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

Which they have every reason to believe...

 

He's a tireless practitioner of his offensive game. Idk if anything's changed, but you seem to be forgetting how the man practices his craft from the practice floor to warm-ups.

I forget the video, but I think it debuted a couple of months after his first game but there was an interview with Kelvin Sampson (a very harsh critic by all accounts) had nothing but praise for the way he took care of his business and was interpolated by shots of him in practice/warm-ups.

He needs the fire back in his belly, and it needs to start coming purely from within for it to be a mainstay. No KD/WB trash talk, no Finals loss, no terrible game, no 1st round loss, no thinking about being essentially booted out for Perk--purely from the desire to win.

 

You are an idiot. Do you know what the word focus means? His 'not caring' is a lack of focus. That is what he pointed out he needed to get better at.

The only way to get better is to learn dip****, learn why his defense sucks and fix it.

The fact that he doesn't focus 100% of the time is why he losses his man on back cuts for example.

Also there are times where he does try and is focused and he still plays bad defense. Do you watch Basketball? If you did you would have seen Harden has many fundamental flaws on defense carying from position to posture.

You have heaps of learn son.

 

Harden stans mad that their idol has been exposed and is now being called out by all and sundry.

 

Everything you just described is a result of being lazy. A lack of focus is being lazy. Not having the correct "posture" is being lazy.

His defense is awful because he is being lazy. He could be average just by trying.

 

Everytimes we lost, this guy said that he needs to play defense.
I can get over it.
But this is playoff, he still repeats this nonsense.

 

Sorry but you don't make it to be top 5 in MVP voting by not working hard.

I guarantee he's worked at his craft a lot more than 12ers and 13ers hero.

Skills like dribbling and shooting are acquired through hard work. You aren't born with that.

 

The garbage in this thread is a prime example of why the GARM sucks now. How I wish it were 2008 again. It's like trying to have a conversation in an asylum.

 

Many players love working on the "fun" part of the game-- shooting, dribbling, on-ball offense and not so much the other stuff-- defense, rebound, fight for position. These things are called "dirty work" for a reason. Ex-players and coaches doing TV commentary, for example, tend to talk about giving big guys the ball some to "reward" them for doing the dirt work.

Tracy McGrady, who has had his work ethics called out frequently, including by JVG at the Sloan Conference, obviously worked very hard on his skill-set. But I am not sure he bothered to get better at the stuff he wasn't already good at once he became a star in the NBA to the same level that a guy like Jordan or Kobe did.

A lot of NBA players are motivated and hard working-- you don't make it to the league without it-- but it's a matter of the degree and nature of your motivation and work. Some are satisfied with getting a lucrative contract or two and get some recognition for being good, others want to absolutely max out what his body can do on the court to help a team win. It remains to be seen which type Harden is.

 

I remember JVG saying that he wishes he had gotten T-Mac to try harder, but he went easy on him in practice etc... T-Mac was an elite talent that had all the tools to equal Kobe, but flamed out in his prime. A lot of his injuries (back, knee) would have been preventable to a degree with proper strength/conditioning. The T-Mac/Yao era was such a missed opportunity.

Harden is in the same boat. He's clearly a bit on the chunky side, and his aggressive style/Eurostepping has already taken a toll on his ankles. Wade lost a few pounds and that's helped him stay on the court (minute restriction also helps...). Harden would probably benefit from that, and maybe that would give him enough stamina to play more than matador defense. Between that and more focus, he could cement his status as the best SG in the league. If he continues to be a minus on D, it's going to be hard to argue that he's the best with up-and-comers like Beal progressing quickly and at least putting some effort forth on D (even if not particularly effective). If Harden even played average D, there would be no question as to how amazing a talent he is.

 

Well said. It's all about commitment. Some young players need guidance early on, hopefully he's getting it. We forget how young he still is.

 

It's Sooooooooooo much worse to say that you have the talent and just need to give the effort vs. saying that you need to spend some time training on it.

He basically admitted to not trying and costing us the series.

 

Meh. He said this last year

 

This is awesome news. Training with Bowen? Freaking incredible. High hopes for next season.

Oh wait, we still have McHale at the helm. Iso Iso Iso, lose. Iso Iso Iso, win. Iso Iso Iso, exit playoffs.

 

Maybe it's due to just a slight lack of athleticism? That is, he isn't lazy, but spending too much energy on defense would tire him out and take away what he can use for offense. I just don't see how he would want to continue to slack on defense just because he wants to be" lazy" or something, after already having been exposed on youtube/reddit/etc. (so he knows it's a huge point of criticism of his game). So in my mind, (or at least I hope) any conscious decision to slack on defense may be intentional/tactical in nature, for the purposes of saving energy for what he is better at. Of course there are times when he just looked frustrated or gave up on defense or something, that is inexcusable, but I think is still an exception rather than the norm.

 

We already know which type the current Harden is.

 

At 24 he's not going to get any better

 

You seriously believe that Harden is a better player than Lin because he works harder than Lin? You serious?

Do you also believe that Andrew Bynum works harder than Asik because he has a better offensive game than Asik?

 

So did Harden just wake up and have basketball skills?

Also Bynum worked hard on his offensive game. Kareem eve praised him for that.

As Carl said you don't make it to the NBA on innate ability alone. Sure every few years we get a Thabeet type player though... Guys like Harden worked hard to get that good. The question is always if they are content with what they are now or do they want to get better.

So yes. Harden is better than Lin because he worked harder on his game to get to the NBA.

Let's not pretend that Lin is this unathletic guy... No. Loin had all the tools to be a great PG.

Funny how Lin shoot improves when he worked on it... Those skills are NOT innate

 

Haren should shave his beard until he learns how to play defense.