Sorry there's crossover. If you're having trouble selecting, treat it like a letter grade. How do you grade Harden right now; A, B, C, D, F.
Right now the results suggest that opinions run the gamut on Harden, but the majority of people are still willing to give him a chance. Surprising, actually.
I voted D and I love Harden but man...the playoff history is underwhelming. Lillard dagger, I still believe James changed the assignment at the last second. The no show in the first two games against the Clippers, reportedly upset that Curry won the MVP. Remember when Matt Barnes yelled at Harden's mom to suck his D... I really thought Harden would come out with some fire. Nope. Game 6 Clips, sat on the bench. The Dubs series he was brilliant, I don't hold that against him
I'm somewhere between A&B. We know Morey will continue to improve the roster that will help Harden more and more. I see adding another quality big to the rotation adding a ton to this team and helping match up with the bigger stronger teams like the Spurs. I think next season bringing Lou back will open up ALOT of minutes for Harden to get more regular season rest. Eric Gordon also might even have a better season next year if they can use him more getting more action with him getting in the paint. But I think the big question is would it be worth moving EG if we could sign a top tier free agent big like Paul Millsap or Serge Ibaka? Right now the Rockets only have give or take about 12 million to play with in FA along with the MLE unless they move EG. You could very well see a play to move EG, sign a Millsap type, and then use the MLE to sign an "EG replacement" shooter or (dare I say) finally sign Sergio Llull to replace EG off the bench. Point being - its tweaks like that Morey will be looking at. An EG type of trade is the biggest type of move to be expected. I think its more likely they just try and add one or two rotation players to the roster and use some of that FA money to re-sign Nene since they wont have the bi annual exception to use, he's worth more than the vet min, and not worth the full MLE at this point. If I had to guess I'd say they bring back everyone, resign Nene to a 3 to 5 mil contract, and sign someone like an Amir Johnson for depth at the 4. Reserve some flexibility for trades at the deadline if they have a bad start to the season, or the buyout market.
I love Lou and Gordon, (not Anderson), but I feel like the Rockets need another Patrick Beverley shooter. He isn't a flashy shooter but he doesn't experience a drop-off when things get tough. He just brings consistent intensity and production. We need another guy like that; preferably at the SF position.
I like the idea of bringing back Robert Covington if the Sixers don't want to pay him this offseason. I was really impressed with his defense this year at the 3, and I think he's a solid shooter if left open. Its just he was never open this season in Philly so he looked worse than he really is as a shooter. He's basically Ariza light right now anyways and could spell Ariza a ton. Also like Ariza he should never ever put the ball on the floor with the idea of making a shot at the rim. He's really bad at that. Anderson isn't going anywhere unfortunately, but off the bench in his NOLA role I think will be great if they can add a traditional PF to the rotation.
Takeaways from the results of this poll: 1. The average Clutchfan is somewhere between B (having faith but needing adjustments) and C (ambivalent). 2. The median Clutchfan (and biggest group) believes B, Harden is good and adjustments will help the team truly contend. 3. Over 60% of Clutchfans still have a positive opinion of Harden. Nearly 40% have a conflicted or negative opinion. 4. Of the 60% that still believe in Harden, 1-in-3 still believe that he will grow and carry a team as the alpha dog
maybe. or maybe not, I suspect that the subset of Clutchfans that chooses to respond to a poll like this may not be representative of "average" Clutchfans at all . . . a selection bias here is pretty likely, and those are really small response rate numbers
I wish we could see a major change out of him like if he just showed up to training camp looking ridiculously shredded as a sign that he wants to be the best and he wants to have the stamina to go the distance for 82 + playoffs with major minutes. But, he'll come back his usual high body fat % and no single new go-to move added to his game. No added defensive focus/intensity. You don't have to be a lockdown defender, you just need the right mentality and sometimes when you're the entire offense, its a matter of being fit enough to use energy on both sides. It's not impossible. Look at MJ, Jerry West, 94 Pippen, Hakeem, etc. I need to see MAXIMUM EFFORT from Harden...but it's just not his way. He's very T-Mac like in his approach to the game, i'd say worse actually b/c T-Mac gave great effort on D most of his career. I chose option C b/c sometimes i do like him..but most of the time i don't have confidence in him and dislike him. Option D makes it sound like i like him most of the time and am just now starting to have doubts. I can't choose that b/c it's been years now that i've had my doubts. Option E is for Max Kellerman only.
He's the best Rockets player since Hakeem but will need a roster change to truly contend. Hakeem would not be as dominant in today's NBA. Whatever happened to Harden just made it obvious that he can't be out only offensive option.
Well, I voted A and I don't think he is above criticism. Harden is objectively the best Rockets player since Olajuwon, and I have faith he will improve. The wording of option A does not convey what you intended, I think.
True. And like anything we can over-analyze it until the cows come home. My post was simply what the poll numbers say, right now. My experience with selection bias is that it usually tends towards the negative. Honestly I'm surprised by a 60% positive result. Yes it has been well established that people don't like options A-B. The options were intended to be A = blind faith, B = qualified positive, C = neutral, D = qualified negative, E = very negative. People took A more literally than I expected; I think it needed more hyperbole. Still, people can understand the simple pattern at work here. The Olajuwon part was originally hyperbole in my mind because I don't necessarily think Harden is 'indisputably better' than Yao, TMac, Sampson, Big E, or other Rockets greats in spite of his system-inflated stats. That's why I'll just lump them together as people with a "positive" opinion whereas C is neutral and D-E are leaning negative. The main takeaway is that Harden still enjoys strong (if mixed) support from Houston fans. It isn't heavily negative, which is what I was expecting before starting this thread.
Funny. I'd turn this around and say Olajuwon would be very dominant in today's NBA, whereas it's Harden who wouldn't be dominant in Olajuwon's NBA. I'd like to see Zaza Pachulia, Pau Gasol and Steven Adams try to guard Hakeem Olajuwon.
