James really has almost unlimited upside, and i really think that in the next few years he cement himself as a top 5 player. The main reason I'm excited about Harden is simple. A man's physical prime is from around 25-28 , Harden is 23. Now he may not get more athletic during that time period.. i dont generally think that players improve their verts as they age , but they do get stronger. James is already one of the stronger 2 guards in the league and he has the strength of alot of 3's. He is just gonna fill out even more and get stronger. He will be able to take it to the rack at will and shrug off contact even better than he already does. As with almost any player, the key to his success is to stay healthy. If Harden can do that he will be just fine as he is now. All players have small things they can improve at and James seems to have a great work ethic and a high bball IQ, so I'm confident he will work hard on the "glaring" deficiencies in his game. I expect him to refine his midrange game and use it to help save his body. He already has the shooting down so i just expect him to get more comfortable in the what i would call teardrop range so that in situations where its clear he is headed for hard and unwanted contact; he can pull up for the midrange j or floater in the lane. Defensively, the problems are youth and effort. One will be fixed as he matures. The other will be fixed when his teamates can take more attention off him on the offensive end of the court. James looks to be a ballhawk and a strong post defender already so im not concerned about the rest of his defense panning out. I think we have already seen flashes of dynamic two way play from Harden and as he matures and gains consistency and stamina then he will just be a nightmare for opponents.
Defensive consistency and effort. Things like a post and midrange game are more important as he gets older and has to adjust his game. For now... defensive consistency and effort.
If I'm not mistaken he's 3rd in the league in turnovers, so it's pretty obvious where he needs to improve the most. ............... ............... ...............
I think there is too much expectations and that us fans should let it come. Defense, sure but usually main scores save energy for scoring.
I don't really care about his defense. He plays better D when he knows he needs to. I'd rather see an improvement in turnovers. But I'm not complaining; I'm still having to convince myself that we actually got him for an expiring Martin, Lamb, and what will likely end up as pretty good or decent draft picks. You just don't acquire 23 year old superstars, and especially not without giving up another superstar. So I'm still not completely convinced this is all real.
Obviously i'm talking about his defense here.. All he does is look for the steal at every opportunity. He needs to choose his moments and lockdown on his man whenever those moments don't arise. Don't twist my words into saying he doesn't care about the game. Anyone with a brain can see how driven he is
i would like him to develop more offensive moves other than eurosteps and 3 pointers. he only attacks the lane from top of the key also and needs to add more variety when attacking the rim
Most obvious would be defense. as the recent Zach Lowe piece pointed out the Rockets young guys (not just Harden, but he's the most obvious.) all make different degree of poor judgement way too often. Harden kinda just lose focus completely and gets caught in no man's land, while Lin focus too much on the ball and often loses his man when he's off the ball, and both Parson and Lin makes questionable gambles a bit too often. TO is a issue but that's not completely on him. it's also how the team plays in general. a better post player , him and Lin generally work better together etc would all change that .
Well, he could go to a dentist and get that grill of his sorted out. He could also do a better job of grooming his beard.
Whatever work you think he needs, he's working on it... and JJWatt approves! <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>@<a href="https://twitter.com/jharden13">jharden13</a> truth.</p>— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/306611988874801153">February 27, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
For those that think Harden needs a mid-range game, he's actually a career ~42% shooter from 16-3pt. He just doesn't shoot much there. Whether that's because of Morey's philosophy trickling down or what have you, he does have a good mid-range shot. See b-ref: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/hardeja01/shooting/2012/
It is unrealistic to expect Harden to improve in all areas in less than a year. To assume Harden does not care about defense is foolish. First, he is carrying an enormous offensive load. He is the only consistently good scorer on the team and they are playing at an absurd pace. That makes it very hard to play both offense and defense well. You can see the regression in Chandler's defense this season when his offensive responsibilities and game pace increased. Does Chandler also suddenly not care about defense? Further, the advanced metrics do not support the theory that Harden is terrible at defense. Also his defense has improved over the course of the season and I have seen him lock down players in key possessions and in key match ups. Thus to say he just doesn't care about defense is not fair. If in 2-3 years he is poor defensively you will have a point, but based on the circumstances, not now.
A.Defense (He's making alot of correctable mistakes) B.Learn to not force things too much C.Master his go-to step back
