Right now if the season ended he would be MVP. So your excuse for him not being the 2nd best player in the NBA right now is because he is too young? There is a reason why Indiana is Miami main threat to 3 peat, and his name is Paul George.
Nah Tmac had better handles and could pass with the best of them. He was a true point forward and handled a lot of point guard duties when he was in his prime.
Drunk posting. Replace Harden with George on this team and we are probably undefeated right now. George plays defense, which is exactly what we are lacking.
It doesn't so that's irrelevant. Lebron destroyed PG in the playoffs, dropping big numbers while shooting over 50% doing so. The real reason is Hibbert, Hibbert was the x-factor for those series. George had a few moments but Lebron outplayed him in that series.
Who said George was better than Lebron? Lebron destroys everybody which is why he is the GOAT. I'm talking George vs Durant buddy.
Paul George is an all round player. Harden is offense only. That alone puts George above Harden, but George also has a better future than Harden. There's no reason to expect Harden to beef up his defense or stop the ISO plays. He had all last year and the start of this year to change. He didn't. Why would he start? Harden has the same mentality Kobe has. He's the icon of the Rockets. He does what he pleases. I also see a future rule change against shooting fouls when the shooter initiates contact. KD and Harden abuse it so much that it doesn't look like basketball. I foresee Harden's offensive game taking a nose dive when this happens.
Just because someone is an all around player doesn't mean they are superior than a one way player. Harden is an elite scorer, one of the 2-3 best in the game. That exceeds what George is able to do on the court.
Judging by your by your post _ I'm sure you believe that Harden's teammates are better than George's and that McHale is the better coach and Harden is the guy holding this team back so whatever you say...
Good luck with that. Lebron does it, Paul, Parker...pretty much every player that can do this does this. It is called scoring in the paint. You make a rule change like that and 80 points would be a high scoring output.
When Kobe was at the height of Lakers icon, he atleast play pretty good defense and lead them to the playoffs with role players like kawmi brown, luke walton, smusher parker, and some other no names. Please don't compare the two cause there is really no comparison.
Well Durant has destroyed George before as well last season. I'm sure not taking George over Durant either and it's not really close for me.
Yeah, a hybrid 1/2 .. great athlete with the ability to stick the J from Downtown and play ferocious D.... decent handles too. Like Mad Max or Antonio Daniels....
Like a few posters have already mentioned, Harden is an elite offensive player. There very few defenders in the league that can hold Harden in check. On the defensive side of things, all he need to do is put a little more, ok, a lot more effort on defense to become an adequate defender. That's more then enough to defend the 3 and D wings that every team plays. Paul George is a very good all around player, who may be a borderline elite defender. But you always take the guy with an elite skill set and make him adequate in his deficiencies then an all around player and try to make him elite at something because it's easier to develop the first guy than it is the second one.
Harden is a better offensive player, but basketball is a team game. The Rockets have many scoring options, but lack defensive players. Paul George would help carry the current Rockets team further than Harden could. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1374048-7-nba-rule-changes-wed-like-to-see/page/4 There's been rumblings about this rule recently. KD and Harden have abused it far more than any other players in the NBA. It's become a strategy in their game and therefore a crutch in their play style. I completely disagree with the point effects. GS doesn't have players who rely on this loophole and still manage to score. Some teams will have to change the way they play, but it makes the game more fair with less "super star calls". I was talking about how Harden has the Kobe mentality. You're going down the wrong track about player accomplishments. The point I made was Harden has the notion that he is the icon of the Rockets, much like Kobe is for the Lakers.
You're dead wrong sir... The year after Shaq and Phil left Kobe lead that team straight to the lottery. They only won 6 games during the last 27 games of the season. Kobe averaged 4 TOs a game that year as well...
While I would be happy to see Harden put in the effort to play defense, I don't have any hope that he will. He could have decided to start making an effort starting from any of the 82 games last year or the 13 this year, but he didn't. Sometimes he decides to play defense, but other times he slacks off. That's even worse than a player who doesn't know how to play defense, but can be taught. What has changed now that would make you think the future is any different?
That's not rumblings, just one NBA fan's opinion on it. What Harden does is no different than what Lebron or Wade does. He goes into the paint...and gets fouled. Parker does this...paul...pretty much any player that can get into the paint at will does this. I don't think it is fair at all, if they want to stop Harden then keep him out of the paint. If they swallow the whistles then it becomes unfair for Harden whose getting his arms slapped as he's trying to go into the lane for two points.