Is Harden a top 5 player in the league?

Nope. B/c the argument was about reaching the WCF and the strength of Harden's supporting cast. In any case, the guy who made the assertion agreed with me. So why do you people keep trying to argue the point?

And how often were those greats on the bench while being saved by their supposedly weak supporting casts?

 

Harden has a lot to prove this season, hope he comes through.

 

Please don't try and argue with him.

 

You're kinda right but kinda wrong. Do the Rocket's win the series if those role player's don't come up huge here? No.

Do the Clippers take a 3-1 lead if Crawford/Reddick/****ing Austin Rivers don't go off? Also no.

No stars win on their own. Just because those role player's came up huge in that comeback win doesn't mean Harden received help from his supporting cast than CP3.

 

We talking about impact players on their respective teams?

LeBron, Harden, Westbrook, Curry, Durant, ...?

KAT (if no sophomore slump), Boogie, CP3, etc. can all challenge for one of those last spots. As much as I like Curry, his impact is going to get saturated with KD on the team. So yeah, Harden is a top 5 guy.

 

FIFY

last year Harden carried the heaviest burden in the NBA - a team (roster and coaching staff) which is league bottom 3 at best if all teams removed their best player

League leading 38 mins/gm

Scoring runner-up 29.0 pts/gm

First among non-PGs 7.5 asts/gm (more than Lebron and Curry)

Tied for 2nd among guards 6.1 rebs/gm

Tied for 4th among guards 0.6 blks/gm

Drives, scores off drives, and passes off drives as much as Lebron http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...t=DRIVES&dir=1

Moves around as far (works as hard) on offense and defense as Steph Curry and more than Lebron, WB, and KD http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...IST_FEET&dir=1

Generates points off touches as efficient as Steph Curry but more efficient than Lebron http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...=TOUCHES&dir=1

Catch and shoots 3 pointers more efficient than KD http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...gular Season

Shoots pull ups more efficient than WB http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...L_UP_PTS&dir=1

Defends the rim almost as good as WB http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...M_FG_PCT&dir=1

 

Geez buddy your making a strong case that harden is the best player in the game.

What I hope is that he picks up the awareness on D because offensively he prob is the best player in the league. He's like a 6'5 version of Lebron on that end but he shoots so much better. Lebron is better in the paint but James is no slouch down there either.

Harden should always be mentioned among Lebron Durant and curry he's that good. And to be honest with Curry and KD prob making each other level out a bit it's possible that harden can slide right in behind Lebron as the 2nd best player in the world.

 

You seem to forget that was one half in a 7 game series.... Tell me what Brewer and Smoove did for the majority of that series? You know... A SERIES... where you have to win 4 games... What happens if they lose game 5?
There is no game 6.... What about Game 7?

Harden was the driving force in the other three wins... To
not recognize that makes YOU ignorant.

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Direct yourself to the post above. ^

 

That's good and all, but when great players are not leaders in all facets of the game and at least try on defense, then all else crumbles.

 

Did any of those great leaders have mchale jbb pbev brewer tjones/injured dmo coward d12 level coaches and starters around them?

 

dont need to. it was in response to a ridiculous statement not a claim I'm trying to make.

 

say what you want but you can actually criticize plenty of the surrounding players great leaders have had. Again everything is not on JH but just completely shifting all the blame away from him just isn't right imo. He's not immune to any criticism. You're allowed to be a JH fan even if you hold him accountable. But for the straight homers around here, that obviously isn't the case. Nothing bad should be said about him no matter what. Every championship team hasn't had the best surrounding complementary players. Plenty of them have struggled throughout there respective careers beforehand and just happen to find themselves in a good situation.

 

Harden is not blameless. Nobody is blameless. It's just a matter of context. Harden is often compared to Curry, Westbrook, Lebron, etc. around here, yet has half the coaching and half the supporting cast. He's held to their standards, standards that he is predisposed to not being able to reach due to surrounding factors. Should Harden play better defense? Sure. Should he try to cut down turnovers? Sure. But far too often the blame is put entirely on Harden without a shred of context, when there is a middle ground to be had.

 

Agree here J

 

I voted no, but he's very close. Top 7? His defense doe.

 

Please don't respond to him. Don't you remember the other thread?

 

I have to ask, who do you think is better?

 

i love me some harden and think he is easily top 10 currently, but what i worry about most is his game translating in the playoffs when refs start swallowing their whistles...its almost a benefit not getting some calls during the regular season to get some experience playing through it later