When Will Harden Get The Respect He Deserves For His Defense?

... I never said Harden is a better defender than AD, you should work on your reading comprehension skills. I think it's wise you read up on what defensive WS and defensive rating are, unless you think elementary math is still something you consider to be geeky.

These stats are readily accepted by a lot of people, so for you to frown upon them with nothing better to offer than "I watch the game, and I think transition defense is important", it just doesn't sound good. Like if you're actually serious that you want transition defense and that's your criteria to categorize a player as "good defender", I'd immediately challenge your standards as ridiculous for any regular NBA player.

I mean, even between us, it should be obvious that chase-down blocks are pretty damn rare, and so are the players who can do that on a regular basis. To try to use that as a way to say Harden is just "okay" on defense, that's just pure bias.

 

when he gets the champion only

 

I'll pass... The fact you brought up AD in the 1st place let's me know how a debate with you would go.... I'll just stick to the barbershop talk with someone else bruh...

 

Harden’s got to win a title to be appreciated, similar to Dirk. Once you get a bad rep in an area it’s hard to shake.

 

Harden has improved tremendously in many areas and he's no longer a weakness and has become a strength. His only weakness is that he does get blown by on the perimeter by quicker guards, but then again, so do most defenders.

 

kind of reminds me of dirk. he got lots of criticism his whole career. soft, can't defend, can't rebound, chokes in the playoffs (especially after losing to the 8th seed in round 1). all it took was 1 championship and all of a sudden he's revered.