I didn't call you a LOF, no idea why you are being so defensive over this. Like I said, you could argue all you want, but you wouldn't find many stats that support George being a better scorer than Harden.
You must be joking. Howard has returned from his injury and Hibbert, a mountain of a man for sure, is just that. A relatively immobile mountain. I know it is a matter of opinion. So we will just have to agree to disagree.
Ask the best players who they fear when going to the basket. Hibbert 9 out of 10 times easy. See how different Lebron plays when Hibbert is protecting the paint v. any other big men.
This is such bull. t_mac1 said that the best players answer that hibbert is the their most feared basket protector 9/10 easy, therefore he is the defensive player of the year? Howard has been a defensive beast this season. He may not get as many blocks as he once did, but he protects the rim very well and shuts down PnRs (a staple in NBA offenses) regularly. It may be that Hibbert is the DPOY favorite, but Howard is right there with him.
This? Unless you were specifying defense, in which case I never disagreed. So don't know what the problem is. Paul George is a better defender, James Harden the superior scorer.
Hibbert's rebounds great..... for a small forward. Dwight 0.9 stls Hibbert 0.4 stls Truth is, after the last 2 seasons, Dwight will be slighted nationally in most votes/polls/media situations for at least this season, probably next too. It already started with the All-Star voting.
Ok, in response to this post Goes both ways. It can easily be argued Harden benefits from being in a high paced offense. A offense that scored more points this season without him. But again, I don't believe offensively, Paul > Harden
Hibbert's Defensive rating - 94 Dwight's Defensive rating - 100 (same as last year. and Dwight's best year is also a 94 prior to his back injury). Hibbert's the league leader in that category, while Dwight was the league leader during his peak years in orlando. So no, Dwight isn't the same defensive player. Other centers have a higher defensive rating that he does (Bogut, Noah, Duncan). I'm sorry, they're not in the same category.
Offensively, the gap is starting to widen in Harden's favor. Defensively most people without a thought give the edge to George but you have to consider that 1) George is much taller and longer than Harden, giving him a natural defensive advantage and 2) George plays on the top defensive team in the entire league. Every starter on the team plays excellent defense and their defensive game plan is much more sophisticated and disciplined than the Rockets'. I'd like to see how good of a defender James Harden can be on a team like the Pacers, and vice versa.
As I already said, sample size too small, and the teams the Rockets played without Harden have not been good defensive teams. Furthermore, Paul George is thriving in a Pacers offense that revolves around him being the main scorer. Harden on the other hand is sharing that duty with Dwight (in fact, Rockets like to get Dwight going early before going to Harden). You would notice this season Harden is playing a PnR game that is made to help Dwight finish, not so much to get Harden free from his defender.
Paul George is averaging 22.2 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 6.4 RPG. James Harden is averaging 23.9 PPG, 5.3 APG, and 4.7 RPG. I'm not sure how Harden is widening the gap offensively. The biggest issue with Harden this year is that he chucks a lot of 3 pointers and he's only shooting .329. George is actually shooting better from outside at .370. On the flip side, Paul George is utilized as a shutdown defender that the Pacers have the luxury of putting on their oppenents best players. Like Lebron when they play the Heat. If you're not convinced, re-watch the Rockets/Pacers game from earlier this season and observe how George totally shuts Harden down. The biggest gap in my opinion is that George is physically more gifted and will only get better. Harden has a great eurostep, but over time, he can be figured out and won't be able to barrel into the lane and get those bail out foul calls.
I forgot to add, if Harden were on the Indiana Pacers, they could cover up and hide his bad defense, but Paul George makes the Pacers defense better. Again, he's a shutdown defender so he takes one player out of the equation so Hibbert and company can focus on defending the remaining 4.
Ok, James Harden has a PER of 21.35 and Paul George has a PER of 20.42. What stats do you consider when indicating that Harden is such a great offensive player? You can't honestly say he's a more athletic player than Paul George because that would just be wrong. Harden gets a lot of points from the free throw line and George actually gets more field goals per game. Truth is that Harden is an offense only player and there are 7 players in the NBA that averages more points per game.
PER is a start. TS%, eFG%, Ortg and PPS are all in Hardens favor. Getting to the free throw line is one of the biggest marks of a superstar. Check out the leaders in attempts per game. All guys you would love to have on your team. Every single player who averages more points than Harden takes more shots than him, some by quite a large margin.
OK, that's marginally better than your hearsay argument. Using defensive rating though is not conclusive at all given that the stat is "heavily influenced by the team's defensive efficiency." I fully expect Dwight's number to steadily climb due to Omer Asik's return. We'll see how they compare at the end of the season. It's laughable to say that they aren't in the same category considering that Dwight is way more versatile and is looking better and better with each game. I'd say that Hibbert is benefitting from being on a great team that has been together for a few years and has both defensive and offensive chemistry. Moving back to the topic, Paul George's premature coronation was ridiculous. I couldn't believe what people were claiming at the time (2nd best player, comparable to LeBron and better than Durant, 3rd best player, etc). People obviously get excited when players break out, I get it. However, he's not there yet and I don't think he'll ever get to LeBron or Durant's level. That's not his ceiling AT ALL. T-Mac lite is what he is. He's got a good team around him and he's got a lot of game. But he's not a top 3 player. Not by a long shot.
Right, since the sample size isn't huge, it should be completely discredited. Such a coward way to argue something. An unbiased person can conclude 1) Harden is good on offense 2) poor on defense 8 games without Harden this season, backs up BOTH logical opinions. Harden hasn't played every game, so there is some data to compare. It wasn't just 1 or 2 DNPs, it wasn't only 5. It's logical to an unbiased person to say Rockets' system helps Harden's offense WITHOUT USING THESE 8 GAMES. Yet even with more than a handful games for evidence, you still can't come to grips. You easily downplay George's defense because of IND system... and that is with ZERO sample size George. #cowardly #highhorse
