For people crying about the obvious. (James Harden speaks on his defense)

I know a lot of people complain about dribbling, but the team depends on him to beat his man and create offense. If he can't beat his man one-on-one, WTF is he supposed to do? Pass it to Omri Casspi to blow by his man with some crossover we've never seen? Sometimes getting by your man takes a little more time than fans might like.

 

Perhaps Harden can spend less energy on O & the team can opt to be "multiple" like O'Brian likes to say. Batum, Wesley Matthews, & Lilard all have said that guarding the Spurs is been harder than the Rockets. Harden can still pick his spots to be in attack mode on O when we're struggling. Also this might give him more energy to be in attack mode on D.



http://www.nba.com/blazers/video/archive/#Playoffs

 

Have you even followed Harden's career as a Rocket...?

Substitute Lin/Parsons for Omri casspi... and that's precisely what Harden does... often with less than 5 seconds left on the shotclock...

Harden isn't really depended on to create offense for this team, in the strategic sense... He's relied upon to find offense for himself when he's isolated... For Harden, that usually means, look for a foul first by baiting at the perimeter with constant dribbling... if no foul is available there; 1) chuck a wild shot, or keep dribbling until there are less than 5secs remaining on the shot clock... and hand it over to whoever's immediately next to me on the perimeter.. or, 2) hope their defense sucks as much as mine and get a gimmie layup, or drive into a congested lane, flail the ball off my hands... look for the refs to bail me out again ...

Once in a while he'll attack the rim with determination to get the ball in the basket... but, more often, this is his offensive mindset...

 

Harden just needs to get in shape IMO, for real. He's making like $14M a year to be an athlete. We shouldn't be talking about how he needs to conserve his energy. I never recall talking about Olajuwon's conditioning, and he was the center of our offense AND defense, was in a 6'10 frame, and even couldn't eat or drink during the day for one month every season. Harden needs to be embarrassed.

 

My retortL 26 points a game on 60%+ TS% and the most assists of any shooting guard not to mention the half dozen games he won us on clutch shooting. Harden's offense is not what fans should be complaining about. Geez.

 

Harden does do good things on offense and is overall very much a positive but he and the team can be more effective if he doesn't just go stationary one-on-five so often. Stationary one-on-fives are necessary sometimes but it's not a high efficiency play when you have other alternatives.

Just move the ball with, say, 12 seconds left on the clock and make a cut or movement and this tends to result in a more efficient shot more often. Harden is great but guys like Lin, Parsons, Dwight, Jones, Beverley can find ways to score the ball in the right situation and any of them would be better when given more than 5 seconds left on the clock to beat the defense all by himself.

Coaches, from JVG to Adelman to McHale to Phil Jackson and Mike D'Antoni, have all harped on ball- and body-movement-- and those guys do so because they want to win and these things help winning.

 

How often do you see our players cut? 1% of the time...Give ball to DH, move to other side and stand behind 3pt line.....Give ball to Harden at top of key....Run to corners...and stand till he decides what he would like to do

 

Do you guys realize, that the shooting guard on every NBA team, is supposed to be their most versatile defender. He's supposed to be quick enough to stop penetrating perimeter players, and long enough to bother post players. That's his role.

 

Is Wade the Heat's most versatile defender?

 

When the problem is "try" and "focus", and you already knows it and still failing to do so. I guess that pretty much sums up why a lot of us is unhappy about his defense.

 

Did he do this in the playoffs? No? Then stfu, fans should be complaining.

 

No doubt Harden is a special talent, but he is such a frustrating player to watch. He lacks many intangibles such as leadership and at times he just does not give good enough effort. I'm sorry, but when your best player say he has to me more focused, and locked in, that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Harden really needs to look himself in the mirror this offseason and decide whether he really wants to be great.

 

Stop posting.

 

I have no reason to doubt James. He has a lot of pride and is a hard worker. Let's don't get hysterical in our disappointment.

I think he can be an adequate defender. I really don't think he somehow has the type of athleticism to be a really good perimeter defender. He can certainly
stop giving up very easy baskets.

One of the reasons I believe James is he was inconsistent but showed improvement in his defense as the season went on.

 

Most people think he is the opposite of a hard worker.

 

It's on me...

 

Those people would be clueless

 

You STFU. Take that!

 

At the NBA level, do you think this is a reflection of Harden or the lack of system with more ball movement / discipline? What happen to Steve Francis when JVG got to Houston?