James Harden: When Defense Offends

Yeah, his schtick is getting old. Now it's just annoying.

 

From what I see, Harden's defensive problem is mostly bad habits. He just doesn't have the mentality of a good defender.

He needs to break a lot of bad habits. It is doable if he puts his heart in it. I am hopeful because that's what he said in all these interviews.

 

David Lee is a two time All-star. Your post is invalid.

Coach and Lin have actually talked about the focus Harden has put on defense you troll.

 

I said "ABOUT THE WORST" which means he is ONE OF THE WORST thus my statement is 100% valid

I don't understand why you attack me as I am simply stating my opinion and based on the video clips, I think it is clear Harden's defense is lacking and needs serious improvement

I am a Rockets fan and just want the team to improve and Harden's defense would be one of the key areas we need improvements in. Despite Kobe being a chucker now, he was once a phenomenal defender. Lebron is a great defender. DWade was a great defender.

Why are you ok with your all star just playing one side of the court?

 

Harden was a pretty bad defender in OKC too....with the best shot blocker in the paint (Ibaka)

 

#1 You still do not understand the Rockets defensive philosophy last year. They packed the paint. They actually told their swing players to cheat inside. You pick your poision, last year the Rockets were elite defensively in the post but bad against the perimeter game because of their philosophy.

#2 Kobe was a good defender for like 18 months over a decade ago. Since then he has progressively gotten worse, free lances and now doesnt even follow any defensive system. He is worse than Harden right now. Hell, Harden was a pretty good defender less than 18 months ago, so your point in invalid.

The NBA is full of poor defensive 1's and 2's, and that includes many star players.

James can be a better defender, and I suspect he will be, based on his past performance. Asking a 23 year old bench player to carry an offense with a limited training camp and little to no post help is a whole lot to ask.

 

I remember that play, I was really upset. lol

 

selective memory is selective

 

He has already said that he will be looking to improve his defense, so I don't know why everybody is worried here

Like seriously we get a Top 10 player. Top 3 offensively yet it's still not perfect. He's 24, I repeat 24, wing players usually come in offensive and then their defensive game grows, do you guys really think Wade was a defensive juggernaut when he first came into the league, no.

 

#2. Kobe is like close 40 so not fair to compare them now

"The NBA is full of poor defensive 1's and 2's, and that includes many star players."

just because the NBA has other bad defensive players doesnt mean its ok for Harden to become a slouch on defense. We should aspire our stars to be better.

 

and we are aspiring out stars to be better. Which is why Dwight is working on his post game and Harden has said he will work on his defense. So I don't know what the complaint is

 

picking and choosing.. and then not even describing them well.

2nd one--that was Montejunas, not Asik. Which leads me to believe that Montejunas played it poorly (because he often did), and if Asik was there, they would have executed it properly and it wouldn't have been a "Harden mistake"

Another one, your clip starts mid-sequence, which doesn't show that it was in delayed transition, and a pick was set on Harden on the fly. Very different from a set play when he was defending a pick and roll

Good idea, but just not a fan of this random examples

 

Dude, why you hate Harden so much, and why'd you have to bring Lin into the conversation?

Oh, ok, nevermind!

 

Kobe isn't "close to 40", he is 35 years old..... and has he been "close to 40" for the last 10 years?

Of course everyone wants Harden to play better defensively..... just like I would like to see Lin hit 40% of his 3's and Parsons to turn the ball over less, and Howard to hit 65% of his free throws and Jones to not kick homeless people.

 

I like ALL of our players. First and foremost I am a Rockets fan

But when players have things they need to improve on for us to win, I am not blind and in this case, Harden's d needs alot of work as evident in the videos

When I suggest that Dwight need to improve his FTs and Harden needs to play D, it is not discrediting Dwights defense and Harden's scoring ability. But I think on this forum, it is good to disect their game and discuss specific facets

 

I am looking forward to your threads discussing how Lin needs to protect the ball better, shoot better from the 3 point line and pick and choose his shots better......

 

Why is this about Lin vs Harden? Why can't he just discuss Harden's weakness. Lin has nothing to do with it. Talk about being sensitive about any criticism of Harden.

 

I guess you were not here last year when the OP went out of his way to rip Harden and prop up Lin.

Not at all sensitive about Harden (I don't consider him a top 5 player), but know where this is headed and what the OP's motivation is.

Further, "Lin" wasn't brought into it until the OP had absolutely no valid retorts and failed to even acknowledge the basic strategy of the Rockets defense last year.

 

I guess I didn't see that, but those that keep saying to criticize Lin also, just because someone says something negative about Harden are no better.

 

this is what happens when he tries to play defense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFUdMBEXvXY