Harden or Parsons. Before I'm crucified, I realize Harden is the better scorer, can make more plays for himself......but This team struggled mightily against two terrible teams without Chandler, while they have much better ball movement without Harden's ISO play when Harden is out. Not saying who's the better offensive player (because that's obviously Harden), but who most affects the win total.
Its Parsons, but we need Harden if we are going to make a push in the playoffs. Defenses tighten up and he will be crucial the. Although, Parsons has really impressed me with his new offensive arsenal this year he is totally breaking out all the moves.
Parsons and it's not even close right now. I say this given the makeup of the team. Without Harden you have Lin and Brooks who can take up much of the slack (albeit in a different way). Without Parsons you have Garcia and Casspi playing huge minutes and thats not a good thing.
In the regular season it would be a guy like Parsons, but you aren't going anywhere in the playoffs without a guy who can create his own shot efficiently and create for others as well (a.k.a. Harden).
Parsons is the backbone of the starting lineup. He has actually played a lot better on offense than harden and he has.nice variety to his game.
Parsons plays his role well and it's very important to this team but Harden gets paid the superstar money to take on all the pressure of being gameplanned against defensively and at times double teamed. Longterm Parsons may develop to be a player on that level but if he was forced into that role as of now I know he would get exposed pretty easily.
I did too and I don't think it is close. Harden draws a lot more defense to him, when he was hurt, the Rockets didn't look nearly as good. I think Cfans overrates Parson's impact and underrates Harden's. Not saying Parsons isn't important, just Harden is way more.
He's not really getting superstar money (20 mill) and many games it seems defenders already know what he is going to do before he takes a dribble ( low variety of offensive moves) and teams are playing him 1 on 1. The superstar version of harden has been missing this season to be honest IMO. Until he is consistent and can get some height on his jumpshot, I think Parsons is the Allstate candidate along with Howard from Houston
Rewatch earlier games from this season, teams only pressure him when he attempts to drive to the paint. On perimeter its 1 on1 defense. They don't respect his offensive game
If Harden has a more teamwork / passing mentality like Lebron, Harden big time, but right now it's Parsons because he finishes crazy at the rim and makes things happen.
Yeah...this is generally how defense plays everyone... Do you see Lebron or Durant constantly double teamed during the duration of a game? No, it's a situational thing. They HAVE to crash on Harden when he drives otherwise he'd just get layups and and 1s literally all game.
I'd say it depends upon which Harden shows up, but it also depends upon which Chandler shows up. When Harden is on he is impossible to stop. He is capable of completely taking over games. Chandler isn't. Parsons is a FANTASTIC complementary player and is borderline allstar-level when he's rolling. But Harden is a top-10 player for a reason. Defenses don't give Parsons the same attention for a reason - and his stats benefit from that. Also, despite what most people say, Harden IS capable of playing excellent defense. The trick is getting him motivated enough to do it. I think he might actually be a better defender than Parsons - when he wants to put the effort into it. As far as who has a bigger impact on wins? Imagine last season without each player. Do we make the playoffs with/without one or the other? Then imagine this season without each player. Closer, since we have Dwight now (and would he be here if Harden wasn't? Of course not), but watch as the season progresses. And especially in postseason. Harden gets the big bucks for a reason. And it isn't the beard.
Parsons plays the way we need him to 75% of the time while Harden only plays the way we need him to 30% of the time. But you are right , when Harden is on he us obviously unstoppable, its just that it rarely happens now.
