Hey clutchfamily, Inspired by the negativity and misconceptions from sports media and casual fans, I am going to make a video to show the world how ANYONE can come to appreciate James Harden. Here is where I need your help. How do you appreciate James Harden? What makes him an undeniable, generational talent? Feel free to pull your inner Morey and drop some statistics/comparisons. You will be credited! Happy new year!
Harden is the greatest scorer of all time He’s so great at offense that people get offended and become offensive
People are more than willing to ignore Harden’s gaudy stats and efficiency. If you want to change public opinion on the guy, you need to show and outline his moves, countermoves, and the counters after those. If anyone else could do what harden is doing, they would. The volume and efficiency that he scores at is unprecedented. Teams are willing to completely ditch their normal defensive principles to show harden down. Find a way to effectively show Harden’s moves, the wacky ways defenses try to guard him, and his counters to said defenses.
here are some quotes from coaches around the league: Erik Spoelstra: "If you're talking about James Harden, I have not in my time in the league seen as many different schemes designed for one player... I worked for a premier basketball coach who in many regards was responsible for the "Jordan rules", Ron Rothstein... we talk about it all the time, what those rules were and why they were designed, because Michael Jordan was simply too good, above and beyond what your normal coverage can be. He had to design something that could face him in the playoffs. It wasn't necessarily a regular-season thing...You are seeing this league do that to James Harden in the regular season. I think that's unique. He's seen every coverage... I've never seen anything like it, the commitment to try to get the ball out of his hands with multiple traps and coverage. He still finds ways to do historical things. That's the kind of savant that he is." Doc Rivers: "I don't think you can give Harden one look, personally. You do have to trap him some. You have to run-and-jump him some. You have to one-on-one some. He is as clever a scorer as we've ever seen. He's seen it all; every single defense. You have to come with all of them." Mike Malone: "I think he's seen every single conceivable defensive coverage and he demands that kind of attention. He's a great player. I've been in the league 19 years and no disrespect to all the other great players in those 19 years, but he's, I think, the toughest guy to prepare for. He can hit the three. He gets to the foul line a ton. He makes his teammates better. He can create his own shot. If you want to force him left, he's going to beat you. If you want to force him right, he can still beat you. He's one of those guys when you're watching film, it's like you're watching a horror movie."
Pop said he doesn't watch game tape on the opponent this time of year. "Except for the Rockets. Harden is ridiculous."
No player demands as much game planning attention as James Harden. This is evident not just by the attention defenses pay to him, but also from the results of last year’s GM survey. Year after year, Harden-controlled offenses are at the top of the rankings. There’s no greater floor raiser on the offensive end of the ball.
If you don't appreciate Harden you're either a straight up hater or you don't know the game. Where ever you fall you're not worth convincing otherwise. It's really that simple.
Show off the court stuff, how great of a human he is, not only that how hard he worked to go from a bench player to an mvp level player.
"James Harden Stats Thread" has lots of unbelievable stats. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/index.php?threads/james-harden-stats-thread.286391/
Harden is one of those generational guys that change the game ie. JORDAN Magic Shaq Players are adding the side step back to their game. Kids are playing his style of play all over the world The NBA has already implemented rule changes against him.. He's defied the odds of going from 6th man to MVP. Not many players have that ability He also isn't in the headlines for negativity unless it's about what chick he's seening at the moment
How about his loyalty to Houston and his durability ("what's load management?"). Those are rare these days and despite old school guys hating on him he has old school approaches with these two things. Those aren't highlights but are a big part of Harden.
Examining the backlash towards Harden would be integral. The most criticism I hear is he’s exploiting the rules and making the game ugly. 1) But all I hear is mouth pieces for ESPN and TNT who want a particular style of play to maximize their viewership. 2) All I hear is national personalities like Charels Barkley who is on a personal vendetta against the Rockets, and Harden got caught in the cross hairs. 3) All I hear is Harden happened to conveniently be cast as the villain to the super hero Warriors of the great state of California and Silicon Valley fans. 4) All I heard is folks fixated that Harden would be nothing but a one trick pony if just one rule and another and another got changed. But Harden keeps improving rule change after rule change designed to stop him. Ego of these analysts is despicable. I think folks are scared about change. Too many people think basketball hit its zenith with Jordan. But back then even Jordan was criticized as nothing more than a show boat ball hog, by the middle age fans at the time. The league found a formula that paid dividend with Jordanesque performers. The point about basketball is to get the ball in the basket legally and more than your opponent during game time. But even under the preferred style by the networks, there is “The old saying there is a travel in nearly every NBA possession / or a palming.. “ People may say Harden travels or induces contact. But he is perhaps the most scrutinized player in the NBA. Obviously he’s getting fouled.
6th man to MVP. Gets noticeably better every year. Harden is a gym rat and just wants to ball. He’s out there every night - one of the most durable players. All those minutes played and he still scores 30+ at will. No matter the team or the defense. He makes it look easy. If he doesn’t put up 30 it’s a bad night for him. Can’t say that about any other player. He raised the bar to that level.
Love this idea. Please attack the main reasons why he gets hated: He shoots too many FTs -- statistical comparison of Harden vs. other top scorers in history and show that his FT rate isn't an outlier He foul baits -- show NBA greats (KD, MJ, CP3, etc.) hook people to draw fouls, swipe through and maybe even announcers calling it a "veteran play". Every NBA player does it, why is Harden the only one that gets hated for it? He doesn't play defense -- statistics + highlights of him becoming a respectable defender Then, highlight the reasons he should be appreciated: Gets better every single year statistically Underrated PASSER -- highlights of his brilliant passing ability that often goes over looked He's not Steph Curry sized but he's still a skill player over a physical freak (aka LeBron, Giannis, Shaq, even KD who can just shoot over anyone) Durable and doesn't take nights off -- never believed in load management. He's a pure hooper and that's why he gets better every season.
There is an old saying: "Tell me who you hang around with and I'll tell you who you are" ... The Beard is hanging around with the Legends of the Basketball!! Both Curry and Brodie were gifted with one of Hardens MVP's! There is a strong argument for Antipoopoo's MVP being gifted to him as well! He really could have 4MVP'S on his resume, but unfortunately, he's not a NIKE salesman!!! "Oh! What A Tangled Web We Weave When First We Practice To Deceive" ....... ....... .......
Make sure whatever you do, don't knock another person's greatness to prove Harden's. That approach, unintentional or not, always seems to lower the quality of the argument