The myth of 'James Harden shoots too many free throws'

Free throws or not, I'm just glad Dwight is back. That has nothing to do with this thread, but I guess, having Dwight back will allow Harden to have more free throw opportunities. Teams will have to decide whether or not to guard him or let him throw it up to Dwight. I love it.

Thank God Thunda and Bull were right. I had some small doubts, only because of our Yao Ming luck, but having Dwight out there has taught me to trust people, who have had NBA injuries in the past, and their judgments about the nature of injuries.

We are blessed to have Dwight back, and almost exactly on the schedule Bull suggested.

Can't wait for the playoffs. Give me Dallas and Mark Cuban. Remember Mark calling the NBA to complain about a dominant Yao setting picks? That was because he had a guy named Shawn Bradley who couldn't do anything but look like a 7"6' version of the MadTV magazine cover character.

Mark is going to go apes*it when that entire Dallas team, including Chandler, Dirk and, poor Monta foul out.

The only thing that will stop us from beating Dallas in 7 games is ourselves and a man named Kevin. I hope he has a plan to guard that scrub JJ.

Rick Carlisle will eat us up if Kevin doesn't come prepared for war and adjustment.

Nobody wants 2 games of a PF scoring 40 plus points on us without a change. (Hi Kevin, and hi, LaMarcus)

Anyway, back on topic, James earns the majority of his trips to the line. Some of it comes with the way he uses his body to initiate contact that appears to be a legit foul. Refs aren't perfect, but James has perfected the art of forcing his arms out in a way that requires somebody to swipe, and luckily for us, miss the ball and smack his arm. It's an automatic foul.

James gets into trouble when he relies on the fouls though. I'm hoping he continues this path of rage and looks for the "And 1" every time he drives towards to the rim. Those hard attacks will get us a whistle every time.

His streak reminds me of the year Kobe went on his scoring rampage, night after night. He went to the line often, but he also scored from a variety of spots on the floor.

James has really picked up his 3 point shooting, and just at the right time.

Trevor, my homie, it's time for you to catch the same fire you started the season with.

With everyone back, and DMo soon, we are a NASTY team to compete with.

The Spurs are scary because they are smart, but even the best teams fall. I'd prefer them in round 2...

The Clippers are scary because we don't have....WAIT...we DO have Dwight. We just need help containing CP3 because of Bev (man, I miss him). Blake is not the same guy he was last year. Hopefully, Jamal doesn't go cray.James can dismantle all of their guards, with the exception of my homie Matt Barnes, who can get into your head, but James will make it to the line with ease, like he has done. But again, our weakest link in that series, should it happen, is the comparison of Doc and Kevin. There isn't one.

Portland would be nice for revenge, but we'll have trouble keeping up with their PG( I refuse to mention his name out of pain). LaMarcus isn't going to torch us again. If Kev is smart, he'll put Josh on him. Watch from the past. James will get his freethrows in that series, should it happen, because Portland doesn't protect the angles well. That leaves James open and Dwight there to clean up.

I think I'm most terrified of Memphis in any series or round. James won't get to the line as easily with Tony on him, and the physicality of Memphis' style doesn't go well with our group. We're tough, but we don't like ZBo and Marc pushing and grabbing so much. Dwight owes Marc big time, but I guess he gets a break because he was playing injured last time.

These next two games will mean a lot. I'm wondering if Pops does the unthinkable, or in his case, kind of predictable plan, of resting his team on purpose. He gives no Fs about fines, but playing us back to back may cause him to rethink his strategies, should we meet in the first round. Pops doesn't want to show us everything. I just don't want to hear Sean Elliot calling Matt Bonner "great."


My bad, my reply went everywhere. Too much coffee before the meet.

Peace and Love, Rockets Friends.

 

I think the big issue here is that players ACTUALLY foul James Harden. If this was not the case, the league would have called attention to it and the refs would have swallowed their whistles. That many FT's from a player who is known for getting to the line aren't all flops, or even majority flops. If teams could stop James Harden on any consistent basis without fouling him they would be doing it. But they can't. They can either foul him, or let him go by for a layup. There are a few players in the league who can slow him down and do pretty well without fouling, but they are far and few between. Am I saying that he's never flopped? No. But please, someone find me a top player in the league who never flops (Dwight maybe). If players have the ability to draw fouls and finish at the rim while doing so and DON'T utilize that skill... then they're not being competitive. Scoring at the rim and drawing a foul is a smart and fair play. People who are complaining are just jealous that they don't have a player on their team who can do that on a regular basis.

 

I posted almost the same thing as the OP in the Grantland thread yesterday. Like I said, Harden doesn't get the vast majority of his free throws from flopping, but he does create and seek the contact that causes the foul to be called. It's understandable that some people don't like that style of play, but it's not flopping and it isn't earning him any more free throws than past MVP candidates have been rewarded.

It is a style of play that doesn't translate to pick up basketball where you call your own fouls, don't foul people out and don't get free throws, so there is no incentive to create contact in an effort to draw the foul intentionally.
So in that regard I can understand why it isn't as easy to market as some other NBA players.

 

few and far*

 

Your using total FTAs... not FTA attempts as a result of shots/drives to the rim, which would matter here.

Harden also gets fouled not at the rim. When he's ball-handling randomly. At the end of games/wins. On pick and rolls. Probably way more frequently than the same occurs for Cousins.

Meanwhile Westbrook is actually going to the line more times per possession than Harden.

Lebron isn't "that far" off from Harden either, though it is certainly less. About 11 free throws per 100 possessions to Harden's 13.5.

Guess what? As players age, even superstar players, their FT attempts per possession ticks down... not always a huge drop, but a noticeable one. See Kobe, MJ, and Lebron.

Lebron also conveniently had fewer FT per possession once he left Cleveland the first time.. because, guess what... he gets to play with Wade, Irving... you know someone else to actually make some plays.

It's not surprising Harden and Westbrook lead the league in FTAs per possession. They are high usage guards, that are still relatively young, that rely on frequent drives to the basket, who both have no other offensive creators on their teams.

The issue is the media's perception of it as something out of the ordinary. As already noted, this is kind of par for the course for other similarly gifted offensive players and similar stages in their career. It's not the way Steph Curry scores... but then again, Curry has a backcourt player playing RIGHT NEXT TO HIM that is also a fantastic scorer. Westbrook and Harden also both shot less free throws per possession when they had more offensive help. Granted, both players will always shoot more FTs than Curry

 

Westbrook 20 FTs, He's so aggressive, so fun to watch!!!

Harden 20 FTs, He' so hard to watch, uh...

 

Tracy McGrady was considered crafty and smart for doing the Up-and-Under move on the perimeter, where he'd pump fake then hold the ball, pull it back, and when defender is in the air, lunge through defender to create contact.

It used to be a credit for making the defender pay for over-committing. Nowadays everyone complains about everything that looks "cheaply earned" and when Kevin Durant started doing it, NBA made attempts to ELIMINATE foul calls on that play.

Its okay to bait and deceive defenders through play calls, fakes and screens but not when it involves referees having to make calls?

(For the pure Rockets fan, the old Seattle George Karl "illegal defense zones" and Utah Jazz dirty forcing the issue on referees were MUCH worse offenses on the game than Harden's free throw approach. Harden is staying COMPLETELY WITHIN the rule book)