Are we just going to ignore James Harden's stellar defense?

TF, I know you are a CW.

 

Yes, you are correct that my take wasnt a knock on Harden’s defense. I simply iterated that while Harden is a good defender this year, he’s not elite/All NBA. Kawhi and PG13 come to mind as elite defenders.

 

Of course they are.

Both of those guys are more naturally athletic to play elite defense. Look at the guys that have been wing DPOY candidate type players throughout the years:

Pippen, Kawhi, Sid the Squid, PG, Jordan, Kobe, GP, Draymond etc.

Those guys were (for the most part) more than athletically gifted with just a few exceptions. I would liken Harden's game to Manu Ginobili's even on the defensive end.

They are both guys that can hustle and produce defensive stats when needed. Only difference is Manu had an All-Pro defensive center covering the paint for him and he was pretty much a 3rd or 4th option offensively on his teams, never a 1st option creator like Harden is.

 

I don't disagree the 2 that you mentioned are very good defenders. I'm also not surprised they were the 2 examples cited. Both of those players have the natural tools (long arms and height) over Harden. Aside from the natural tools, do you perhaps see more "effort" defensively from those 2 compared to Harden for longer stretches over the course of a game?

The question was a rhetorical one. My counter to that is those 2 don't carry NEARLY the amount of load that Harden carries the entire season year after year. So it's not a fair comparison when judging Harden defensively according to their merits.

I would argue the things Harden excels at defensively would rival the "elite" defenders in Kawhi and PG13.

 

And dare I say it....."more excusable to not play defense when weighted down by entire team"...oops........should I get my flame suit on?

Seriously, Harden doesn't take plays off any more than the next guy. Harden's been great and gotten better offensively and defensively every year since he's been here. A lot of that is maturity and mostly conditioning I would guess.

Put Draymond, Klay Thompson and KD next to Harden...and THEN it would be inexcusable for Harden NOT to be a good defender the entire game.......err...wait....

 

...said person even has issues gaurding from the bench...trip, flop, hit the deck yo

 

James has always been a great post defender due to his strength. He gets ragged on for not chasing guards on the perimeter and ball-watching.

Logic by the press is when the Rockets do well, he's a good defender. When the Rockets are doing poorly, he's a bad defender.

 

We won't ignore it but the media still will. The normal ESPN airheads on Friday were like "surprisingly good defense by Harden" here when doing highlights of Harden's contestted Kawhi's airball 3 on Friday. No it's not surprisingly good, it's the kind of thing he does when we need him to and has been for years. He started doing this while devouring Dirk's soul at the end of a 2015 game if you recall.

And of course, it's still great that every time he gets matched up with a big man a dunder-headed national or visiting Color commentator will scream that it's a mismatch - OMG POST HIM UP. Sure, go for it. He's not hard to move or anything.

It's basically going on 3 years now that he's been an average at worst defender, the last couple years probably a plus defender, while simultaneously putting together the greatest run of offensive play in the history of modern basketball.

Meanwhile Teflon Russ has been dogging it for years (I haven't really checked this year, maybe he's doing better as the TripDub quest has receded) and he never gets that kind of pigeonholing.

 

Brother, you speak the truth and you make me laugh lol.

Sorry...carry on....

 

Spoiler

 

who is a better post defender, harden or paul george?

 

Matt: What a defense by James and who said Harden doesn't play D?
Clyde: All the time.

 

I mean, are you surprised at James having stellar defense? You know what they say, Rockets always shoot for the stars.

 

James Harden.

 

hahaha yes i noticed that and forgot all about it

 

Seen you on the Twitters. You're putting in stellar work!

 

More athletic or not is besides point. The point is that while he's been a good defender this year, he's still not elite (yes, the burden he carries may have something to do with it, but again moot point)