He is playing at the highest level right now, and it's so special to watch. But do you guys think he can actually get better than this right now?
I think he is near his peak right now. He can improve his 3 point percentage, but that’s about it. He is driving right and finishing, and he has brought back more of those mid range step backs that everyone loves. I don’t expect anything more defensively with the load he has to carry on offense. With CP being out, this is a prime opportunity for James to reach deep into his bag and show everything he has on a nightly basis. CP’s injury may help James win b2b mvp’s. He is that special right now. If he gets much better than this ,he enters the Kobe conversation for 2nd best sg in history.
he can still get better. he has been posting up more thanks to hakeem and hitting those step back fade aways mid range. he needs to do this more against a great perimeter D.
He's been improving every single season in his career, that's really remarkable considering he was already an MVP caliber player 4 years ago. Several years in a row, I thought that must be the peek of Harden, and was proven wrong the next year, he just kept becoming better and better. 9 out of his 10 total seasons, his points per game increased compared to the previous season, that's ridiculous.
I think he can, take more care of the ball in some situations and work a bit more on his post game maybe, that's about it i'd say...it's not like there much to ask for from what he already does anyway. For what i saw he has been fine on D so far this season, when he's engaged he's really a special player. He had some horrible games on D early in the season when the team was drowning, but other players were trash too tbh, so, i guess it was more a problem of condition and on the team in general.
According to today's NBA he needs to have a ring to be good. Dude has proven he gets better every year yet the narrative hasn't changed at all. So be it though.
here are a few small kinda mental things that could make huge difference in his game without even learning a new skill because they are momentum changers and basketball is a game of momentum... less talented teams and players can win if they make use of momentum and 80% of the game is mental 1 use floater more, its deadly, use it before the lob is taken away to adjust the aiming mechanism and dont even let the d think of taking away the lob 2 sprinkle more midrange (particularly when tired), this makes you even more unpredictable , making your 3s and layups more open and of higher % 3 take better care of the ball, in cases of 2 turnovers in a row take TO or give up the ball , if bounce pass didnt work dont even try it next time, if full court pass didnt work, dont force it the very next possession(it almost never works) or any combination of these, because its a sign that your nervous system is off and thus your precision is not there 4 if gassed up sit down or give up the ball 5 play less, rest in advance, not to get gassed up 6 dont force iso if you are gassed up
Every year I'd point out areas of improvement... Every year a buncha white knights would jump in my mess for having the audacity to say James wasnt at his pinnacle and to expect anything more was just stupid... Every year James would improve... There's always room for improvement... but that room does get smaller and smaller each year with Harden...
Well depends on how you define what his level of play was for a season. Based on straight win shares from best season to worst 1) 14/15 2) 17/18 3) 16/17 4) 15/16 5) 12/13 6) 13/14 7) 18/19(incomplete) Based on win shares per 48 1) 17/18 2) 14/15 3) 16/17 4) 13/14 5) 18/19 6) 12/13 7) 15/16 Overall box +/- 1) 17/18 2) 16/17 3) 18/19 4) 14/15 5) 15/16 6) 13/14 7) 12/13 Look at other stats and you mostly aren’t going to see a straight line of progression statistically. Last year was his most accomplished but some could argue 14/15 was his statistically most impressive. Bottom line is he has been great for a long time and should be for a few more. I believe EXPECTING better than we have seen is a tad greedy, especially if you don’t view him as one of the best 25 players ever.
I think he was better overall last season. I don't think he had a bad stretch of games all year. The consistency was amazing. His defense was much improved as well. This year has been a bit bipolar. The current streak he's on is just godlike, but I would've taken last year's Harden over the first 15 games of this season Harden. It looked like he started the season tired and had a bunch of sloppy turnovers.
I really just think James basketball mind (which was already great) has finally caught up with his physical talent on the court. It really makes sense, he’s 29 and in his 10th season. He’s had the playoffs highs and lows won a lot of regular season games an mvp and multiple 1st team all Nba. Came a half of basketball away from what I think everyone believes would have been his 1st nba title. Guy doesn’t have anything else to prove but to win a ring. He’s just operating on a level higher than anyone in the league and their is some great players in the league right now. This peak is similar to Lebron his 3rd season in Miami he was 28-29 also in his 10th season I believe. The game is just really slow and it doesn’t matter what harden is seeing or who is guarding him. Take yesterday for example. PG13 is playing phenomenal basketball this year on both sides. He’s imo been the best wing defender on the league this year he’s just relentless long and has fantastic instincts. He did a great job defending Harden. Yet harden never flustered took his time for what he wanted when he wanted. Don’t get me wrong PG made harden make some mistakes but harden def won the battle. I’ve personlly never seen harden play this well against a defender this good on him. I’ve seen him burn Kawi through 3+ quarters for 40 plus points but not be able to get anything in the clutch. This time and this year harden has really figured out how to pace himself. It’s why we desperately need cp3 healthy for the playoffs. As long as we’re in the playoffs we can win I don’t care of we’re the 8th seed. There is a clearer opening to a chip this year than last year imo. Adding Rivers was huge if this team can be healthy going forward. Just get healthy and the others have to help harden out in the early 4th quarters and he’ll have enough juice to close out anyone imo. He’s reached that rarefied air that only 10 players have ever gotten to on offense he’s beyond special he’s transcendent.
The only area I think there is a significant area to improve is turnovers. As good as he is most of the time with his passes something he makes some of the craziest or high risk low reward passes I have ever seen. I think when he starts doing this more than likely he is getting tired and it might be time for Dantoni to give him a short rest. Which leads my only other criticism of him. I think at times he refuses to come out of the game. I wish he would give more control to the coaching staff as far as getting him out of the game and getting a letting more rest throughout the game.
