Yeah, CF isn't happy if there's not a PG controversy going on (even though if you look at their stats there is no controversy about it, Lin IS the starter). But overlooked in all that mess, Harden has been consistently great except for the flu game. His bad nights are still almost 20 points. When you've got a reliable 25ppg guy who can give you 5 and 5 and do it on pretty good efficiency, there's a word for that... superstar.
Harden has court vision, and I mean really really good court vision. His assists numbers do him no justice at all. All he needs is a good finisher around the rim and his assist numbers would skyrocket. Imagine if we had a Aldridge or Howard pick and roll with Harden, that would be unstoppable.
Agreed, I see several bright spots. Parsons - He is steadily improving through the season contribute in 1 way or another. I don't expect him to have break out season this year but I'll be happy to see him continue improve. Morris - I'm glad he has gotten a chance to play and has shown that he isn't a bust. He reminded me of T-Will when he came out, had rookie jitters and felt like he needed to prove something. He is playing like he may not play again but with confidence. Asik - Rebounding boss would like to see more consistency at the rim but he is playing beyond he contract value. Lin - I think its too early to say he was a waste, I'm content with his performance, seems to be playing like he is lacking confidence but that doesn't excuse the poor play, I'll give him midway before I judge how he is truly doing.
He's worth every penny we paid for and I have always believed he's the no.1 option so far. It just depends on who we get with the future cap space we have or how the young guys develop. I'm glad we have an all-star again.
People go insane whenever he doesn't have a super efficient game either. The truth is, he's a #1 scorer with no other player that can really just get the ball and score. It's going to take a hit because the team will ask him to take tougher shots now. Dude is 23.
Besides the mental collapse at the end of the game that nearly got Jimmy Butler the rebound, Harden's defense has been pretty solid this game. At least, he shows that he is capable of playing good defense. My biggest problem with Harden is his defense. He has no excuse when it comes to bad defense and this game proves it. He has all the strength and athleticism to stay in front of most defender.
The guy is playing 40mpg at an insane usage rate. I really doubt he can exert much effort on defense. For the same reason, never did complain about T-Mac in this regards either.
That's a very good point. We didn't get him for his defense anyway. As long as he's not terrible, I'm fine with it. He can be a mediocre defender when he puts up these kinds of offensive numbers.
But his defense has always been suspected even in during his time in OKC, and he played a lot less minutes then. Probably a bad habit after having one of the best help defenders in the league on your team (Ibaka).
Those mainly come from being double and triple teamed every possession. He seems like he's getting better at dealing with it lately so hopefully we'll see them start to go down soon.
I really want them to cut back his minutes to be honest. He didn't train this summer to be a starter playing 40 minutes a night. I don't want him to get hurt & I am afraid he will.
Again, I don't know why this matters. He's not on the Thunder and he's the star now. Besides, the Thunder Are +10pts/48minutes when Hardens on the floor, only+2 when he sits. I. The end, the goal is to out score your opponent, and Harden does that very well. I
It matters because defense matters. I'm a huge fan of Harden, but I'm not going to brush off the fact that he is a defensive liability when he is capable of playing better defense, an area he could improve upon at just the age of 23.
If James Harden isn't an all-star this year, it'll be injustice. Picks for all All-Star West guards: Kobe, CP3, Westboork, Harden
Rockets need to be a seeded team for it to happen though. If they are out of the playoffs by then...then all they will say is he put up good numbers on a bad team.
I hope you are right but I don't see it. Almost every team we've seen this year is packing the paint and double and triple teaming Harden when he tries to drive. That's not to say that we can't knock down occasional 3's but we don't have anyone that teams feel is too dangerous to double off of. It's pretty obvious from the defenses that we've seen that teams would rather give our perimeter players an open 3 instead of trying to defend Harden with one player. If you were the coach of the opposing team what would you do? I'd certainly double Harden and take my chances with the other guys beating me from the outside. Some games the outside shooting may beat me but trying to play Harden 1 on 1 is pretty much a losing proposition every game.
