What happened to it. He use to have it in his repitoire. He had that nice baseline spin fade away step back that he stopped doing after 2016. Also posting will bring open up shooters for looks and will allow him to draw fouls that they will call in the post season. Devin freakin booker has a mid post game and harden got like 30 lbs on dude. Hakeem is available every day. I don't get it.
analytics does not view the midrange or post ups as efficient shots unless you’re like KD level from out there...MDA has talked about this it’s not a coincidence that Harden’s midrange and posting up was cut out of his game completely the minute MDA came in and they embraced Moreyball 100%...Harden has bought into Moreyball completely
Analytics say the next shot will go in cause too many shots didnt go in to his average. But in reality he would miss next 17
a wise scholar by the name of Lil Wayne once said “shoot that motherfcker ‘til u get arthritis”...that is the motto Harden now lives by
10-12 threes is an OK number unless he is super hot. His formula of threes and drawing fouls does not translate well in the postseason. What i mean by that is he can play extremely well in a playoff game but also fall apart in the same game (spurs game 5). Such a weird player to figure out.
And apparently their analytics don't care that missed threes lead to easy fast break points for the other team. What do you know? We give up the 3rd most fast break points in the league. We also continue to not care that Harden/Westbrook are turnover prone, given that we give up a lot of points off turnovers as well.
I'm not worried about him not having a post game - or using one. The bigger issue is not having any off ball movement or ability to get wide open in a corner or on the wing to receive a pass and shoot and make an open shot. Even the occasional times that does happen, for example, he doesn't seem to be any better of a shooter anyway, since he's trained himself to be such an iso, guy guarding him, step-back king. On the list of things that could help provide that plan B, things like: *off ball movement * actual plays * just pulling up for a wide open FT'esque jumper (of which he gets fairly often) * sprinting up the court * defense (if Plan B is defense, that helps offense) Are above post-up game for me. Don't get me wrong, if that's what he/they are comfortable with as their plan B, fine. But Harden adding a post up is just another Harden iso environment, this time in a less efficient area, and likely a less efficient shot in that area (as opposed to wide open FT line jumpers where he nonetheless circles back to the 3 point line anyway)
I wish he would add this to his game, if nothing more than just to make his overall game more aesthetic and consistent. He's already unreal at the step-back, but once he appears to commit to a drive and suddenly stops at the mid-range, the defender almost always goes flying leaving Harden wide open. Then, he'll opt out of the wide open mid-range and hobble back to the 3-point line for a contested step-back three. This is the mindset I want to replace. Basketball is about taking the best shot the defense gives you - not just blindly chunking up three's because 'its efficient'.
