What happened to the Eurostep? It was practically impossible to stop early in the year, and then it seemed to disappear from his game. I guess teams started defending him differently. The incredibly heavy minutes that Harden was playing for the first time this year obviously took their toll. He looked tired and beat up by the end of the season, and he was weakened enough to come down with strep throat in freakin' May. That will be the biggest of many tweaks and adjustments Harden will have to focus on this year-- simply preparing for the heavy load he's now expected to carry. He's already a fantastic player, a true #1, and now he has a buttload of film to watch on practically every part of his game. Not everything can be fixed all at once, naturally, but if he adds something to his game every offseason, we're going to be in good shape.
that's why you need lin or lin and bev in so Harden doesn't have to dictate every single possession. His body can't handle it or if it can, it'll break down throughout the year with all these nagging injuries. That said he has to step up defensively. I'd rather he score 24 and lock his people down than go for 30 but his man his hitting 3's or going backdoor all the time, Yes already does so much for the team but that's why your'e the superstar. You have to excel in all areas.
1) He needs to stop handling the ball, otherwise he's getting tons of turnover. This made our point guard useless when he handling the ball 80% of the time. Let our point guard do their jobs. 2) He needs to less sticky with the ball. Stop gambling with risky shots. Stop those 3 seconds left passes. 3) He cannot do defense by just "looking" at the opponents. Stop being lazy with his defense. Stop trying to get rebound. Let the big guys do their jobs. After these adjustments, he will be the best player, best scorer, and best leader in this team.
I still see him refusing to pass to Asik or someone else who's set a pick and rolls to the basket. He's still developing his court vision but I get the feeling he doesn't trust himself pass the ball or trust others to be finish on the play. I see that his maturity level needs to improve. He was pretty humble on team where he was the 6th man behind two stars who carry that team, but now that he's the alpha dog, he's grown a little too fast for his britches. But as I've stated before, he will learn how to facilitate better like the great ones. He's trying to be a leader right now, but without all the requisite leadership skills. Same could be said for a number of star players just starting out in that role.
He has mediocre hands. When he rolls to the basket it's no guarantee he catches without bobbling the ball and then it's questionable that he'll hold onto it as he goes up to finish. Commentators probably felt he had good hands because the Rockets just don't attempt difficult passes/lobs to Asik often. So, he keeps a handle on most of the passes thrown his way. You could easily see the difference when you compare the degree of difficulty in the catches Ibaka or Greg Smith had to make in the series.
He definitely looked slower to me than earlier in the season. The other thing is it seems like he got stripped a lot more going to the basket. The problem is, when he loses the ball on a drive, it led to a lot of easy transition buckets the other direction. I don't know if it goes in the stats as a turnover or a missed shot, but OKC capitalized on the mistake quite often. Contrary to what others saw, I still believe Harden is a very willing passer. With the number of blown dunks and layups Asik had, I find it hard to believe that there are many other top players in the league that would continue passing to him on the pick and roll. The other big thing we need from him is consistent effort on defense. On too many occasions he lost his man on defense, either taking a weak swipe at the ball or giving up a three.
I think Omer has pretty good hands, but I think he's a bad finisher. I'm not sure what the stats say but my eye tells me he misses layups/dunks or gets blocked/stripped a lot more than most 7-footers in the league.
That's not what I see. I see a guy that catches the ball pretty good but blows tons of layups and dunks.
I don't like the trade talk about our starters. Giving them a summer to improve skill set and complement each other, they must get better. They are still young. It's not easy to finish a full season. Inconsistency is inevitable. Lin had injury last summer and didn't expect he isn't the primary ball handler in new team. Harden's role in OKC is coming off the bench and score. He was not ready to play 40mins and make crunch plays. OKC is a heavy ISO team, HOU isn't.
His problem comes from when is trying to play point guard, making no look passes to the other team, careless turnovers, and taking difficult shots. McHale needs to abandon the ISO ball tactics and let him return to his spot as shooting guard.
Injury was bothering him since Feb/March? Harden needs to play better defense and handle the ball a bit less. He's 23. Even if this year was his peak - he did good.
It's both. He has trouble catching. Please don't try to say differently because he has some of the worst hands I have ever seen lol. He's also not great at finishing.
Im with the other guy on this. Once he is done playing hot potato with himself and gathers the ball, he can finish pretty strong.
Agreed, not to mention the punishment that style of play inflicts on Harden's body. As for Asik on the PnR, it would seem like he has the potential to improve dramatically in this area. The national commentators were actually praising his ability to roll to the hoop. Pretty remarkable considering what we were seeing all season with his stone hands. If I were Asik I would find a way to simulate those situations (receiving quick bounce passes or dishoffs in heavy traffic) and practice them over and over every day. The guy is an extremely hard worker.
Asik is far from a finished product. Remember the START of the season when we literally expected nothing? Then he started scoring. Then folks complained that he never dunked instead of going for weak lay ups? And then we saw him start to dunk more. Then folks complained that he had no post up game? And then we started to see him start to do moves like the Dream Shake and fakes/double fakes. Then we complained his hands were terrible? They're still not great but they're improving. His FT shooting improved from last season to this season. I expect that to continue to improve as well. Asik has the benefit of working with McHale, one of the best big men in NBA history. Hakeem lives nearby as well. Will he ever be McHale or Hakeem? Doubtful. However, I think we should remember that like every member on this team he's still a work in progress. I wouldn't be shocked if he was considerably better next year.
One thing I hate is the no look pass Harden does from the top of the arc to a wing players. Half the time it gets stolen for an easy fast break basket. Reminds me of Schaub throwing pick 6's on short sideline passes.
It doesn't help that he often does that pass after the shot clock is ticking down. By that time defenders know he is either gonna take a jumper or do that pass. They just have to wait for it.
He definitely has to stop that top of the key no-look passing. Usually ends up in either a bad shot or a steal. And agreed on the OP, stop trying to get the contact. Just finish!
