There can be only one Duncan and his successor Kawhi as good as he is will probably amount to a lesser SF version of him.
Oh. Only the spurs can have a great player who doesn't show extreme emotion? I didn't know that was a law of nature. Might as well just give harden to San Antonio for some loud and expressive players. Thats what we deserve! More fist pumps dammit!!!
Well, Duncan also did this in an epic moment.......Trolling Howard and still backing it up with consistent play on BOTH ENDS.
Harden turned super saiyain as well before. With much more emotion than Timmy showed. All of this is frivolous. We all know the goat is Westbrook because of how "emphatic" he plays. It's obvious hes the hardest worker of all time, not because of things I never see (like practice and film study and nutrition), but because of how much emotion he shows. That's the single biggest barometer to success. Emotion!
I am not saying Westbrook is better but we will see how their career paths are going to be. Because WB was inefficient, he got overlooked before his triple double streak. It is about how much each of them want to win big, how much time they spend on basketball in the offseason, how well they age. How much passion they still got for the game when they turn 30 or 30+. I am not a particularfan of either, WB or Harden but as a Rocket fan I watch more Harden.
Which you know exact shiit about but for some reason believe Westbrook spends more time because of how loud he yells on the court. It's been noted, reported and shared by teammates multiple multiple multiple times going all the way back to before we acquired him that harden is a very hard worker in the gym. I wonder if you were one of those fans who wanted to trade akeem earlier in his career as well.
Not every fan is from the Akeem era though. But I never wanted to trade Yao, Tmac, Francis or Scola for what is worth.
Well it should be worth noting harden is clearly better than every player you listed and it's not really that close. Makes me question your sanity for not wanting harden.
Did I say I want to trade him? I just said he is not my type of player. Someone whom I can sympathize with. If they offer us Lebron, Durant or a player on that level I would consider, yes, who would not? All the Rox players above might not be scoring as much as Harden does, but some are better on Defense than him, and have more heart even with less talent.
The same can be said for Dwight Howard. And like Dwight Howard, despite all those hours in the gym, Harden's game hasn't improved in years. He was at his absolute best in 2015.
90% (or Majority) of NBA players have a good work ethic in the gym, good enough for the league. That isn't something special. It shouldn't be special tbh. DMo has tremendous work ethic, a bad back, not great enough to start at 5.
Luis scola fan favorite, really loved rooting for him. Had no problem letting him go because of his serious limitations. Francis quit and started doing dope as soon as we traded him. He was my favorite rocket at the time. But my favorite player in the league was tmac Tmac before we traded for him was my favorite player. He was great. But still not as good as harden and surely not as proven. His losing outweighs any heart he had. I loved yao also. But we all know the injuries and lack of winning as well. Although clear referee bias doomed us. I would take LeBron if it's for a single season and you had to choose. I don't know if I would for Durant.
I would put that number much lower because a lot of players rely on athleticism and fizz out constantly. Work ethic is more important than "showing heart". Showing heart isn't the same as having heart. Because nobody knows how passionate he is or isn't, we all assume based off our limited view of him. So him not "showing" enough heart is less or equal an attribute than "hearing" he has a very strong work ethic.
This isn't just about Harden's flaws and strengths. The management and coaching are also not to be depended upon to make a deep run every year. We have not enough greatness. It sounds complicated but you can also simplify it. Our concept isn't great for a title.
I as fan for one should not care too much about players showing enough heart or not. Games come and go. But if you are the best player on a team, your players want a Patrick Beverley infused with Harden's talent. They look up to him and seeing him like this in Game 6 against the Spurs is hearbreaking for everyone. Players know who they can go to war with or with whom not. They find out that Harden is useless when he has a very bad game because he will not fight every game.
That's because Harden apologists like yourself don't understand the difference between increased skill and increased usage/improved teammates. Compared to 2017 Harden, 2015 Harden was a better shooter, a better defender, better at attacking the basket, had an effective mid-range game, and had better conditioning. A great work ethic in the gym is meaningless if it doesn't translate to better basketball on the court.
I understand stats quite well. I don't think you do. Or your harden haters just throw shutout that sounds good but has no actual data. Harden was more efficient this year than 15. Same fg%, higher 2pt%, higher efg%, higher ts%. Only thing that droped is 3pt% and ft%. You can extrapolate the per 36s and harden was better across the board in every category. Rebounds assist points reb% ast%. Same with per 100 before you claim pace and system blah blah blah. By the way your usage theory should be put on blast because his usage rate went from a 31.3% to 34.2%. Not really groundbreaking. Again, this is why no one respects your opinion.
It's funny because I view the Westbrook hype this way too. But there's a happy medium between THAT and sulking or trudging around all the time, for sure.
You're failing to consider shot selection. This year, Harden didn't take many mid-range shots so his 2pt% was primarily limited to attempts in the paint. So it's logical that he'd shoot them at a greater efficiency. That doesn't mean he's a better player now than he was in 2015. 2015 Harden displayed a greater skill-set. Additionally, you have to consider that Harden took his foul-baiting tactics to the extreme this year which led to more FTA and a higher 2pt FG%. Given how he was officiated in the playoffs, there's no telling if the refs will continue to reward that style of play in the upcoming regular season. You may understand stats, but you don't seem to understand the context behind the stats. Take a look at the formula for calculating usage rate. You'll see that it doesn't mean what you think it means.
