The difference is that TMac never wanted to be the alpha dog. When actually given the chance by the GM and coach, he said, "Nah." Even during his famous "It's all on me" speech, it was like he was saying, "According to YOU guys, it's all on me." Harden, on the other hand, talks about being the leader, then doesn't present a leader-like personality at least half the time. It's baffling.
Harden clearly came into this season a bit complacent - it shows. Not just physically, but mentally. He's not as focused and hungry - it's clear. Lawson isn't bringing his A game either. The loss of Smith is showing as well as we are getting crushed by the opposing 4 on rebounding. The team isn't playing with confidence and not playing together. I think DMO is a bigger loss than people realize as he was our only "stretch 4" aside from Smith.
Also while I've always been amazed by Hardens talents, I've also have not been a fan due to his effort or lack thereof on defense. Which is why I was always a bigger fan of Paul George, Steph Curry, one for being excellent at both ends and the other for simply being transcendent.
JJ Watt would be the greatest athlete of any sport of all time if he could single handedly bring his team the title. Football teams can't get carried by one player, especially a defensive end lol.
I am 100% sure Morey will see the same thing that most of us saw so far on James Harden. If he will just let this kind of pathetic train wreck keep going, that means he care about his paycheck more than this franchise. Changes must be done.
I've been thinking about the T-Mac comparison for the last week, but I didn't want to "go there". Let's hope harden isn't entering S. Franchise territory, if you know what I mean, because that would be worse. In any case, a significant change is needed. You can't stay the course. Missing the playoffs, after trading your first round pick, would be catastrophic. You paying attention Les?
Harden's going to get better. He's have a stretch of 40 point games but we'll have the same coach and he'll just quit again.
Sorry but this is EXACTLY a kneejerk thread. We were on a 3rd game in 4 nights here. I'm not excusing this terrible loss but at least wait until we're a month deep, dammit.
Harden is as good as his shot- if he hits 45% tonight- not earth shattering- we win going away. What bothers me is that when his shot doesn't fall, the rest of his game, particularly on defense, sags. For Harden to be a true superstar, he can't go stretches of games when he turns it on and turns it off- he needs to bring it every game. Tonight *did* suck, though not to the level of TMac's nadir in Toronto. They aren't paying him superstar money to lose his man on defense cutting to the basket with three seconds left on the shot clock. They aren't paying Harden over $200 million at Adidas to see him clang pull up 28 footers in a come back run when he hasn't hit the side of the barn all night. The fans aren't coming to games and dropping hundreds of dollars to see Harden go huge stretches of the game ignoring Terrence Jones when he has it going with a huge advantage down low against the Mavericks. I think this points to another problem- the coaching staff lost Harden. A lot of the reason for Harden's great play last year could be credited to the experience of playing for Coach K and Thibodeaux for the USA team. Nobody on this staff seems to be challenging him. He spent the summer lighting fireworks and getting lit, himself. I am not throwing the towel in on him , or the team, but if this **** isn't fixed by the All-Star break, McHale is gone.
Because Harden is smart. He's smart enough to use fouls to prop up his efficiency, and smart enough to talk/say all the right things. He's not going to say that he's too lazy to play solid defense all game long, but it shows that he is too lazy on game tape.
Yep. The biggest difference between Harden and McGrady is that Harden is a much smarter guy. I'm not talking about BBIQ. I'm talking about general smart. Harden knows what to say to the media and knows how to get to the foul line even when he's been playing like crap. McGrady is pretty dumb when it comes to talking to the media and showing his quit on the court.
I really hope Harden is playing like this because he wants McHale fired and not because he's actually playing this poorly
Lulz at some of the guys here that still trash McGrady because of one game and said Harden is 10x better in every way, especially mentality-wise. I'd take McGrady 10/10 times if given the decision between him and Harden. You would never see this level of disinterest and total suckage in MULTIPLE games in a row with McGrady, games like Toronto were caused by years of having to play with an abysmal roster, incompetent front office, injuries and all the bottled up emotions manifesting themselves during that one game. Harden on the other side has no excuse, he's wasting his prime and just doesn't seem to give a F.
You're right. Last year with DMO being was a huge contributor to not only the offensive end but defense as well gave us that extra boost before Josh Smith came into play second half of the season. Not only could he post and create his own shot but he had the ability to stretch the floor. Hopefully his contribution some time down the road - who knows when, will get us over this slump. Since we cant waste time and rely on DMO's come back, we need Lawson to step it up fast and make it consistent. No definitive impact yet from what I have seen.
