Very happy with Jalen's growth but let's let him develop into a star and superstar first and run his race. I will say Jalen is a better athlete than Harden and can do some things he can't, but feelings about him leaving aside, Harden is a top 30 all-time player, with elite offensive vision, scoring, off-the-charts IQ who exploited defenders in ways that people emulate him and Curry for. Green could definitely eclipse him as a defender, as an athlete he could actually become a better pure scorer and I've mentioned before has the potential to average what he did in high school as a ceiling perhaps, 32 pts, 7 rebounds and five assists a game with a championship win. https://www.si.com/high-school/2020/04/03/jalen-green-recruiting-all-american-player-of-year But James could have led the league in scoring or assists any given year and did so for a decade-plus of work. Let's let Jalen make his bones and build his potential superstar resume first.
Having watched Jalen on defense in game after game, I can attest that he's a top 5 player. As in: when he's on the court, he's one of the 5 best defenders we have on the court. He's not one of the 4 best yet. But he's trying more, and we'll see how it goes.
Give Jalen full control of the rockets team like harden and we will see him averaging 30ppg and 7apg easily. He clearly have the dribble abilities to back it up.
James Harden. Top 5 MVP vote getter 6 different seasons for Houston. 1 1st, 3 2nds, 1 3rd and 1 5th. The other 2 full seasons he was here… 8th and 9th in MVP voting. 6 all nba 1st teams to boot. How quickly some forget.
He was also GSW's and Spurs MVP every year by choking in the 2nd round and making Houston their punching bag and joke. Curry and Draymond straight laugh at The Rockets every time because of bum Harden...
Right. Hopefully one day the expectations are that high for Jalen. Until then the OP is missing brain cells.
22 year old harden: 4.3 BPM, 0.230 WS/48, and a TS% that was 25% above league average 22 year old green: 0.1 BPM, 0.070 WS/48, and a TS% that's 6% below league average The numbers are probably too close to say one way or the other. Basketball reference does count this as Jalen greens age 21 season because he was born 8 days after the cutoff, but all of his good play started at age 22 so i think it's fair to say he's 22 now (since he is). Also, both were in their 3rd seasons
He also took the greatest team that the sport has ever seen to 7 games, something a total of 0 other players, including lebron, could do
Harden is one of my least fav players, all time, but Jalen isnt even in that conversation. Jalen <<<<<<<<<< Harden
And with the series tied 3-3 after leading the series 3-2 still proceeded to choke it all away in the 2nd half of a game he had the lead in, in the most embarrassing fashion possible. Dude had an entire system built that catered to his specific skillset and still couldn't score a single bucket when Rockets needed it most. This is what we are seeing with Green that Harden just doesn't have, Green wants the ball when the lights are bright. He steps up in big moments, he plays winning basketball by actually playing defense. Green was humble when Ime sat him, Harden would have requested a trade right then and there..... This is why Harden will always be a choker, because of his arrogance and pride. This is why Green is already better than Harden, because he wants to learn, he wants to get better.
Much better off creating a thread about a possible nick name for Jalen Green… i’ll go first… Jay Dolla
look i know you're just a troll so i wouldn't bother with a serious reply, but even for you this is just embarrassing
I like your attitude and believe me I'm on your side and rooting for him. But as I try to be objective, some fans (not saying you so please don't take it that way, just speaking generally) didn't fully appreciate just how good Harden was. I agree with Ime about having quick movements to score with less dribbling, Jordan was like this. Jalen has started to develop an isolation game, attacking a defender's feet/positioning and change of speed with his elite athleticism. So I'm okay with setting up your man for a first-step blow-by. But here is Harden destroying people with his handle and isolation game, not even showing his playmaking. We'll see how Jalen develops, but his potential has always been really high. He's executing on it, I just hope he maximizes it like Harden did. Go Rockets
Harden had an extremely high peak in terms of dominating statistical categories and carrying teams in the regular season. But he wasn't adaptable and had to be hid on defense for most of his career with people excusing it by saying he's a good post defender even though he's literally one of the worst perimeter defenders in league history who got 35 minutes a game on average. I think Green if he can deepen his isolation bag is the type of player who won't fall off in the playoffs mainly because he isn't as stunted as Harden off ball. Hell actually attempt to move around and reposition. You aren't required to run a heliocentric offense around Jalen which to me is a detriment as a heliocentric offense has a hard limit to what you can accomplish in the league as eventually teams hone in and now they are forcing dudes who have been stand still jump shooters the entire season suddenly having to make plays themselves while the dude who usually did make plays in Harden is useless without the ball. Also Jalen Green is just far more fun to watch in terms of what I enjoy. I understand a lot of people enjoy watching Harden style more but it was something I grew tired off in terms of viewing even though it produced wins. I doubt Green will have the highs of Harden but I think Jalen will be more compatible in a championship contender as a 1B to someone equal to his talent like Sengun. I see Green in his prime also doing stuff like chase down high flying blocks in the 4th quarter of a playoff game that can turn the energy around while Harden would never do stuff like that as he'd be walking around everywhere by that time. With James Harden there are some severe deficiencies you have to eat up to have that highly efficient offensive system such as absolutely atrocious transition defense because the dude never runs back. The difference between Green and Harden that bodes well for Green is he isn't going to just cease doing the little things like running back in transition or trying to hide from playing perimeter defense by being a primary option like Harden.
