Harden was ridiculously good as a young player in OKC. He was ridiculously good in 4 seasons with Houston before MDA and should've been MVP.. but of course, media hates Harden so much they denied him an ALL-NBA spot in 2016 despite having amazing metrics all-around.
Please please please - it doesn't matter who is the better shooter or player or whether the system is part of it (of course the system is part of it) but Harden is the best ISO player in history based on the data and no one can argue that. Is Lebron a better player? Yes. Would Lebron have a better ISO rating if he was on the Rockets? Maybe. Who cares? My take? I am not sure it's so much a "system" that has made Harden so deadly as it is MDA's coaching - instilling confidence and encouraging Harden to become the player he is becoming. I've seen Harden evolve over the years and remember when he wasnt so good on the step back. He's been getting better ever year. But clearly MDA has had an impact and Morey has surrounded him by the right pieces. Would Lebron's numbers go up if he were with the Rockets? No more than his peak. When he had good shooters and Irving - he was pretty much in the same situation. Lebron has all the confidence in the world - his game is fully developed and polished - Harden's was not. There isn't much more room to go up for Lebron - we've seen his best. We have not seen Harden's best. No player has ever gotten 1.24 PPP in isolations before. So it's certainly understandable that people want to say it's the system and not the player. But there are plenty of reason to think that Lebron might not be able to pull off what Harden does in isolation. Or Curry for that matter. Why? Because Curry is surrounded by HOF's and shooters and he doesn't come near Harden in ISO situations.
Lol I would go as far as saying harden was close or as good as he is now in the 2014-2015 season where was carrying the likes of papanikola, nick Johnson, corey the sewer, beverly , dorsey and black to the second seed in the west where he was the clutchest player in the league under mcfail
I agree with everything but Lebron isn't the player James Harden is offensively. We can't assume Lebron would put up the same numbers under MDA. Harden's a better ball handler, better shooter & playmaker. Lebron's advantage is only strength. He can bully his way to 25pts a night. Harden is on another level offensively
The bottom line is that until Harden has playoff success he is just a regular season wonder. I get that. His "I am going to open a huge can of quit performance" against SA to end last season is burned into the memories of many observers including me. The year before he set a playoff record for turnovers. Even while at OKC he had some playoff stinkers. There are reasons to "doubt" him.
