[Grantland] Courtvision: James Harden

Doubt it, there is technically nothing wrong with the way Harden draws fouls.

 

Yeah, he gets hacked in the arms. What are they gonna do? Allow contact on guys going through the lane?

 

That's kinda my point. I'm not confusing Lowe with some casual ESPN bro, he's an actual bball-head who finds the team-ball approach of the Spurs and Hawks more aesthetically pleasing than the "ugly but efficient" foul drawing ways of the Rockets. I listened to a podcast with him and Bill Simmons and he evens admits that he tends to criticize the Rockets more harshly than other teams because they tend to lose close games "uglier" (Dwight missing crucial FTs, Harden driving and not getting calls down the stretch or turning it over). Plus he's huge/picky on the little stuff like uniforms, court design, commentating crews...other reasons he will find a team like the Spurs or Warriors more aesthetically pleasing than the Rockets. Anyway I'm rambling, I actually really like Lowe even though it sounds like I'm ragging on him.

 

What rule modification?

 

The rip though move? Durant and Dirk still milk the hell out of it.

 

The swiping of the arms under while a defender's hands are out. Kmart and durant do it the most. In hardens case he uses his body to bump off a defender which will always be a foul. Only problem I see is if he gets a rep for flopping or overselling contact, refs could start to bite their whistle.

 

I'm talking about the rule mod that will be bad for hardens game

 

Yep, that one. Technically it's still a foul but referees stopped calling it as often when tons of folks started doing it. Martin in particular stopped getting calls that he was getting the year before. Most likely because he's nowhere near their status as players. I love how Harden presses the issue and draws fouls. It does occasionally backfire but it's crazy effective most of the time. I guess it would be hard to take away a star's signature move with a rule change. Heck, Ewing's signature running hook was freaking traveling 75% of the time.

 

The difference is a lot of the times Harden is putting the ball out in front to bait the defender into swiping at it and initiating the contact but Harden is strong enough to follow through whereas with the rip-through the offensive player is always initiating the contact through the defenders arms.

 

That's just a "What if" thought I have. Realistically? Maybe they disallow the "late gather" and start calling his Eurostep traveling. Maybe they change the way they allow offensive players to drive looking for contact without trying to make a legitimate shot. That one would be damn near impossible to officiate, yikes.

Or like a previous poster mentioned, what if he gets a bad rep for flopping offensively and the refs flat out stop giving him the benefit of the call? Lots of things that could hurt his game. Do I think any will actually happen? Probably not, it's just a thought.

 

For the record, I love Harden's offensive game. He's not the most athletic freak on the planet but he's found a way to be lethal. I'm probably gun shy about scoring so much from the free throw line because of what happen to K-Mart.

 

Love how Harden is so efficient at drawing fouls but my biggest worry is that it only works mostly during the regular season. Come Playoffs time the refs won't be blowing the whistle as often.

 

I can't remember who it was, but they pointed out how this is actually a myth. I believe he showed that most star players get to the line MORE in the playoffs, including Harden last year.

 

Blah, blah, blah, Pot Belly laughs at your doom and gloom.

 

I hope it is a myth that would mean more points for the Rockets. I have seen it in too many other professional sports when the refs are literally told to let soft fouls go to keep the game flowing because of the massive audiences.

 

Correct. Harden's free throw rate is 0.583 in playoffs versus 0.543 in regular season.

 

k-mart's out in the perimeter fishing for fouls

majority of James' FTs stems from him driving to the basket leaving the opposing team no choice but to foul him because it's an automatic 2 once he's inside

 

My biggest fear of harden is when he has the ball at the last second and trys to play with contact. I don't mind him pulling up for a shot, but i hate it when he goes for contact to get a foul. I think the refs swallow their whistles on the last few seconds of the game. Perfect example is when he hit that game winning shot against SA last year. He ran past his defender and took a shot and made it. The only problem i had with it was that he stopped his forward motion and backed into his defender to try to draw a foul. Luckily he made it, but didnt get the foul called.

 

It's because nba refs are judged by what calls they make that are wrong, not what calls they miss, so the playoff refs, who are more tenured and under less scrutiny (and sometimes know where all the skeletons are buried ) are far less likely to hold their whistles. The only player who seems to get less is Durant, but that's because he gets phantom calls and there's a cpl really senior refs (Dan Crawford comes to mind) that has a keen eye for that ****.

 

im confused why people are saying goldsberry or grantland are hard on the rockets/harden. did anyone read the article?

this article was complimentary. grantland for the most part loves the moreyball approach and mostly has his member firmly in their throat.