[Huffington Post] James Harden's Glaring Defensive Problem Is Way Worse Than You Thought

DANG sounds like Adrian Dantley... when he got traded from Utah to Detroit and everyone thought Chuck Daly, could get him to play defense and in 2 years he was traded to the Mavs...

This is an option... But basically, i'm saying that the only person who can get Harden to play D is Harden.. No coach or players can do that... So basically just deal with it..

T_Man

 

My opinion (eyeball test but I have watched 90% of the games the past two years)

Harden was making people better last year. He was still slightly below average on D sometimes but he seemed to be improving as a defensive play-maker.
His passing was better and the turnovers didn't seem so frequent or stupid.

This year.... The worse defense I have ever seen+increased turnovers+decreased 3P% are killing him. Most disturbingly, he doesn't seem to care.

I see people arguing about where the mindset of a 26 year old should be? That is a fair argument but watch this guy and the interaction with his teammates. Something is terribly wrong.

 

the John Wall clip in that one is the best. :grin:

 

Harden defense is non existent & I agree that it needs to change if he ever wants to win a title as the "main guy". That being said... Other than Dwight & some bright spots from Capela, everyone on this team sucks ass this season. Just all around garbage. A true nightmare of a season.

 

Harden was motivated to play defense last season after that video went viral, right? I hope this article will do the same to him.

 

How pathetic is it that the only thing that may motivate you to play defense is a viral video of you not playing defense or playing comically bad defense?

 

I agreed with everything up until the point they said "Dwight has predictably been a colossal disappointment" and listed Corey Brewer as one of the two best perimeter defenders on this team...

 

Trade him for Paul George

 

Interesting that the article bases things on DRPM and the difference in the opponents FG% when Harden's on the floor vs off.

What they fail to mention is that most of the other scoring shooting guards are rated even worse in DRPM and Klay Thompson is just slightly better.

Thompson -1.45
Harden - 1.75
Middleton -1.75
Beal -1.95
DeRozan - 1.97
Wade -2.05
Thorton -2.09
K.Martin -2.74
Reddick -2.84
J.Crawford -3.51
B.Knight -3.57
A.Wiggins -3.93

If you add in teams primary ball handlers, then even more names pop up

M.Conley -1.73
T.Lawson -2.27
K. Irving -2.47
J. Teague -2.57
D.Collinson -3.14
D.Lillard -3.36
D.Rose -3.53


As for the difference in opponents FG% when Harden is on the floor vs off, it seems like they should have mentioned that our primary wing defender has a differential that is 150% worse than Harden's or that T.Jone's differential is worst on the team.

All in all it was a pretty weak attempt at providing stats to backup their argument.

 

aelliot :grin:

 

This is why stats are bull****, people can cherry pick whatever they want.

But anyone being truthful with what they see can tell that Harden is Gold Bricking it on defense.

And his turnovers are a huge problem.

A good coach would have taken the ball out of his hands from day 1, and let them build chemistry.

DD

 

There is no excuse for anyone to dog it on defense. None. Defense is about effort and pride. And the reason Morey has to surround Harden with 3 and D types like Beverley and Ariza is because Harden dogs it on defense and he wants to handle the ball every possession. Morey actually found a solid NBA point guard in Ty Lawson this summer. But instead of James learning to play off the ball, work smaller guards in the post, etc as Lawson initiated the offense, Lawson became relegated to a spot up shooter. And you can't play them together because neither is a good defender. Not surprisingly, Lawson is having his worst season of his career by far. When he gets traded, he'll start looking like the guy he was in Denver again.

At some point, it's not everyone else's fault. The problem is the Rockets apparently don't have the balls to confront Harden about flaws in his game that are clearly holding the team back. It's honestly past time for one of his teammates to get in his face and call him out when he checks out during games, as he is prone to do. If a locker room fight is necessary, then so be it. This version of Harden can't lead a team to a title. Last year's, could, because he was a more complete player, but even then, he completely no-showed in multiple playoff games.

 

I like when aelliott posts. That is all.

 

lol it's not like he posted those stats and said it proves Harden isn't a bad defender.

It's just shining a light on the fact that while Harden is a bad defender, so are a lot of other guys. Whether they are giving the effort or not the result based on the stat says there are lots of scoring wings and primary ball handlers who suck on defense.

Same with the turnovers. when someone points out that almost every other primary ball handler also turns it over quite a bit, we aren't saying that it's ok or that it isn't a problem. There just aren't very many guys out there who have the ball a lot and don't turn it over.

 

I emailed the author regarding labeling Dwight as a "colossal disappointment". Hope he gives a little more explanation.

 

His explanation is that this is Huffington Post and they aren't very good analysts Doesn't take a rocket scientist (no pun intended) to figure out that Harden's defense is abysmal.

 

Harden may need to go. We may need to start our rebuilding process soon. Think about it. The future of this franchise is riding on Harden's shoulders for the next 10 years. I don't think he's the guy. Talent wise he's there but he just doesn't have the heart to lead a team

 

Don't worry, just two years, not ten.

Two years before he bolts back home to LA!

Better get something now!

 

It's still not too late for Carl Herrera's Love for Harden swap!

Get'r done Murray

 

I am not ready to give up on James Harden. Still would like to shuffle the role players and coach.

Get cracking Morey! [clap, clap]