The way I’d describe it is it looks great when it works. But he is prone to stretches where it doesn’t work, and it looks pretty ugly at those times. I mean, watching a guy dribble dribble dribble in 3 out of 4 possessions and then clank a long 3 pointer each time is hard to stomach for fans who appreciate team basketball fundamentals.
I get that, would it be fair to say that it looks ugly period though when any superstar can't hit a bucket? Or does Harden's shot difficulty increase the frustration? I dont mind people not liking the way Harden isos(cause of fouls or whatever, I disagree but fine) but I don't think that isolations themselves are inherently ugly basketball.
They aren’t. It is more psychological than rational. I think most of us who’ve been watching basketball for some time are hard wired to think certain basketball plays are “good” independent of whether the ball goes through the hoop and others are “bad”. Harden plays such a different game than what we traditionally understand as sound basketball that when he is unsuccessful on a play it *feels* worse than, say, a missed open jumper off a well-executed pin down.
