I kind of agree with LosPollosHermanos. How often do we see Harden lose the ball for a second while dribbling in place waiting to make a move outside of the 3-point line? Several times a game it seems like when he's dribbling and setting up his man to take him 1 on 1, he dribbles it off his leg or fumbles the ball and has to run over a few feet and pick it up and pass it off or continue his dribbling. Nobody even touches it. He just loses the handle.
Average dribble skill. He mostly stands in place dribbling for 15 seconds before making a move and sometimes kicks the ball away by accident
he needs a point guard and an offense that will be able to probe the midrange and get him looks offball.. moving on cuts and popouts for easy Js
The short answer is that he is carrying a bigger burden and likely getting worn out. First, Harden is actually trying on offense this year, and that requires burning extra calories. Second, pretty much every single metric relating to Harden's share of the offensive burden while he is on the court went up this year compared to last year and even 2 years ago on the team without Dwight. His usage rate (% of possessions that ended up with Harden FG, FT or TO) went up, he is assisting on a higher % of teammates FGs, a lower % of his own FGs are assisted. So, he is not only using more possessions, he is using harder possessions and having to do more to set teammates up. It seems that the loss of Lin and Parsons as secondary perimeter playmakers, and the replacement of these guys with spot up shooters is making Harden do more work.
I blocked LosPollosHermanos long ago. It doesn't help though since everything he/she types begs for retaliation; so I always see his/her posts in the replies anyway.
I gotta agree with LosPollos on some points. Harden doesn't have that quickness to get by defenders and he doesn't have the athleticism to finish above defenders. The only time you see him effectively getting to the basket is in transition when he does his euro step. I think Hardens shooting % would greatly increase if he started taking more mid range jumpers that Moreys system is so against but truthfully those are probably the easiest shots he can get for himself. The other problem I see with Harden is that when he drives to the basket it seems like he's trying to draw the foul instead of trying to make the layup. I understand Harden has good handles but I can't deny that the guy also loses the ball a lot on his crossovers and has to regain the ball and get back to work, with what is usually a very low amount of time on the shot clock left. Harden needs to work on his off ball game to help him and the team work better together rather than just simply being an iso ball player.
You know more about basketball than I, but I always thought that was just a simple ruse. Just trying to get the defender overconfident and gamble on a steal so that harden can then blow past him.
It's not a ruse. He just loses the handle. Sometimes it works out that losing the ball actually helps him get past his defender... but it isn't planned.
I thought he played a great all-around game last night, except for that turnover at the end. Got his teammates involved in first half, then got himself more involved offensively in 3rd qt, and most of 4th. But god damn we need some better set plays for closing out games. I'd be way more concerned if we lost WITH Dwight last night. I think everything will be just fine once everyone gets healthy. Who knew Jones' absence would have THIS much of an impact?
it happens. LeBron had two turnovers last night in the last 60 seconds. one being a dribbling turnover.
I'll take the the Harden who's playing worse on offense if that mean's he's giving a good effort on the defensive end.
As strange as it may sound I'll take last year's Harden with elite offense and sporadic defensive effort. We need the offense this year, we are terrible offensively. Ariza, Bev and Howard are good enough defenders to cover.
it seems like the motivation and drive isn't there. maybe he has lost confidence in the system? check out his reaction in this video to Mchale's play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtgKbjDw5Vw
