Can he learn to play off the ball with Ty Lawson? I don't question Harden's talent, drive, or will; the dude is just stubborn and easily frustrated. We saw what it took for him to play non-youtube, video-making, caliber defense.... a full year and an embarrassing youtube video. We don't need Harden to become like JJ Reddick, although it'd be nice if we could get the poor man's JJ Reddick who makes the effort to move without the ball and making defenses pay for taking their eye off him. Unless, Lawson does something to warrant not picking up his option next year, we are going to see a Harden and Lawson backcourt for another so time is a factor here.
Bad idea to play them together. As someone who can create space for himself, Harden's 3 point percentage does not rise significantly getting open looks. Their offensive improvement isn't enough to warrant the defensive liability, not to mention the need for them to have the ball in their hands to work well. What did we say we needed last year? Another playmaker to initiate offense while Harden sits. So, tell me why Lawson is playing WITH Harden? Start Beverley, but give Lawson more minutes if necessary. What is Lawson good at? Drive and dish or drive and kick. Who better to dish to than two Faried-type athletic big men like Capela and Harrell. Who better to kick to than knockdown three point shooter Marcus Thornton? IT MAKES NO SENSE TO ME. I really want to see Marcus Thornton and Ty Lawson work together to initiate the offense while letting the young bigs feast off oops and inside passes.
30 and 15 percent field/3pt Just horrid. I was thinking he would be much more efficient playing off the ball but it seems it may have messed with his groove. But its way too early to pass judgement, lets wait till Christmas to see if he can pick things up.
It's all well and good for Harden to run around off the ball, but in what direction and what is the desired result of the play. Our guys don't move because they don't know where to move to. Half of the time Curry runs around he's just a decoy, or a screener for a team mate.
He can perfectly play off the ball, he just doesn't try hard enough, he doesn't embrace it, he takes it as a green light to rest on offense and watch others play. We've seen how he drifts away on defense when he doesn't have the ball he watches the ball and falls asleep. Similar with offense. Ball watching
Lmao exactly. Playing with Durant AND Westbrook winning 6th man of the year....I think he knows how to play off ball lol. Smh this board is so impatient.
When you have been playing the role that Harden has for three years, you do forget some things. It's going to take him a little bit of time to relearn how to be effective off ball and let Lawson run the show. In saying that, McHale must do a better job of drawing up plays to make things easy for him. Simple backdoor cuts, running around screens etc. I am seeing none of that.
We've played 5 games all with unusual rotations, have to give them time to gel. The Ty/Harden PNR will be nasty in a few months.
That was then, this is now. Different context. It's clear Harden knows how to be play off the ball, but his attitude and effort hasn't caught up. He was the entire offense last year and stepped up his defense and became a MVP runner up (arguably the MVP). This is a new role for him as Rocket and right now we are at the point to where the effort isn't there to become a complete player.
I'm mostly just dismayed at Harden standing a few feet behind the 3 pt line, mostly motionless. Maybe the knee is bothering him more than he's letting on, but Harden and Lawson haven't looked that great together. It's early, but this conference is simply too unforgiving. I'm optimistic we will right the ship, I just wonder how long it will take.
He was MVP runner-up last year playing one way. Now, we decide he should completely change the way he plays. Did Golden State tell Curry to shoot fewer threes? Geez!
I disagree. The next evolution of James Harden is avoiding the atrocities. Too many 4-22's and 6-24's and games of that nature. He needs to be able to have productive and competent performances even when he's not absolutely lighting it up.
Harden isn't playing off the ball any more than he ever did. So far this year Harden's usage is at an all-time high (32.7) while Lawson's usage (16.7) is substantially lower then Jeremy Lin's usage (20.8 and 20.4) when playing with Harden. Harden has the ball on his hands more than ever, he's just shooting terribly. In the past, he would just drive more but the whole team is shooting so badly, teams are just packing the paint to take away drives. Until we start shooting it better, teams will collapse into the paint and invite us to fire up threes.
