James Harden: deceptively athletic... or potbelly sloth with mad foot skills?

He is not playing like Haren for the last 2 weeks. His defense is improving day by day.

 

Deceptively athletic combines with unorthodox and there's also partially bad defense to blame. I'm still seeing guys block off the right side of the rim thinking he's right handed.

 

The more I watch Harden play defense, the more I think we've over simplified his defensive faults.

Harden does not have lateral quickness. He constantly gets beat on the perimeter by most guards. Halfway through last season, he just gave up. This resulted in the matador defense we've all seen. His only reprise is swiping at the ball from behind as a last resort.

This season, we've moved him to guarding slower guys and even PFs, because he has the strength to do so. I believe this is where we've seen the improvement on defense from him. It's just a matter of finding the right fit.