[ESPN] Harden is going to play defense this year - Corey Brewer

Let's hope so, but actions speak louder than words.

DD

 

his pts and asts are going down not cuz of defense but cuz of HELP. gordon, anderson, nene, less usage of ariza/bev = solid help

 

The fans that understand the game will be pleased... cause we know all around effort is needed to truly compete...

The fanboys who just like to quote stats and debate whether a player is top 3 in the league or top 5 or top 10 all time or whatever nonsense - will be totally twisted...

 

If all it took was Corey Brewer saying it himself. He should have spoke sooner.

 

pbev stll starting + better shooters in eg and ra + willing pnr player nene + mda offense = harden's assists will increase

 

just got around to watching that clip, pretty damn funny. love his reaction to Harden's shoe. "that's an ugly shoe."

on the defense question . . . here's the meme summary

 

hahahaha

 

We will see. I will say that his lack of defense is real but at the same time it isn't as bad as it has been built up to be.

With our coach, I don't know if the team will play defense at all.

 

6. is the funniest one I've heard. Lol's

 

Can't believe the vote is as close as it is.
Hoping it's not my rose colored glasses, but with McHale gone, Dwight gone and an experienced head coach in place along with some sorely missing pieces to compliment our style of play, I'm optimistic about this season not to mention Harden's motivation.

 

Harden's never going to be Paul George as a two-way player.

I'd settle for him being Tony Parker, a guy who's individually iffy on defense but knows how to play within the team defensive system to veil his issues.

 

ESPN lowers IQ points by 50

 

If you don't watch every game and all you get is edited youtube clips then you can create whatever narrative you want:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Wdi1c5noDs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Da_R5QQEHhA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

That's an extremely unspecific subset of people.

Do you not like rating players across generations?

Do you think stats are useless?

Glorifying stupidity hasn't been cool for at least a decade.

 

Just imagine what it was like when they all looked at the films after each game.

One of the main reason why we regressed at a record breaking clip.

 

Only 50?

 

Well some people only start with 50

 

I believe he'll play decent defense for most of the year. He did it two years ago after getting crap all summer and he deserved it. That's what worries me about Harden. He's not like Kobe. He's not putting in 150% every second on the court. He's not desperate enough. Hopefully that comes this year. We know he is capable of putting up an MVP type season playing both ends of the court.

 

Not to go off on a rant... but I think the way many people utilize statistics is a shortcut to thinking. Just as back in the day when people used to hold up the scoring title and ppg as the barometer (without accounting for fg% and efficiency) people now are using more advanced metrics to draw what they believe to be ironclad assessments... Stats taken out of context are meaningless... For example, a player who puts up great stats on a dog team that loses by 20-30 points nightly may not be as good as the numbers show... by the same token, the Shane Battiers of the league who do all the intangibles that don't necessarily show up in the boxscores may not get the props they deserve... While analytics have their place as a tool... they are far too often utilized as the end all conclusion...

Personally, I'm a ROCKETS fan... I base success on team results, not individual statistics...

As far as rating players across generations... I like to chat about what players deserve to be considered among the greatest of all time... but I don't have a need to debate whether a certain player is #4 or #5 all time at a position... it's opinion based conjecture... there are so many variables to consider (era, supporting cast, team results, coaching, etc) that if you enjoy the debate - more power to you... but in the end it's just opinion...

Make no mistake, "glorifying stupidity" is alive and well... nowadays it's often just metric driven...

 

lol at "GOAT ain't lying" gosh love this place