Raps in 4 wrote:drekwins wrote:Raps in 4 wrote:
Harden is one of the most efficient scorers of all time. Even with him playing no defense, his overall impact is still enormous. His ORPM is a ridiculous 7.65 this year, giving him the second highest RPM in the league. The next closest player? Curry at 5.98.
In an era that promotes efficiency... the rules have allowed for much more efficient play. You can't compare that way vs. previous eras or decades. You have to look at success and their dominance compared to their peers. Harden puts up stats but failed miserably against his elite peers when it counted.
How has Harden "failed"?
He was 1 game away from knocking out the Warriors last year, arguably the greatest team of all time. The only reason he didn't is because his second best player got injured in game 5.
And that's just it right there, his second best player is a broken down Chris Paul. In an era of super teams, you're not winning **** with Harden's supporting cast.
Kobe and Wade played with **** Shaq and Lebron. No **** they racked up rings. And there was no unstoppable force like the Warriors during their eras. They were the ones on the super teams for most of their careers.
Had OKC ownership not been cheap and retained both Harden and Durant, Harden would have multiple rings right now and all of a sudden it would be okay to mention him in the same sentence as Kobe and Wade.
It's not that he failed. He failed in comparison to Wade. Also, what about the San Antonio series Game 7? Harden does NOT play the same when the competition picks up in the playoffs. Since joining Houston, Harden's FG% drops MUCH lower in the postseason. Below are his FG% and 3P%'s by year:
12-13 - FG - 39.1%, 3PT 34.1%
13-14 - FG - 37.6%, 3PT 29.6%
14-15 - FG - 43.9%, 3PT 38.3%
15-16 - FG - 41.0 %, 3PT 31.0%
16-17 - FG - 41.3%, 3PT 27.8%
17-18 - FG - 41.0%, 3PT 29.9%
Those are terrible numbers and certianly not someone even worthy of this discussion. In fact, how did he jump TMAC? How is he different from Gilbert Arenas?
Meanwhile, Wade made the playoffs 11 times in Miami. He only shot under 45.5% twice (43.9% and 42.9% respectively)... He was highly efficient even when the defense got tough. It's easy for Harden to skew his numbers against the Suns in the middle of January. The playoffs reveal all. Wades playoff stats are far superior... in almost every way.