How much better can James Harden get? will he ever reach top 5?

It depends upon whom you ask. A Rockets fan would consider him an all time great, but others may say something else, so let's see how he does next year and so on.

 

Lots of "Top 5 if he learns to defend" posts...

When he actually tried to defend he was a very good defender. He has the skill to be a good defender, he simply doesn't seem to care to expend the energy it takes to do it. I don't say that as a knock on him - only so much gas in the tank, and you've gotta make it count - just to point out that he is a capable defender when he wants to be.

 

You have Wade, rose and George ahead of him.....????? GTFO

 

So KG is Rasheed wallace type of player..?

 

I don't think he is overrated, the guy is very talented on defense and has very good chance to be good offensive player, but I agree, people are ranking him way high.

 

He's a top 10 player right now. I think he can be in the 5-7 range if he improves on defense even a bit.

 

I don't understand the logic of people ranking the players
for instance are we ranking Howard based on 2 or 3 years ago or as if now....!!!
IMO he as if now no where near the top 5.

My list:

1-Lebron
2-Durant
3-CP3
4-Kobe (if he can return like the old self)
5-Melo (prolific scorer, his game will never change, he is great scorer, will get you 30pts on the daily bases, can't contribute the ball, can't defend, his main focus is scoring)
6-Harden
7-Westbrook
8-Wade
9-parker
10-Howard

 

JVG thinks Yao would've been in the top 10 as well

 

He is easily top 10 and borderline top 6 or even 5. in 3 years he'll be top 3.

 

When Lebron James gets 1.4 and Tony Parker gets 3.4 for DRating, it should point something out about the validity of such a statistical measure.

 

He's already definitely top 10, and arguably borderline top 5. So yes, I think he can reach top 5 status if he improves only a little more (mostly on defense).

 

If we get another 20ppg+ calibre scorer like Howard, and at least as good a defensive presence as Asik (also Howard), then Harden should really be more efficient and better defensively.

If he doesn't take advantage of that, I predict he carries on his career being a one-way player, always scratching the surface of top 10.

If he is smart enough to recognize that with Howard he could increase his FG%, reduce ISO's, reduce TO's and improve defense - then he may be a top 10 player for the rest of his career.

It is another critical season for the development of Harden's career.

 

It depends what James Harden we'll see.

Last season there were 2 Harden's. Before the All-star game, Harden was an absolute monster on offense and Euro-stepped all over the league. After the all-star game he was a different player. I think he shot below 40%, forced too many bad shots and fell in love with the ISO. What happened?

He got banged up. If the coaching staff can manage his minutes better and keep Harden healthy, then he should be a Top 5 player next year. He's already going to be the top 2 guard because Kobe's going to be hurt and Wade picks his spots now.

Last season there was an on-going debate here about limiting Harden's minutes. Well I think we can all agree, they rode him too much last season. I think we should see more Lin-Bev backcourt and try to keep Harden's minutes down, or maybe he just needed a whole season to adjust to starter minutes. Either way, once he stops euro-stepping, the coaching staff needs to rest him.