I bolded the important part of your post. Yeah he is in a slump right now and yeah he has been taking a lot of 3s. This in my opinion had a lot to do with him playing off the ball more (and many of his 3s have been really good looks, just didn't go in). Him and Ty will figure it out soon enough. His attempts from the 3pt line will almost certainly go down - nothing to be concerned about here. Also Harden is one of the best 3pt shooters on the team. I'd trust him to hit a 3 over guys like Brewer, Ariza or Beverly. As for the playoffs - what are you on about? he shot over 38% from 3 during the playoffs (if I remember correctly). And on a side note 16 % from 3 after 4 games is not too bad, considering that he shot 9% from 3 after 3 games. Quite the improvement if you ask me :grin:
I guess calling Harden a YO-YO was a bit harsh, so no offense meant personally. It just frustrated me to see him take so many 3's a game when shooting so bad. Ariza and Thornton need to be the ones taking those more than Harden while he is in this slump. Harden is 9/55 now, Thornton 9/20, and Ariza 11/30 from behind the arc. On the bright side.....we are winning!!
If your coach allows you to continue to take 10 threes a game hitting 1 to 2, he ain't telling you you can't take mid-range shots.
Hey mate, you are good! Don't worry about it too much, I don't think anyone here was pissed at you for the thread. I can understand your frustration, and I agree he needs to attack more or get into the mid range stuff if he is off early. He needs to trust Lawson more and allow himself to get easy looks, right now he's not helping himself. But in saying all this, he is still one of the best three point shooters in the league, and by the end of the season I am confident the stats will reflect that. Like you said, we are winning, and right now that is the first priority. Not to mention, you are a passionate rockets fan just like the rest of us, who wants to see the team and the players get the best out of themselves, so you are more than alright in my book!
You missed a key difference. In that thread, OP said he was sick of Harden's shot-hogging. In this thread, he called Harden a Yo-Yo- presumably due to previously said shot-hogging. I am so glad we have so much great insight on these threads.
I'm not worried about Beard's offense, it's the other end that's worrisome. If James plays harder on that end, the entire team will follow.
If you listen to anyone who has played basketball a lot or professionally (so people who know a lot more about it than I do) they will say that the only way for a shooter to get out of a shooting slump is to continue shooting. You gave the shooting numbers for now, comparing Harden to Thornton and Ariza. Over the course of their careers, both Thornton and Ariza have been streaky, up and down shooters as well. I am sure that they will go through a period of a shooting slump for at some point also. It happens. It's part of the game. If Marcus Thornton was able to shoot 45% from 3 all season, he would received a much larger contract this past offseason than he did. I'm glad that we have a talented and deep enough roster to have guys step up when needed, but at the end of the game I would still want Harden taking the last shot on the large majority of the plays.
I don't mind the volume, you have to shoot to score, and I trust him shooting more than other rockets. What I don't like is the late game shot selection. Dribble out the clock, and take a contested three. Last night he had several chances to put the game away. In those situations to hell with analytics put your head down go to the basket back someone down or create some space and take a midrange. Those missed threes late game allow long rebounds and transition easy baskets for the other team. Still dribble out the clock and take an open three if its there, but being able to setup your defense is very important clock management as well.
