And some of the players who have had the most longevity in the history of the NBA like Kobe and Kidd have all played over 40 mpg. 38 minutes though? Almost everyone has done that: Hakeems, Shaqs, Pierces, Carmelos, Paytons Duncans, Dirks, Ray Allens, Birds, Magics, Chris Pauls, Robinsons, Drexlers, Jason Kidds, Rodmans, Kevin Durants, Wades, Isiahs, Kobes, Duncans, Kareems, Jordans, Barkleys, Malones, Stocktons, Pau Gasols, Garnetts... It's not a "dangerous" amount of minutes like you guys are making it sound.
I'm not blaming the defense entirely on Harden, but I'm not crediting Harden for contributing to the defense when Asik is on the court either. Defense is more so a team game than offense is. However, that doesn't mean there aren't weak links. The perimeter defense is definetly our weak link. Lin and Parsons are making mistakes on help defense and playing either too far or too close on man to man. However, that can be corrected with coaching. Hardens problem is lack of effort. You can only ride the "he wasn't used to starter minutes" for so long. If that truely is his problem, why not ramp up his minutes until his intensity falls instead of starting him with high minutes to see if he fails? This is such an easy adjustment to make, with minimal risks. We're not taking Harden out of the 2012 team, where he was the only option. We're taking him out of the 2013 team, with Howard in the front court.
Well, amount of physical contact he takes during those minutes are what worries me. McHale do need to trust Jeremy more and have some of Harden's minute given to Jeremy. He's young and can/should be fine with those minutes, but it's not healthy in the long run.
Harden needs to take a seat when he's going iso and playing awful, but realistically when Harden wants to play, he's going to play. Players rule over the coach, but he had a great game yesterday.
He rests on defense so it's ok. the guy is a very lazy "superstar". even when he's supposedly playing d, it's like he's only doing it to not look stupid. the hustle just isn't there not too crazy to call him a chucker. probably chucks more shots per game than melo, except harden also gets a lot of ft's
