Harden is so great that he has coaches of top rated defensive teams throwing out there usual defensive game plans and doing stuff they hadn’t done all season like Utah, and he also dictates opposing coaches lineups...against Harden, there are certain guys that a coach simply can not have on the floor
We could focus on that, or we could report that Harden has higher 2fg%, higher ft% and tied for 3fg% with Kawhi ... Mr Efficient.
He’s a monster on offense. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen because it just doesn’t seem sustainable but he has done it for years now. He’s such a unique talent. Who is “like Harden”? Nobody. He’s not perfect. He has flaws. Every player does. But the good outweighs the bad by so much for him. We are watching greatness. We will never have another Harden like we will never have another Hakeem. Enjoy it because he will be gone one day and you will miss him! Even the Harden haters (who are Rockets fans) will realize they messed up by not enjoying what they were witnessing.
Harden is a top 5 all time offensive player. There’s never been anyone quite like him. But if someone asked me to name a player with Barkley like strength, combined with Manu’s craftiness and playmaking, thrown in with the handles and scoring of a Kyrie, I would only think of Harden.
Anyone who hates on Harden’s game doesn’t know what they are talking about. The dude is legendary; with the exception of MJ and maybe Orlando T-Mac, no other player has ever managed to make scoring look so effortless.
Harden has NBA officials changing basketball rules every year because of him, to make it a more even playing field.
Harden tends to play for fouls and cannot handle the physicality and lack of FT calls in the play-offs, so he will never be in the best ever convo for me until he learns to just play the game to score. If he did that 99% or even 90% of the time I wouldn't have to doubt him, but I really wonder how he'd do if he just played his game. He can just get to the basket, turn guys around, get a layup because he's that skilled, crafty and strong. I don't know why he has to resort to these gimmicks. I also wonder how he'd fare against truly physical defenders who wouldn't get whistled like they do in these days.
Here's the thing about the Harden hate that infuriates me: Even if Harden were to spend one off-season focusing on defensive techniques and come back as a nearly elite defender (which is possible considering his intelligence and physical gifts like size, deceleration, etc.), many people would still not call him one of the best to ever play the game. The hate is that entrenched and that strong, even among many sportsmedia members. Instead, he'd still be ridiculed because he supposedly baits the refs into calling phantom fouls. And that makes NO F$#KING SENSE. According to these morons, the best basketball referees in the world fall for these tricks multiple times every game, night after night and year after year, and James Harden is the only player in the entire league capable of this wizardry? It's one of the most idiotic, asinine sports narratives I've even seen and it's criminal the way it's affected his image because people are too stupid to do a little research and choose instead to just following the narrative like sheep. /SOAPBOX
