The James Harden Thread (2019-20)

[No-more-rings]

Dude is 6-40 on three for the season, Good Lord. You have to have a certain level of shamelessness to continue jacking double digit threes a game when you are going to make 15% of them.

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Plus 19 turnovers in only 3 games. Yuck.

It seems common though for Harden to start out a bit slower/lackadaisical. He’ll get it going i think and will still be a top 5 player, or top 10 at worst.

This is not just lackadaisical it's worst SG in the league level. He's not Shaq, he can't make an impact by just existing and being big. He needs to fix this, doubt it'll ever happen though, no one ever changes their attitude much by the time they turn 30.

I'm just telling you, that he seems to almost routinely come in out of shape, not playing well etc. I haven't watched him yet, but let's not overreact to 3 games and act like he's all of a sudden a scrub and not a superstar anymore. You need at least half a season to determine that i think.

[ardee]

Plus 19 turnovers in only 3 games. Yuck.

It seems common though for Harden to start out a bit slower/lackadaisical. He’ll get it going i think and will still be a top 5 player, or top 10 at worst.

This is not just lackadaisical it's worst SG in the league level. He's not Shaq, he can't make an impact by just existing and being big. He needs to fix this, doubt it'll ever happen though, no one ever changes their attitude much by the time they turn 30.

I'm just telling you, that he seems to almost routinely come in out of shape, not playing well etc. I haven't watched him yet, but let's not overreact to 3 games and act like he's all of a sudden a scrub and not a superstar anymore. You need at least half a season to determine that i think.

I am not saying he's a scrub, in fact, he's an all-timer in my book. I'm just saying that in that cross section of players, I don't think anyone besides Shaq regularly started seasons out of shape as much as Harden does. Shaq can still be out of shape and make an impact because it's hard for someone his size with his skills not to make an impact, but Harden being out of shape to start seasons affects his impact and will hurt his legacy long term. I fully expect him to get back to his best and be dropping 50 on teams like it's nothing by Christmas but what I do not expect is for him to turn over a new leaf and show up to subsequent seasons ready to go.

[Bergmaniac]

He looks in very good shape physically to me, he's just on a cold shooting streak, it happens. He shot really well during the preseason.

[TroubleS0me]

bump...
59pts vs Wizards

[toodles23]

Harden can't buy a three to save his life this year.

[limbo]

Man is really averaging 36 ppg on 36%FG (20% from 3PT)

16 FTA per game so far...

Feels like he's playing a totally different game than everyone else.

[Krodis]

He looks really good, other than the part where he can't hit a three. His ball handling seems to have gotten even better and this is the best he's looked physically to start a season. The shots will fall eventually.

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[MisterHibachi]

Man is really averaging 36 ppg on 36%FG (20% from 3PT)

16 FTA per game so far...

Feels like he's playing a totally different game than everyone else.

Could he average 40 if his threes start dropping?

[Basileus777]

Harden and Gordon can't hit anything from three and the Rockets still have the #1 offense.

[Slava]

Harden and Gordon can't hit anything from three and the Rockets still have the #1 offense.

They've successfully hacked NBA offense.

[thekdog34]

Terrible defender, turnover prone, and bad 3pt shooter.

At this point the only thing he's good at is drawing fouls

[Baski]

This is as good a place as any to ask; How is the James-Russell pairing looking?

1. Are they playing off of each other, or is it a my turn your turn sort of thing?
2. Do they stand around when the other has the ball?
3. The overall ffense doesn't seem to be struggling despite the poor shooting. Is Harden boosting the others numbers that much? Is Westbrook boosting the others to balance out Harden's bad games? Are they both having a big effect on the other players?

[Slava]

This is as good a place as any to ask; How is the James-Russell pairing looking?

1. Are they playing off of each other, or is it a my turn your turn sort of thing?
2. Do they stand around when the other has the ball?
3. The overall ffense doesn't seem to be struggling despite the poor shooting. Is Harden boosting the others numbers that much? Is Westbrook boosting the others to balance out Harden's bad games? Are they both having a big effect on the other players?

I think you are asking the wrong questions. Houston is the 2nd worst defence in the league, a good 2.4 points off of New Orleans above them and 10.6 points off of San Antonio, who are league average. Only Golden State who have a dumpster fire roster are worse. The starting backcourt is a big reason for it. Neither of them fight through screens or even do fundamental things consistently well.

[thekdog34]

This is as good a place as any to ask; How is the James-Russell pairing looking?

1. Are they playing off of each other, or is it a my turn your turn sort of thing?
2. Do they stand around when the other has the ball?
3. The overall ffense doesn't seem to be struggling despite the poor shooting. Is Harden boosting the others numbers that much? Is Westbrook boosting the others to balance out Harden's bad games? Are they both having a big effect on the other players?

I didn't watch yesterday, but there's still some of the my turn your turn, though not as much as before.

With Westbrook grabbing rebounds and running things more, it definitely picks up the pace and causes more movement than they had before. Harden is getting assisted on more of his shots compared to the last few years though not by a lot.

The improved pace and having two guys who can attack the rim at will has definitely resulted in an elite offense. They are playing a lot of small ball too because the traditional lineups are not doing well.

[Krodis]

While there's still plenty of isolation, Harden and Westbrook seem to play off each other better than Harden and Paul did.

[thekdog34]

This is as good a place as any to ask; How is the James-Russell pairing looking?

1. Are they playing off of each other, or is it a my turn your turn sort of thing?
2. Do they stand around when the other has the ball?
3. The overall ffense doesn't seem to be struggling despite the poor shooting. Is Harden boosting the others numbers that much? Is Westbrook boosting the others to balance out Harden's bad games? Are they both having a big effect on the other players?

I think you are asking the wrong questions. Houston is the 2nd worst defence in the league, a good 2.4 points off of New Orleans above them and 10.6 points off of San Antonio, who are league average. Only Golden State who have a dumpster fire roster are worse. The starting backcourt is a big reason for it. Neither of them fight through screens or even do fundamental things consistently well.

All true. But also surprising how good the offense is with harden playing so poorly

[homecourtloss]

This is as good a place as any to ask; How is the James-Russell pairing looking?

1. Are they playing off of each other, or is it a my turn your turn sort of thing?
2. Do they stand around when the other has the ball?
3. The overall ffense doesn't seem to be struggling despite the poor shooting. Is Harden boosting the others numbers that much? Is Westbrook boosting the others to balance out Harden's bad games? Are they both having a big effect on the other players?

I think you are asking the wrong questions. Houston is the 2nd worst defence in the league, a good 2.4 points off of New Orleans above them and 10.6 points off of San Antonio, who are league average. Only Golden State who have a dumpster fire roster are worse. The starting backcourt is a big reason for it. Neither of them fight through screens or even do fundamental things consistently well.

All true. But also surprising how good the offense is with harden playing so poorly

It just speaks to the offensive savant Harden is AND to the fact that, aesthetically pleasing or not, “not the right way to play blah blah,” or not, this system works for offense.

Sooner or later those threes go in (like they did the other night) and Harden is going to average near 40 a game in 36 minutes or so, and that’s crazy.

But it all depends on those “awful for anyone else” shots going in and that’s the bet they make.

—Last year on 3pt pull ups (mostly step backs): 36.3%
—2018 on 3 pt pull ups(mostly step backs): 38.8% (an absurdity that led to him have a 1.22 PPP on ISOs, one of the craziest stats innmodern basketball history)
—This year: 20%

—Last year: 32.4% on tightly contested threes (5.8 shot per game); 39.3% on open threes on 6.0 attempts per game (space created via step back somthey weren’t really open, per se, but he got space)
—This year: 20.7% on tightly contested threes (4.8 shot per game); 19.5% on open threes on 6.8 attempts per game (space created via step back—6.8 attempts per game)

[Ballerhogger]

Harden and Gordon can't hit anything from three and the Rockets still have the #1 offense.

They've successfully hacked NBA offense.

Advanced stats!

[Baski]

This is as good a place as any to ask; How is the James-Russell pairing looking?

1. Are they playing off of each other, or is it a my turn your turn sort of thing?
2. Do they stand around when the other has the ball?
3. The overall ffense doesn't seem to be struggling despite the poor shooting. Is Harden boosting the others numbers that much? Is Westbrook boosting the others to balance out Harden's bad games? Are they both having a big effect on the other players?

I think you are asking the wrong questions. Houston is the 2nd worst defence in the league, a good 2.4 points off of New Orleans above them and 10.6 points off of San Antonio, who are league average. Only Golden State who have a dumpster fire roster are worse. The starting backcourt is a big reason for it. Neither of them fight through screens or even do fundamental things consistently well.

I saw the godawful defense coming as soon as the trade happened. Without Paul to quarterback, I'd imagine they're all just running around like headless chickens with PJ Tucker the lone farmer trying to round them up. Westbrook was never a good defender either.

I think it was a given that this team would compete on the strength of their offense considering they traded for Westbrook. It hasn't been the trainwreck I predicted so far, and I'm interested in why.

[clyde21]

37% from the field, 21% from 3 and is still averaging 35ppg...just absurd how this dude has completely hacked the NBA. shameful that this is even possible.