Ultimate "James Harden Doesn't Play Defense" Video

Facts, sweet facts.

 

The "Harden is bad at defense" meme is definitely getting overdone, but I didn't think that was the sole focus of this video. It's about Harden being a gambler, and a steal is a gamble - just one that pays off.

Harden's defense has been pretty solid up till now (with occasional glaring lapses) but I expect him to really ramp up his efforts this season, with all this focus. Just hope he can pace himself to avoid injury. It'll wear him down to play that hard at both ends of the court for 38 minutes night after night.

 

I know you guys love your rockets!! But please stop defending harden and his lack of defense...if harden doesn't toughen up he will never get us out of the first round... Don't understand all the people defending him...

 

The Facts have been laid out. (See my bullet-tastic presentation of indisputable Facts) We know Harden has terrible defense since wearing Rockets red. His defense with OKC already got him out of the 2nd round, so that check box is checked. His first year with Rockets, no one even expected that team of miscellaneous parts post-nuclear-winter-Yao/McGrady Era to even make it to the playoffs, let alone beat 1st seed, fine-tuned OKC. It is an intellectually dishonest knock against Harden.

What we are defending is his FIBA performance. We are countering the runaway, auto-pilot, default narrative that Harden is and always will suck at D. When a Rocket shows significant offseason improvements, and puts work in where his mouth did some talking after the last season, then I say 'hey good job' and anticipate improved performance in the next season. Ramping up the D at the starting SF alone is great. It's 12.5% of a McHale 8 man rotation. But ramping up the D at the starting SF AND collecting 'found money' with a new-look Harden as a + defender....that is scary and has me licking my chops. Bev, new + def Harden, Ariza, Howard in the same line up...we can lock down teams while blowing them out on offense. It might really be the simple tweak that blows the whole thing wide open.

 

hes been looking focused to me. Hope he can keep it up!


#fearthebeard

 

You can tell he is trying on defense because he looks winded on offense. Never saw that last year.

 

he shot like ass at the start of last season too, he just didn't play defense then

 

Proud of The Beard. He's maturing and getting better.

 

eat a dick coach nick

 

Good signs. Hope he keeps this up as the season wears on and as the team faces some actual good teams.

 

The jason terry and ariza effect is definitely paying dividends.

 

I'll have seconds, please.

Also, I never touched those kids.

 

It's ok . Team defense cover him pretty we'll.

 

People just making these videos for hits , ill put them in the same category as ESPN, tnt, and many others that continue to over dramatize Dwight Howard, kobe bryant, the lakers and McHale

 

8 board, 4 steals, 1 block, and contained his guy...

He had a filthy sick 80 def rtg against the celtics.
The best def rtg of the Rockets by a mile.

And a 130 Off rtg to go with it.

I said get used to 1st qtr double digit leads.
But I also like this early trend of scoring over 100 while holding opponents to about 90.

Offense and Defense. Espn's silence speaks volumes.

 

He has been shooting like poop though. Crazy he's putting up so many points, without even playing the 4th quarter.

 

I like it that we could sit Harden the entire 4th qtr (granted we had a double digit lead) and we still won handily. Maybe the team is showing more balance finally.

We need a healthy Dwight though, or a good backup for him.

 

Doesn't team defense require that everybody plays their positions well in order that you can easily get help if beaten by your man?

 

He's currently 7th in the league in defensive win share

 

So who's going to make a 15 minute video of his defensive plays?