FIrst Take, Undisputed, and Cowherd all saying the same thing : Harden is the product of MDA. I don't have problem with people disagreeing with 'the best offensive player ever' title, but do we really need to remind people that Curry, KD and Kawhi benefit more from the 'system' and great coaching than Harden ever will? That Harden already put up similar numbers under McHale? It's so frustrating because when Curry or Westbrook was having a breakout season, nobody chalked it up to 'it's all coaching.' Now Harden is doing it, apparently he's nothing but a string puppet of a guy who couldn't even find a head coaching job in this league until we hired him?
What about Harden being the MVP when he was playing under one of the worst coaches ever? Was that a product of McFail? ****ing lol Oh, and as much as i'm liking the work MDA is doing, he was basically out of the league after his years in NY, LA and Denver, he's the one who should thank Les AND Harden probably, if we want to tell the truth...and pretty sure those three idiots were also calling him a coach not able to win cause his teams were only good in scoring etc, now he's the big reason why Harden is leading his team to finish the season ahead of the best team ever? Ok
imma gonna hafta stop this thread for a second If you're going to make the case that Harden's numbers are a product of a great coach, isn't "Moochie Norris only looks good because of Rudy T" yet another reason for Rudy in the HOF!!!
Haters gone hate! It's time for us to accept the fact that we have a superstar that will never be a media darling. They absolutely hate that they have to give him the MVP award this season.
If Harden is solely a by-product of MDA's system, why are we playing at such a slow pace? Why are we running so many ISO plays? How come that same system didn't work for Carmelo or Kobe?
Harden was 2nd in MVP voting under McHale ... think about that! agree, but it is ultra annoying (and full of CFnet irony) that they can rightfully use Jeremy Lin against Harden for this very MDA reason ... haha
Wait, I thought he was a product of the refs?!?! He's just a ref baiter! Lazy hot taeks from the hot taek talking heads. I guess they started watching basketball just last year? Or maybe they're ignorant? Or both? Either way, they shouldn't be taken seriously. He's a product of McHale's system. He only looks good because of McHale. Get it right talking heads! Spoiler
The only legitimate point that I can accept is how the lane is usually clear for Harden to drive, because there are so many shooters on this team. But that's Morey's invention, not MDA. And that also applies to Curry too, but we never point out how Curry benefits from GSW system. The Nash thing is also ridiculous. MDA never coached a winning team until he had Nash and Harden as his primary playmakers. Nash was already an All-star before MDA, and all MDA did is maximize his capabilities, but those vision and shooting touch were already present in Nash to begin with. I think what MDA does best is maximize the capabilities of his playmaker by initiating every offense through his PG. But that PG still needs to be great at what he does, otherwise it won't work.
These guys seem to totally ignore the fact that Harden creates for others at a level Durant can never compete with. The ONLY guy you can compare with Harden is Lebron for all-around offensive talent, and Harden is a better shooter. The discussion isn't best scorer, its best offensive player
Yeah, i mean, i'd say playing with basically an all star starting five (like Curry does) is a way bigger advantage in terms of space and good opportunities than having MDA on the bench.
T-Mac had crazy vision and never averaged anything near Harden's assists, even Harden under McHale so you still need to be able to create plays for other guys. Sure he makes PG look good, because he maximises THEIR TALENT! It's like saying Rudy T made Olajuwon win MVP since he put the system in place to go inside-out with 3pt shooters surrounding him.