Bird vs Harden as a shooter

[durantbird]

Who is the better shooter?

[No-more-rings]

I feel Bird is a better pure shooter, Harden the better scorer though.

[henshao]

I rarely use the phrase, but it isn't close. Larry Bird

[Gibson22]

It's bird. Bird is the better free throw shooter and his midrange numbers must have been incredible. He also would win 80% of shooting competitions against him. He's better than harden at the act of shooting. He can't create a shot off the dribble, especially from 3, like harden. and that's not even adjusting for era, where bird was the best shooter of his, while harden isn't at all (curry, thompson, korver, lillard, durant, etc.)

[tsherkin]

I'm pretty comfortable with the idea that Bird is a much better shooter. Harden would probably look a little better than he does percentage-wise if he wasn't always taking dumb stepbacks and other unassisted looks. I don't think he was as good as Bird as a shooter, of course, and I agree that the FT% is pretty indicative.

[RCM88x]

I think this is Harden, there really isn't a big difference in FT% either, like .025% over their careers.

Harden just proved on infinitely larger volume and was way more consistent. Maybe you can extrapolate what little data we have for Bird but for me that would be quite generous.

[tsherkin]

I think this is Harden, there really isn't a big difference in FT% either, like .025% over their careers.

Harden has also never shot 90% from the line, and hasn't led the league in FT% ever, let around 4 times.

And it's not 0.25%, it's 2.5% difference across their careers. And even on lower volume these past two seasons, Harden still hasn't shot 88% from the line in any season. Bird led the league in FT% in consecutive years at 6+ FTA/g and then the year after shot 91.6% on 6.0 attempts. Harden has not proven capable of that in any of the 5 seasons he's shot < 8.5 FTA/g. It's not a trivial difference. He also never shot 40% even on his smaller-volume 3pt shooting seasons. He's also not a particularly good mid-range shooter, whereas that is another area where Bird excelled.

[CKRT]

I think this is Harden, there really isn't a big difference in FT% either, like .025% over their careers.

Harden has also never shot 90% from the line, and hasn't led the league in FT% ever, let around 4 times.

And it's not 0.25%, it's 2.5% difference across their careers. And even on lower volume these past two seasons, Harden still hasn't shot 88% from the line in any season. Bird led the league in FT% in consecutive years at 6+ FTA/g and then the year after shot 91.6% on 6.0 attempts. Harden has not proven capable of that in any of the 5 seasons he's shot < 8.5 FTA/g. It's not a trivial difference. He also never shot 40% even on his smaller-volume 3pt shooting seasons. He's also not a particularly good mid-range shooter, whereas that is another area where Bird excelled.

I agree that Bird is the better FT shooter but cmon, .879 is quite literally as close as you can get.

[tsherkin]

I agree that Bird is the better FT shooter but cmon, .879 is quite literally as close as you can get.

Yes, I needed a threshold to illustrate the point. He was very close to 88, but my point was more than at a comparable volume, Bird was shooting better, not that the 88% specifically meant anything. I was just looking at Harden's highest FT% at the appropriate volume.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Love Bird, Hate Harden. Bird is a guy I want in the foxhole with me. Harden is not a guy I want in the foxhoke with me. Bird is a winner, Harden is not.

But Harden is the better shooter.

Bird was an inconsistent shooter. I do like Bird in the clutch.
I don't trust Harden in the clutch.

[henshao]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[RCM88x]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Guess that settles it!

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Bird Beats Harden at percentage in 3 point shooting contest at All Star week but Jason Kapono is the champ

[Jaivl]

Bird

[70sFan]

Bird for me.

[JordansBulls]

Bird won a few 3 point contest.

[OhayoKD]

Bird's effiency/volume dropped at a fraction of harden's volume when facing similar defense.

Harden's easily the better shooter.

[capfan33]

In terms of pure innate shooting talent, independent of era and all that jazz, my money is on Bird.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

I think that we should have a reached the point here to be more elaborate with this kind of questions and answers.
Assuming we're just talking about three point shooting, the way I like to look at it is:
* you have three types of shooting
- off the dribble
- catch&shoot set
- catch&shoot movement, how you can maintain balance and elevate for the shoot
* for each of these, how much a contest can affect you for the baseline that is an open shot
- a combination of quickness, high release and composure

You put all this things together and you have different shooters that excel in different areas.

Now, more on topic, I think Bird is a much much better shooter on the catch, either movement or set. Extremely accurate and very difficult to contest thanks to his high and quick release. This is something Harden clearly didn't (care to?) develop.
Harden can generate much more volume off the dribble with a quite unique accuracy for that kind of shooting menu.
Now, who's better will depend n what you need most in your team.