>>>>>NBA<<<<< 2019 - 2020 SEASON

I see kids attempting hardens side step and step back 3s on the playgrounds here

 

A better question for me is how the hell is Westbrook managing to shoot his lowest percentage from the 3 point line and the field in 10 years despite playing in dantoni's system?

 

Perhaps, But Not in the 49 Other States Harden Didn't Grow Up In...




REED

 

When Has Russ EVER Been Anything But a Below Average 3pt Shooter???...D'Antoni's System EMPHASIZES Not Just 3's, but QUICK 3's...

Were YOU Expecting Russ' 3-Ball to Improve In a D'Antoni System, Because REED Certainly Wasn't???...Thanks for Completely IGNORING the Point REED Made, Also...






REED

 

Yes I was expecting his shooting to improve since that seems to be the case with most players in his system

 

Funny thing about Harden he seems like a very unlikeable dude. I hardy ever see him smile laugh or joke with teammates. I never see them go out of their way to cheer for him in a loving way the way a guy like Gianis’s teammates do. Harden also does the Lebron thing of demonstrably throwing his teammates under the bus when they or he blows a defensive assignment.

Even when I see Russ interact with Harden, I feel Russ likes Harden but I always wonder does Harden really like Russ, or anyone, because he certainly doesn’t show it. He’s run every other star out of town. At some point I have to think maybe he’s the problem.

 

I’ve watched about 80% of their games. The answer is very simple. Russ has completely accepted that this is Harden’s team and he defers to Harden the way Russ’s teammates used to defer to him. When they’re in together Russ gives Harden the ball a lot more often than he calls his own s. I don’t expect Russ will be one of the top 5 highest usage players this time but he’ll still be up there.

I think that only happens to players who are already good three point shooters and I doubt it actually improves their percentages much, it just ups their attempts. D’Antoni ain’t no three point doctor, I’m pretty sure the new guys (Russ, Sefolosha and Mclemore) are shooting around their same three point career percentages.

 

Is Your Opinion % or Attempts Based???...





REED

 

Harden's QUIRKY For Sure, But Seems Rather Harmless to REED Beyond That, Being Honest...He's More of a Gilbert Arenas Personality Than the Standard NBA Personality...Hard to REED, Unpredictable, Throwed Off a Bit, but NOT a "Bad" Dude @ the End of the Day...

Harden Definitely Puts His Hands Up in a "What Are You Doing, That Was YOUR Man" Type of Way, When He's Inevitably Beaten on Defense...Bron Does it as Well, as You Pointed Out, But In THOSE Instances You @ Least Get the Feeling Bron was CORRECT 50% of the Time , Whereas w/Harden You KNOW He's Just Saving Face 100% of the Time...

Not Sure What to Make of Russ and Harden's Friendship, But Russ ISN'T a "Let's Be Fake Friends" Type of Dude, Nor Would He Invest MORE in a Friendship Than What's Being Reciprocated...





REED

 

Harden has always been better than Westbrook since they were children so maybe it makes it more natural to defer to the guy

 

i cant lie, i expected him and harden to fail as a tandem because westbrook is a poor outside shooter. and a particularly poor shooter spotting up rather than just pulling up off the bounce. but his 3point FG % is obscenely low so far this season. if he can just make 3 outta 10 open ones it will greatly improve the team

 

I can’t fathom why Russ is such a bad shooter. I actually thought his frantic energy must be affecting his shots causing him to shoot too hard, but it’s not like every miss is a brick. In the end it just seems to be bad aim or something off with his technique.

To be honest Russ’s energy and playing hard is a bit overrated, because he only does it on one end of the court. It’s a little easier to play balls to the wall on offense when you turn around and give practically zero effort on defense. Don’t get me wrong, Russ can play very good one on one defense, the problem is he too often chooses not to.

 

Russ needs to just stop taking threes, full stop. Turn into a high energy non-3 shooting Jason Kidd (who somehow, still hit 3's at a much higher % then Russ, while Russ is superior to Kidd inside the 3). Outside of Russ's MVP season 3 years ago, it has made no statistical sense for him to be jacking up 3's. His two %'s are fine with everything else he does on the floor, just stick with that.

What the real crime here is that Russ, who plays the game like a literal pinball on the offensive end of the floor, generally gets 8 to 10 less free throws a game then that fall down fairy, Harden. I mean, it works for Houston because Harden is a much better FT guy at this stage of his career........the "analytics" are in Harden's favor, but from somebody watching from the outside, it's fucking infuriating.

I'm also sick of reading articles on "The Ringer" and other places, telling us we need to recognize Harden's greatness, and stop using words like "exploit", and "loophole", and "dishonest" in regards to his playing style. Fuck that!, like we're just supposed to ignore the bullshit in his game.

 

Harden’s game is repugnant. Definitely not ‘must watch’ and proven to be completely ineffective come playoffs when the whistles get swallowed.

may very well win multiple mvps but I doubt he’ll win a ring as the number one option.

 

Yeah Bledsoe signed the extension during last season.

 

To be honest watching Harden draw fouls doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. It’s not fun but eight times out of ten the fouls are legitimate.

What does piss me off is offensive guys pushing off with their free arm trying to create space and getting away with it. It’s nice to see them calling that an offensive foul more often. I also hate rip through moves, guys who kick out their legs on jumpers and guys who flop, all in attempts to get a foul call.

During the Lakers -Thunder game there were two failed separate instances where LBJ and Davis stopped short in front of a running Steven Adams so he could bowl them over and get called for a foul. For Davis it was a no call as Stevens laughed at him and the other instance was awesomely ruled an offensive foul on LBJ.

We need more refs weeding this kind of crap out of the game as there has to be something to playing the game with honor.

 

C'mon man, he's got YOU hypnotized to. Those are all things Harden does on the regular. Defenses are so afraid of getting called on him, most of them (especially in non-playoff games), just give him the lane. He'd shoot 10 percentage point higher from the floor if he just went straight to the basket instead of flailing all over the place trying to get free throws. He'd also have less turnovers.

 

Harden is crafty and deceitful the way he is able to latch on to a defenders arm as he drives to the basket. Making it look like they are holding him when it's actually the contrary. He even got leonard called for fouls twice with that tactic

Not an easy thing to do, but he is a tremendous ball handler and also extremely strong

 

Oh, he's certainly good at what he does. If it was easy, there'd be more players emulating what he does as successfully. Sadly though, I think he's encouraging more of that type of play.............if he can get away with it, why can't I, sort of thing.

The Free Throws are essentially what makes his offensive game impressive from an analytics perspective, because his overall shooting efficiency, while good, is not exactly mind blowing for a superstar of his caliber.

I'd probably like him if he was on a team I rooted for.

 

No he doesn’t have me hypnotized. Like I said I don’t like his foul hunting and wished he didn’t do it. And it doesn’t matter who does a push off -can be my favorite player on my favorite team- I get pissed every single time somebody gets away with it. As for kicking his legs out I actually think Harden more often then not is trying not to twist his ankle by landing on people’s feet when they invade his landing space. I hate the way Harden plays but like I said 8/10 times the fouls are legit, even if he’s the one who initiated it.

 

When the Offensive Player INITIATES Contact w/the Defender that's a No-Call or an Offensive Foul...It's NOT Supposed to Be an Automatic Foul on the Defender...

8 Out of 10 is Being VERY Generous to Harden...REED Won't Say Harden's NEVER Legitimately Fouled, but it's More Like a 50-50 Ratio @ Best...Harden INITIATES 8 of 10 Fouls, Yes, But Those Calls Aren't Legit 8 Out of 10 Times...

Instead of Just PLAYING, Harden's Primary Objective is Getting FOULED...

Nobody Invites Their Boys Over to Drink Beer, Eat Popcorn and Watch James Harden Play...






REED

 

Well, they might now, just because he's playing with Westbrook. For all his flaws, he's at least a fun watch, whether he's having a poor game, or a great game. Is this motherfucker going to brick 6 straight 3's, or is he going to go crazy, split the defense 6 times in a row and grab 20 boards while flying up the floor in the other direction?

Harden - Hey, we might see 15 extra stoppages this game............fucking fantastic.

 

You'd Like the Fact Your Team is a Perennial Title Contender, But Harden's STYLE of Play Wouldn't Be Any Easier to Digest...

You'd Laugh to Yourself KNOWING Half of his Free Throws were Manufactured Bullshit, as Opposed to Pulling Your Hair Out, if Harden was on the Opposing Team...

What Frustrates REED the Most About Harden is he DOESN'T Need to Junk Up His Game the Way he Does...

It's 1 Thing for the 35 Year Old Past-Prime Player, Surgery on Both Knees, Resorting to Ref Baiting and Manipulation...But NOT an MVP Caliber Player Who just Turned 30, w/NO Major Injuries that REED Knows Of...Harden's Been Pulling this Lame Shit Since he Got to Houston...







REED

 

Right...

Harden Would Be Useful in a DRINKING GAME Capacity, but that's about It...You're All But Guaranteed to Take 15-18 Shots of Liquor EVERY Time He's Playing...

But Yeah, Love/Hate Russ, he's WATCHABLE as Fuck...Critics Focus on the Snarls, Poses and Perpetual Chip on his Shoulder, but You Have No Choice But to Respect Dude's EFFORT...







REED

 

All true. Although the type of initiated contact I’m referring to is like when Harden does a layup and brings his arms up into his layup and gets fouled because the defender had his arms there trying to block the ball but instead hits Harden’s arm. That’s a legit foul even though Harden more or less initiated it.

I also maintain that 8/10 of Harden’s fouls are legit. The problem is this could be the case for most players but for some reason Harden is officiated differently than anyone in the league. A lot of the little ticky tack stuff they let go for everyone else they call way more often for Harden. It’s like there is a mandate from the league and why I say Harden’s nickname should be the quota because refs seem to have a certain number of fouls to give him every game.

Meanwhile Harden almost deserves the MVP just off the guys he has to play with. Thabo Sefolosha, Mclemore, Rivers and especially Tyson Chandler have all been pretty bad. They each occasionally will give you something but can’t be counted on for consistent contributions. Even Westbrook has been merely good to ok and too often, break-downs in defense can be directly attributed to him which is just as it was in OKC. If Harden is an A, Westbrook has so far been more like a B- or C+, and I say that as a big Westbrook fan.

 

if the defender is out of position and the offensive player initiates contact then its a foul on the defender.

 

The Problem w/that is Faaaaaaaaaaaar Toooooooooooo Often Defenders are Under the Rim w/their Arms Straight Up, Yet Harden's Sent to the Line Anyways...

The Law of Verticality Allows a Defender to Raise His Arms and Basically OWN that Space as he Jumps and Lands Back on the Ground...Nonetheless, Refs Typically Default to Sending Harden to the Line...







REED

 

"Out of Position" is VAGUE as Fuck Though...

What if You're Momentarily "Out of Position", Yet You RECOVER Quickly, Then Harden Initiates Contact???...

There's a Myriad of "Positions" a Defender Can Assume...Squared Up to the Offensive Player...Sideways, Forcing the Ballhandler Right or Left...Arms Spread Wide in "T" Formation, 1 Arm Forward Threatening to Attack the Ball, Both Arms By Your Sides or Behind the Back, Posing NO Threat to the Ball...

REED's Seen Defenders Make NO Effort Whatsoever to Steal the Ball from Harden, BEAT Harden to a Spot on the Floor, Yet Get a Foul Called on THEM After Harden Initiates the Contact...

That's NOT a Foul...





REED

 

I agree, THAT isnt a foul

But the offensive player can initiate contact and draw fouls. Harden ain't the first guy to do that

 

agREED, Harden is Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar from the 1st to Do That...

Thing is, it's Typically Players on the DOWNSIDE of Their Careers Who've Resorted to Ref Reliant Shit...

When MJ's Athleticism Dipped and He Relied on the Fadeaway Jumper More and More, He Would Initiate Contact to Draw Fouls, as Opposed to BLOWING BY and Leaping OVER Defenders As he Used To...Ditto for Kobe...

But Harden's Dedicated his BEST Basketball Years, His ATHLETIC Prime to This Bullshit...Manipulating or Flat Out CHEATING in a Competitive Situation is a SUBTLE Self-Acknowledgement of NOT Being Good Enough...Born Out of INSECURITY...You Feel You HAVE to Resort to Bullshit to Be Successful in That Scenario...

James Harden HASN'T and Still DOESN'T Have to Resort to Bullshit @ This Stage of His Career...Yet He DOES...More Than ANYONE Else in the Game...








REED