[The Ringer] Kevin O'Conner Defends James Harden, Hates Russell Westbrook

Harden is a seasoned vet superstar with higher expectations. No one was a "Harden hater" when he was 23.

People only care about boring and "unsavory" tactics such as foul baiting only when you reach a certain threshold of success. Harden is in that threshold where he has enough success to generate a certain level of expectations that he often falls short in.


Donic and Trae are fresh faces in the league where their youth generates a lot of excitement in terms of future ceilings for these guys. Also dare I say it Sonic even though he isn't as quick and strong as Harden isn't anywhere near as monotonous with his offensive moves and is far more varied which is going to be pleasing to casual non homer fans.

 

I just told you. He played it safe game 1. He did not try to use his explosiveness. The 2nd game he was playing much faster.

 

He had his brother's back, simple as that.

Harden never blames his teammates or coach.

But his personality just rubs media and haters the wrong way.

 

And yet he was still garbage. He should be smart enough to know what he can and cant do in games.

 

It's not his personality. It's his play style. Plenty of low key guys get consistently praised by the media such as Kawhi who I think is the most overrated player in the league. The media really really values rings in terms of legacy even at the expense of context often.

 

Leading scorer (3 consecutive season) and steals leader (has not happened since Iverson and MJ) play style is disliked?

How ignorant is this take?

 

How will he know until he tries? On one hand its good he felt confident enough physically to go into a higher gear but the results are not what we wanted. But its not all westbrook, its really the combo of him and AND ego having a bad game. We only needed one of them to be solid to win.

 

Iverson was criticized like no other and he had plenty of scoring titles. Playoff success is the most valued by the media.

 

there are videos on YouTube from hardens first year in Houston of him being hated. I can pull one here. Here is an example from 7 YEARS AGO

 

Let me ask you something. Why is it impossible for you to even consider that all the hate Harden generates is due to his own court play rather than his off court demenor. Other players go to strip clubs. Other players can be low key. And when they are successful in the playoffs they are praised like no other. See Kawhi.

Also linking me an individual video of some random dude hating Harden is not compelling dude. I can find a random hate video of almost any prominent player.

 

You are simply making my point.

Iverson was hated because he marched to beat of different drummer and as uniquely talented as he was, he had average supporting teammates. Like Harden he carried his team to postseason after postseason but received more criticism than praise.

Unrealistic expectations to drive agenda driven narratives.

 

Iverson was critcized because he was very inefficient for a high volume star scorer.

Harden is criticized because he tends to be lackadaisical during key closing moments in the playoffs and he's known for foul baiting more than anyone else in the league.

 

but Iverson wasn’t near the force on offense harden is. Iverson was the classic mid to early 2000’s player like baron Davis, Steve Francis and those guys. I would argue Westbrook would be seen in a far more favorable light possibly if he played back then where efficiency didn’t matter as much. I agree with David Locke on Twitter. We have NEVER seen a player like harden who is 6’6 and under generate the kind offense night in and out while doing it efficiently

 

And as prolific a foul baiter you believe Harden to be, both MJ and Kobe lead Harden, by a large margin, for career average for FTA.

You are too ignorant or too biased to see the correlation aren't you?

 

I don't really understand this. I'm a white liberal. Hi. Love James. Also, if I had to guess who the liberal was between Chris and Kevin it wouldn't be Chris. Is he? That would surprise me. Maybe I'm just stereotyping him because he's from Memphis the same way I get stereotyped as a conservative for being from Houston. Who knows.

 

Also keep in mind Harden is one of the rare superstars to have more pts from fta than actual buckets.

 

LOL

I think this is what you are looking for chowd.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/fta_career.html

 

No, free throw rate is more contextualized and more relevant in determining who is more reliant on free throws.

 

Harden is shooting a 3rd fewer FTs in this postseason as he did in regular season but is still the most efficient offensive player in the playoffs.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Your hate for Harden is driving your argument all over the place. You realize this dont you?

From lazy feet, to assertiveness to reliance on FT.

Where is this merry go round going to stop next?

 

How is this contradictory and a merry go round? Those are his faults pretty succinctly expressed in one sentence do good job there.

I'm sorry but FTr is far more relevant than raw fta. Again, did you also miss the part that Harden has more pts from free throws than actual made buckets something that pretty much any superstar guard can't say?