Nick Wright Believe Harden Is a Better Player Than Kawhi

He is better, but too many Rockets "fans" are deluded by BS media manufacturered narratives.

 

Kawhi’s never played more than 74 games in a season...he’s only had 2 seasons where he’s played more than 66 games...his career high in mpg is just 34, and that was last year as he load managed 22 games...Harden’s Houston CAREER LOW in minutes is 35.4, and he plays almost every game every year maintaining usage rates that Kawhi could only dream of

Kawhi has always been on a stacked team with a ton of depth playing for a legendary coach in Pop or an excellent coach in Nick Nurse...the Raptors went 17-5 without him last year and are near the top of the EC without him this year

so yeah, with all that taken into account, Kawhi has managed to have more postseason success than Harden...I wish Harden could load manage 22 times in 1 season...

Kawhi is that dude who comes to the court after everyone has already played 5 intense pickup games and then dominates because he’s fresh...

 

You need help... Go be alone in the backroom with your Nick Wright photos

 

Okay my bad, once I got started, just went too far.

 

I still don't understand star players in their prime. You would rather play with Kyrie or a 40-year old Lebron than Harden? Years of negative narratives to Harden game have gone far beyond fan bases to the players. He has his flaws, but dude is a special generational talent. I am sorry Howard, CP3 and WB all got here past their resp prime.

 

Kawhi has always had great teams to win chips. Harden? He has scrubs with a good player or two but has carried the team on his back. Now can you or anyone else say that if Harden had been swapped for Kawhi for the same times that Kawhi would have 2 rings or the Beard. That Spurs team with a Harden would have won the chip in my opinion but also last year that Raptors team with Harden instead of Kawhi would have been overpowering and ridiculous good. Now a Kawhi with that scrub team that Harden has had would have been lucky to make the playoffs. The Beard is a beast but he needs help to win it all.

 

Yeah, it's kind of why I posed the question. Kawhi has been surrounded by better talent overall so him getting over that hump in the playoffs, isn't equivalent to Harden's inability to. It's just odd to argue individual comparisons while—as Goodwill kept accusing Nick of—"glossing over" the fact that it's a team game. And yes, it is a game played on both sides of the ball, but how many players in the history of the NBA does a team need to completely focus and adjust their defensive strategy on stopping.

 

Good God, Nick absolutely tore that guy a new one. RIP

 

Nick Wright preaching the gospel!

Goodwill is a smug know nothing, hot takes are blatant lies and half truths. His patronizing tone towards Wright is interesting way to ingrain himself with star of the show.

 

Both guys in this debate are insincere to a degree, but the main point I can agree with and is spot on about Kawhi is he’s never had to carry a team the way Harden has and last night proved he’s resting on defense.

Now with that being said, there is no effort question with Kawhi like with Harden and I’d rather take a guy who’s under control and less referee focused who comes through in big moments over a guy who’s shown to be a bit shaky, turnover prone, tired and never quite under control / calm enough to make the final shot or get a stop.

The side note to that is that it comes with the burden of having to be relied on so much. There were plenty of moments, especially in the Finals where Kawhi was far from the best player and looked like he was about to cry in a corner only for Lowry, FVV, Siakam to come through in a big way. Harden has not had guys step up like that either, aside from CP3 and Ariza to a degree.

It’s hard to say who’s better, but I’ll take my chances with Harden right now as he’s more durable and just needs 1 or 2 guys able to step up in moments when he can’t in the playoffs + have enough energy and give that extra bit of effort on defense, which this year I think he will. He seems crazy confident right now and averaging 38 while not even being in tip top shape, shooting not as well as he can and stepping up on defense like he has.

Overall I personally still would lean towards Kawhi as the better player given his defense and steady play no matter what the circumstances, but Harden is more than capable to be good enough on defense and be Clutch with the right guys to step up alongside him. On defense, he’s showing it right now as we have the best defense in the league in the last 3 / 5 games.

 

They’re not loved much by the media but they’re always mentioned as foils for their favorites.

Noticed when Kobe was asked about his la pick (...), his first mention is what about Houston.

Hated but feared.

 

It's unfair to call Harden a choker but he has the habit of taking himself out of the game when everything is on the line. *

I hate bringing up the last five minutes of the last two games but I can't pretend it didn't happen either. He clearly deferred to Chris (and parked his ass far away) at times or tried to do everything like it was 2v4 NBA Jam. That all or nothing BS at crunch time reminds me of Kobe's attitude when there was someone strong enough in the team to challenge him.

They should have settled their small beef after the game 5 disappointment. It was on both but James is the only one here and he should've stepped up on that as a leader. Instead you got this weird communicating by doing and time sharing a ball BS that made Chris more washed than any self respecting team should allow him to look.

I get that the team imploded and the coach was the same coach we all know and...uh love, but the whole system enables James to be James and it's like he hasn't figured that part of the game out yet.

*What pisses me off the most are the down by 7+ no-impact desperation threes The team took (and goes in) after everything was decided two minutes ago. I don't know what to say about that except observing that it makes the numbers nicer...

 

James' greatness is still unfolding. Let's have this conversation after Harden gets his ring ...with Houston.

 

NBA fans put WAY too much stock on team winning to rate individual players. It will never change, it's part of casual NBA fan culture.

A more discerning fan can see which players are great pieces in a great team (e.g. Curry, Kawhi) and which players are legendary pieces carrying a team on their backs (e.g. Lebron, Harden) and which players are empty stats (e.g. Carmelo, Kevin Martin)

 

if rockets werent better than the warriors then why the refs were blatantly helping the warriors in the game 1?
obviously you help someone when you think he needs help, that is, if he is weaker.

The Rockets were better as per basketball play , skill and effort on the hardwood. The fact that their winning didnt coincided with nba (financial?) interest cant change that fact.

 

Kawhi closed his series out. Harden didn't take a shot the last 7 minutes of the most important game of the season (with KD injured).

 

Kawhi had a 21-point/9-rebound teammate in the Finals.. plus Klay was absent.

Meanwhile, Harden's Robin was 15.0 PER when he got eliminated, plus Klay played ALL games.

You should be ashamed for making the comparison for something so unbalanced.

Plus all that happened *after* Harden carries the bigger regular season burden compared to load-managing Leonard.

Just stop. Life becomes easier the less biased you are. Why? Because seeing reality limits your denial, thus, you can make better decisions.
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Side note- I now see the 67 Wins was '16, not '17 like I first thought.

Regardless, 2017 was Kawhi's highest PER season, plus Aldridge was 4 points higher in '16 vs '17. Heck, Duncan played in '16, not '17.

I'd argue '16 wasn't even Kawhi best year.
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Furthermore, dude with the glasses in the video showed his agenda within his first few seconds of speaking.

@5:35 he says he's just a "neutral observer" because he's not "1) anti-Kawhi or 2) pro-Harden".

Those TWO statements are *not* opposing positions in this conversation because they both represent the same position. So, how could his overall sentiment possibly reflect neutrality after saying that BS?

LOL

Bullcrap narratives can only be justified with bullcrap reasoning.

It's like the adage, "tell one lie, you must tell another".

 

Ben Shapiro is absolute garbage, I don't think Nick Wright is.

 

Ah it’s Goodwill. He’s a beady eyed **** and I’m glad he got nuked on TV. Nick was way more prepared and just destroyed him with facts to support his position. Obviously there’s a good case for Kawhi > Harden, but the way Nick sold it was overwhelming.