See this is why stats are not the end all be all. OKC last year made the finals last year. They would not have done so without Harden. This is pretty much a fact because he destroyed the Spurs. Well...Westbrook is better than Lin, so he can spot up and shoot. Westbrook AND Harden are both combo guards. At times Harden would spot up and shoot and at times Westbrook would. It worked. Period. You are saying he didn't fit on a team that made the finals and were a few games away from winning the whole thing is pretty silly. Let me translate what you are saying. "If the coaching team is smart they would make Lin the featured offensive player and not Harden."
If he was so good at it then OKC wouldn't been dead last in assists last season when Harden was a key player and they wouldn't be 8th in assists this season with Harden gone. OKC wasn't even that bad when it came to ball-movement in 2011 or 2010 and that was because Harden's role wasn't big. Mayo is better at scoring within the flow because he can move and play without the ball, something Harden should work on so he can maximize Lin instead of minimizing him and turning him into a spot-up shooter. And no, Mayo is not a role player, he is #1 in his team so far this season in scoring, and by a good margin. No, he is much better, Harden may very well be the worst defender in the league. He also averages about like 4-5 turnovers per game. What good is making all these plays when you are just going to give it up half of the time? His AST/TO Ratio is very poor.
They got to the Finals because they were more talented than everyone else. Sure, Harden played well against the Spurs. How did he do against the Lakers and the Heat in the Finals? Oh, I'll tell you how he did, he wet the bed and he showed the world how much of a joke he was on the defensive side of the ball as well. Point was that he turned Westbrook into player he wasn't very good at (off-guard/spot-up shooter) and made him have a role that didn't maximize his talent and he is doing the same with Lin now. who said primary ball-handler is the featured offensive player? Durant is not the primary ball-handler, but he is clearly the #1 on his team. I'm saying Lin needs the ball in his hands more and Harden should play without it more to conserve his energy and to maximize Lin.
Okay, he struggles against ELITE defenders. Yeah...I wonder why they are called elite defenders then? Also, he did not struggle against the Heat. The numbers say so but watching the game he did not. He kept his team in the game, and was a volume scorer. That is alright sometimes. In fact Melo and Kobe have been volume scorers most of their career. Against the Thunder...we really going to fault Harden for having a bad game after a back to back AND going to Minnesota for a funeral?
Obviously. Harden counts as being talented too. How did Mayo do in the playoffs? How about Lin? Harden didn't make Westbrook do anything lol. Scotty Brooks had to drill being aggressive into Harden's head because apparently he didn't want to take shots and preferred coming off the bench and preferred being the third option. It is the only reason people had doubts about him because they did not think he had the mentality of a go-to scorer. Westbrook does what he wants out there. Dude takes shots away from Durant and now you are telling me Harden was holding Westbrook back? Durant is not a guard either. We all know what you and other Lin fans are saying. Lin needs the ball more. Okay. When he proves that he can consistently make things happen when he does have the ball he'll get it. Sometimes we act like Lin never gets the ball and it's not true. Many times during the game Harden is spot up and doesn't have the ball...not much ever happens when he does.
OKCs assists #s are up because westbrook is passing more, shooting less, durant is passing more, shooting less, ibaka has improved tremendously at finishing, and martin is a better 3 pt shooter than harden, which add to assist totals. I do agree that harden should be off the ball more using off the ball screens, and get into the pnr with him after some other actions so the defense is off balance. Having him bring up the ball into the pnr every single time is too easy to defend. Harden needs to give more effort on defense (he usually steps it up vs kobe but he really didnt even do that this year) but there are many defenders in the NBA who are worst. Not trying to defend his defense (ha) though high turnovers is usually an indicator of playmaking. Nash is always among the league leaders; magic is most all time. He does need to cut it down by 1 tho, 4 per game is just too much. These turnovers come from either the roller on the pnr not being able to handle his pass or him going into the lane using his signature "hold the ball out so people swat at it and foul" move, except he doesnt get the call. So its not like he is just making stupid decisions. Those should come down. Hopefully d-mo can start getting some mins, he wont drop those passes
Harden's been on a tear lately. Playing like a superstar right now. Harden is definitely the better player.
Harden 22.9 PER Mayo 17.6 PER Harden .600 TS% Mayo .600 TS% Harden 10 FTA's/gm Mayo 4 FTA's/gm Harden .501 EFG% Mayo .556 EFG% In terms of efficiency, you can't just base it off FG% anymore. You need to account for points per shot, you need to account for how many threes each player takes, etc. Its clear that Mayo is a better 3pt shooter than Harden and that is not up for debate, but in terms of overall scoring efficiency it could be argued that Harden is the more efficient player. In terms of rebounding, assists vs turnovers, steals, blocks, Harden is ahead of Mayo in all of those catagories. Not up for debate. Check basketball reference for yourself. Then, there is also the fact that Mayo is two years older than Harden is. Harden is playing on the youngest team in the NBA while Mayo is playing alongside of a few established veterans. If you asked 32 NBA coaches which guy they would take I think all 32 would take Harden. The numbers Harden is putting up at age 23 are phenominal, we're talking Jordan, Dominique, Drexler, West type numbers. OJ Mayo is a good player, but he's a sharpshooter and a roleplayer, the Mavs new version of Jason Terry. Harden has a chance to be a special player, a HOF player.
So yeah....probably a good time to bump this thread right? Unless something is wrong with Mayo, he pretty much sucked today.
Did Mayo play 40 minutes last night, then went to another city to attend a funeral, then finished off the day playing in OKC?
My how things change with larger sample sizes and scouting reports. OJ Mayo's last 3 games: 8 points, 3-14 shooting, 1 turnover 10 points, 3-11 shooting, 5 turnovers 7 points, 3-8 shooting, 6 turnovers And with 5 minutes to go in this OT, he has 3 points on 1-5 shooting, with 5 turnovers. OJ Mayo: Not even in the same universe of ability and production as James Harden, and whoever suggests otherwise should be godamned ashamed of themselves and relentlessly mocked.
Probably time we should bump that thread of yours demanding Chandler Parsons be benched in favor of some D-league garbage, no?
