Portland as a team did and Harden's lack of defensive effort was glaring. On the other hand, Westbrook flying all over the place on defense, in addition to guarding the opposing PG or SG, has had a significant impact on OKC.
you really don't understand nba defense. it's all bout rotating on defense, filling the gaps and forcing the opponent into spots they're not comfortable. it's rarely ever bout 1v1 d. in terms of disrupting a team's offense, westbrook is def one of the better pg defenders in the game. his sheer activity on defense in game 4 of the wcf was a huge reason they won, imo. he's physically imposing defensively as a guard. and harden is a liability. just because sg is weak position doesn't excuse harden. he gets lost in schemes and loses guys on simple cuts to the rim. he gets blown by anytime he "rotates" and resorts to trying to knock the ball away from behind, putting our help d in a bad spot. this is regardless of who he guards. if they can break down the defense (which they do vs harden), then that puts everyone in a tougher situation and someone likely to be open. the dude harden might be "guarding" might not have scored b/c of dwight/asik help, but somebody else would have as a direct effect of inadequate effort on rotational and team defense.
Harden doesn't get lost in rotations, his problem is his lack of focus, where he just goes to sleep. If you ignore the bad of an inconsistent player like Westbrook and go so far as making up the bad about Harden, of course you're going to feel that Westbrook is better. If you're going to talk about the importance of rotations, Westbrook probably isn't the guy to argue for, as he tends to get caught following the ball more than most, as his defense is about leveraging his athleticism to push for steals.
LMAO, awesome post. Westbrook playing out of his mind is slightly better than James Harden at his worst. Notify me when WB averages 25 ppg with a .600+ TS%. Better yet, notify when he accomplishes EITHER one of those.
Westbrook had a worse first round series than Harden. But sample size is much larger allowing for above average games for Westbrook as well.
Notify me when harden gets 40,10dimes,5 steals in a playoff game. Who gives a crap about ts% in playoffs when harden can't get past 40% fg? Blazers didn't even play their best defender on harden . The spurs are guarding westbrook with leonard.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>No matter the outcome...Russell Westbrook top 5 in the world</p>— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) <a href="https://twitter.com/kevinlove/statuses/472940473620119552">June 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Knee-jerk my ass. You are just a Rockets homer so obviously it's understandable you say Harden is better. Ask anybody around the league and they will probably say consensually that Westbrook is better than Harden. Harden has not done anything in his whole career to make him say that he's better than Westbrook. Westbrook plays 100x better defense, makes game changing plays with his defense, and is a fearless competitor. Harden gets lit up by every single SG in the NBA. Harden settles for jacking up threes. Westbrook attacks the basket with reckless abandon.
