1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

Ultimate "James Harden Doesn't Play Defense" Video

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by roflmcwaffles, Apr 18, 2014.

  1. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Dec 16, 2007
    Messages:
    37,714
    Likes Received:
    18,912
    HIs defense is much much improved. Much Improved.
     
  2. Duncan McDonuts

    Duncan McDonuts Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2008
    Messages:
    10,143
    Likes Received:
    3,909
    Don't really expect perfection but expect effort, especially when Harden was exposed for poor defensive effort. I don't see why everyone is so butthurt about pointing out a bad play.
     
  3. Penetrate&Creat

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,517
    Likes Received:
    18
    Lold when I first saw this, but he deserves props, his defense is much improved this year. I noticed this the first game the rockets played, he was all over Lin when he guarded him a couple occasions
     
  4. Panda23

    Panda23 Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2012
    Messages:
    8,566
    Likes Received:
    619
    harden has been very good defensively, but the media is going to perpetuate the stereotype.

    BSPN
     
  5. PrawnJ

    PrawnJ Member

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2010
    Messages:
    534
    Likes Received:
    227
    I hope that the media continues to get on Harden for EVERY single defensive mistake he makes. In the end, it doesn't matter what people think about Harden, its what he thinks of himself.
    The media 'ruining his image' is going to help him commit to playing defence every single second on the court.
     
  6. FeaR

    FeaR Member

    Joined:
    Dec 20, 2013
    Messages:
    1,009
    Likes Received:
    58
    Maybe he will make more commercials about his defense.
     
  7. SamFisher

    SamFisher Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2003
    Messages:
    58,732
    Likes Received:
    36,182
    Because you're nit picking- badly - to reinforce bleacher report ****ery about Harden's defense. The play in question has been dissected many times - as previously stated, get the lazy "fundamentals" bull**** the hell out of here.

    The conversation about Harden this year so far is whether or not he deserves a spot on the All-Defensive team. Legitimately, not late career Kobe Bryant style.
     
  8. morpheus133

    morpheus133 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2003
    Messages:
    2,534
    Likes Received:
    180
    All that really needs to be said is that it was a bad play and move on. I don't think anyone would argue it was good play, though I don't think it was nearly as bad as you do. I think it was a failed charge attempt and then gave up on the play after that. The giving up after that being the only basketball "sin", but the Knicks finished the fast break before he would have gotten back, so it only would have mattered if they missed the first shot. Every super star in the league makes multiple bad plays every game, it's not that big a deal.
     
  9. YOLO

    YOLO Member

    Joined:
    Apr 16, 2012
    Messages:
    46,471
    Likes Received:
    44,648
    you're talking about media's perception like players really care lol. do you really think harden at the end of the day kicks himself, stressing on what the media thinks of him. it's definitely nitpicking because there's no significance on what you're trying to point out. on top of that you're trying to say what other defensive aspects he needs to work on. its very simple, bad play move on.
     
  10. dje243

    dje243 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2011
    Messages:
    1,683
    Likes Received:
    225
    The reason people post this crap is not because they want James Harden to have a teaching moment. It is because they want to confirm the narrative that they have bought into and has been perpetuated by the media: James Harden is one of the worst defenders in the league. Even last year that wasn't true. It is clear however, that the media circle jerk actually did make its way to Harden's radar and he took extra care to concentrate on that end of the floor in the off season and the results are clear. The guy leads the league in defensive win shares. We have one of the top defenses in the league, and that's not just because we added Ariza. James Harden has been a force on both sides of the floor this year. You don't see anyone posting videos of Dwight's goaltends b/c the media generally all agree that he's an excellent defender. Why no threads about that? Quit whining and be happy that you now have an excellent two way player in James Harden.
     
  11. arjun

    arjun Member

    Joined:
    May 2, 2006
    Messages:
    4,214
    Likes Received:
    280
    air canada.

    Thanks for posting those!!!

    gave me some easy firepower to make someone look stupid as ****.
     
  12. SamFisher

    SamFisher Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2003
    Messages:
    58,732
    Likes Received:
    36,182

    It's not just Harden though - lots of gifted players go through this "hater" type phase where the natural thing when he shows he is gifted on offense is to b**** and moan about his defense by way of reaction, rather than anything else. And in the .gif/digital age, a bunch of random clips can be marshalled by way of support.

    It happened to Jordan, it happened to Kobe, and it happened to many lesser players as well. Fortunately for them we didn't have youtubes to underscore their moral failures.

    Why? Because nobody likes the story of people who attain quick success to to sheer luck of being born that way, it ruins the narrative of hard work and striving being rewarded by a just cosmos.

    On the flipside, the tendency for some (like Jordan and Kobe) is to then reward their perceived recognition of flaws with an overcompensation of praise as the cowed neophyte rediscovers the puritan virtue of struggle and we write a rosy redemption narrative, occasionally carried to the extreme, like Kobe's zillion All-Defensive team awards.
     
  13. napalm06

    napalm06 Huge Flopping Fan

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2008
    Messages:
    26,225
    Likes Received:
    29,304
    I think you might be getting carried away with the philosophy here, to the point where it seems as if you're excusing Harden's defense.

    I've always been fairly neutral on Harden. I haven't liked his attitude or outward leadership over the first few years. Still, I think he has always been in the conversation for best shooting guard with or without defense.

    But his defense was not good, by every account including his own. Although that video is the very definition of cherry picking, those were all real plays. And as fans, we honestly know that they were at least somewhat representative of his effort overall.

    As a fan, it is hard to watch a guy on your favorite team become a bystander on one end of the floor.

    It turned into a big bandwagon movement to hate James Harden and justify a huge range of preconceptions - yeah. But his defense also sucked.
     
  14. SamFisher

    SamFisher Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2003
    Messages:
    58,732
    Likes Received:
    36,182
    I'm not excusing Harden's defense this year, I'm recognizing it as among the best in the league thus far.
     
  15. cdrive

    cdrive Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2006
    Messages:
    7,467
    Likes Received:
    7,078
    I agree with a point SamFisher made earlier that the conversation is or should be "Does James deserve to be on the All-Defensive team this year at this pace?" That is the conservation that should be reflected from the current reality, not "Is James still the worst defender in the history of sports?", which click-bait, home bedroom Vine Journalists have done. But that's last year's newspaper. This year's newspaper is "Is James going to make to the top 5, top 10 best defenders and be crowned an Elite Defender?" It's a turnaround narrative that's accurate. The "same as usual" narrative is incredibly irresponsible, dishonest, and inaccurate.

    So can James make All Defensive team?

    As I listed in a previous post, his defensive presence this year is hard to ignore:

    #1 overall in Defensive Win Shares.
    #8 overall in Defensive Rating. (#1 amongst Shooting Guards in front of Tony Allen)
    #2 amongst SGs in total blocks
    #1 amongst SGs in total steals
    #2 amongst SGs in total rebounds

    Last year's All Defensive team honorees were:
    First Team_________Second Team
    Joakim Noah________LeBron James
    Paul George________Patrick Beverley
    Chris Paul__________Jimmy Butler
    Serge Ibaka________Kawhi Leonard
    Andre Iguodala______Roy Hibbert

    Who out of the SG/SFs is Harden currently playing better than?
    Paul George is out this year.

    Iguadala, Leonard, Lebron and Butler are all getting beat by Harden on all categories: def rtg, def win shares, steals, boards, and blocks.

    I just hope the deciding NBA coaches don't let Harden's amazing offensive prowess cloud their awareness of what he is doing on the other side. This year he could be All-NBA & All NBA Defensive like Lebron, Garnett and a few others have done.
     
  16. sirbaihu

    sirbaihu Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2006
    Messages:
    8,517
    Likes Received:
    2,851
    Tell it like it is!
     
  17. ZNB

    ZNB Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2011
    Messages:
    1,571
    Likes Received:
    168
    I understand all of this and Harden has been great on D this year. But those guys you listed all take on the best player on the other team, harden doesnt. So its a little disengenuous to say Harden has better defensive stats than them.
     
  18. cdrive

    cdrive Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2006
    Messages:
    7,467
    Likes Received:
    7,078
    Granted, but how many times have you seen teams switch so that Harden is guarding the top dog this year? And we have already seen Harden D up Z-Bo and Dirk very effectively. James has stepped up to challenge teams' top dogs on multiple occasions. But Granted, our 1st choice has been Ariza.
     
  19. Duncan McDonuts

    Duncan McDonuts Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2008
    Messages:
    10,143
    Likes Received:
    3,909
    And that's all I said. That was a bad play. But read a couple of pages back and you have multiple people saying how Harden made the best play he could. That's simply not true. Yet, I was called names multiple times and my opinion discarded as if posters here are scared of negative analysis and discussion, which is a big reason the GARM has turned to crap in the past few years.

    Harden does deserve defensive honors as he's much improved since leading Team USA this summer. The stats back that up and anyone who watches the Rockets can see that. Unfortunately, his poor defensive reputation was deserved last year and he has a mountain to climb to change that. More nationally televised games with good defense will change that, especially in the playoffs where Harden has to bring it this year.
     
  20. ZNB

    ZNB Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2011
    Messages:
    1,571
    Likes Received:
    168
    No doubt, his D has been great and he has stepped up to the challange. The real question is what does CH think of Harden's D so far, and what would it take to remove his signature. :p
     

Share This Page

  • About ClutchFans

    Since 1996, ClutchFans has been loud and proud covering the Houston Rockets, helping set an industry standard for team fan sites. The forums have been a home for Houston sports fans as well as basketball fanatics around the globe.

  • Support ClutchFans!

    If you find that ClutchFans is a valuable resource for you, please consider becoming a Supporting Member. Supporting Members can upload photos and attachments directly to their posts, customize their user title and more. Gold Supporters see zero ads!


    Upgrade Now