Texas Chuck wrote:Quotatious wrote:His defense was clearly worse this season compared to the previous one, and his leadership is questionable, but he just averaged 29 points/6 rebounds/7.5 assists/1.7 steals on almost 60% TS and over 25 PER, played all 82 games...His raw stats are even slightly better compared to his near-MVP season last year (he played a bit more minutes this year, but to be able to play 38.1 minutes for 82 games is pretty impressive on its own, too).
Is he underrated now?
If all you want to look at is individual stats then sure I guess he could be. But his efficiency is often maintained at his team's expense. He pounds the ball and if he can't get a good shot at the end of the shot clock he passes the buck and low-percentage shot to a lessor teammate many times over the course of a game. He's a walking turnover machine as well. Plus he's just a very moody, difficult guy to be around and combine that with his unwillingness to defend this year and its clear the role players aren't putting forth the effort they did around him last year.
That stuff actually does matter and actually does impact the games. Just because it's not directly measured by box score numbers, I refuse to ignore it. His "leadership" is a strong negative as is his very selfish play. It's not selfish like Westbrook where he is trying to win games and believes so much in himself. It's selfish where he is hyper-aware about his efficiency numbers(and Morey drilling that into the team isn't helping) and playing the games to protect that. I mean you don't have to watch many Rockets games to see this pattern.
I'd say if he played like he did last year where he made an effort to buy into the team concept especially defensively then yeah he's underrated. He's still a top 5 talent in this league and an amazing offensive anchor. But if he's going to be this selfish to the point where guys around him get marginalized and give less effort around him, then if anything he's probably overrated.
I mean anyone who thinks the decline of Dwight Howard has nothing to do with James Harden I think is fooling themselves.
The reason why I think Harden is now underrated, is that people tend to focus on his weaknesses (and just simply hate the guy), instead of his strengths. How many players in NBA history averaged 29/6/7.5 on 59+% TS? Three guys - Michael Jordan in 1988-89, LeBron James in 2009-10, and James Harden in 2015-16 - MJ and LBJ are top 5 peak players of all-time. Obviously I'm not trying to say that Harden is on the level of peak Jordan and James, but he's clearly an exceptional player in his own right. Very few guys can put up 29 ppg so efficiently while also producing a ton of rebounds, assists and steals.
Plus, Houston is still a very good offensive team (7th in ORtg this season), so Harden is an excellent offensive anchor, I don't buy the criticism that his own high efficiency affects his teammates' efficiency, or just team offensive performance, in a negative way.
I disagree that Harden is important in terms of Howard's decline. Dwight looked very good in the 2013-14 season, when Harden was putting up only a bit worse numbers. Howard just declined, period.
I don't even like Harden that much, he's one of my least favorite stars currently in the league, but he's absolutely a great player, even with all of his flaws (which are generally blown out of proportion, by many people). Just like I've always loved to play devil's advocate with Dwight Howard, I really like to play devil's advocate with Harden, these days, because I believe that some of the criticism he gets, is unfair.