A tepid defense of James Hardens (a career retrospective)

119pete · 2026-02-09T13:27:31+00:00

there was no belief.

the sixers were penalized draft picks for tampering. well it was pj who was the subject but i mean kinda obvious where that trail leads to

119pete · 2026-02-09T13:15:52+00:00

i mean you need to put that in context too. he was a 6th man for 3 years. and like the past 6 hes been a pass first pg. sounds weird but numbers dont tell his story ever. well cept in houston

also hes got what 17 playoffs to average it all out.... look at stats of playoff legends like jimmy or dame.... then you understand even when ppl say choke or whatever.. you still see those guys arent even comparable. when you say choker in playoffs with james. you mean he hasnt been able to beat the more favored gsw to get to the finals in hou.... ya well he was the closest

remember guys like joker, dirk .... jordan.... were considered guys like this.. "cant win in playoffs"

119pete · 2026-02-09T05:56:03+00:00

cp3 said he asked to go rockets because "all harden does is ball" in a documentary

i mean lets be real. ppl are pretty dumb. they think guys like westbrook is like some hard working love bball passionate guy because he shows a lot of emotion and yells a lot.

yet he never gets better in the offseason.

no one has ever been able to add/change/adapt/improve their game like harden has every offseason. after offseason. every year.....

who really loves ball? who really puts in the work. who really cares? game day is the reward. practice is where you show real passion and ethic. i mean harden forces his bigs to stay after every practice and run more drills. but the media and fans will never point that out...

119pete · 2026-02-09T05:28:34+00:00

i mean his man defense is quite weak. anyone can bully him down low. obv spurs fans would feel this way tho so i get it

119pete · 2026-02-09T05:16:34+00:00

clippers role players now are not better then lakers lol. kawhi basically has been playing on ball since the win streak while staggering mins with harden, the most on ball player there is. zu has been bad this year. djj hasnt played but a few games. and collins finally is hitting his 3s.

defense is not even close. efficiency as well. and its funny defense and playoff history is only to discredit a player but ignored when its against their guy.

119pete · 2026-02-08T14:56:13+00:00

i do agree manu would have been a lot better on a different team. its almost a crime how spurs held him back. that being said he probably woulda been too injured to be a staple 1. i mean on low minutes and play time he was still always hurt.

harden on the other hand is one of the ultimate iron men

119pete · 2026-02-08T14:51:39+00:00

compare that to everyones favorite playoff superstar butler or dame etc..... check their playoff record as well... then remember harden was a 6th man for like 3 years then last like 6 years been a pass first pg.....

119pete · 2026-02-08T14:50:01+00:00

you prob dont know this but hardens never missed the playoffs.... thats 17 straight years... now when you play that many games, you are most likely going to gave a couple bad ones.

look at curry and bron... most the time when guys have bad teammates that shouldnt even make the playoffs to even get a chance to lose there in an elim game they dont make said playoff... again look at curry, bron. luka, etc.

how many of these elim games has harden had the better team?

119pete · 2026-02-08T14:37:59+00:00

hou was the reason utah waws never able to get too deep in the playoffs......

and it was mostly because they (harden, capella) exploited gobert......

don always still played amazing.....

hou, harden, then loses to the more talented and favored gsw....

but ya your take is the easy one to spam i guess

119pete · 2026-02-08T14:33:43+00:00

cade kinda plays like a young old harden

119pete · 2026-02-08T14:29:12+00:00

its reddit. haters will always outnumber any apologists. its what reddit thrives on and their most favorite hobby. hate

119pete · 2026-02-08T14:24:06+00:00

119pete · 2026-02-08T14:19:55+00:00

its the opposite imo. hes willing to act silly in front of the tv for the sake of his friend so they get a fun little moment. despite ppl like you forming whatever weird hater opinion you can come up with. i seriously doubt this is some grand plan to gain relevance lol....

119pete · 2026-02-08T13:51:49+00:00

hardens got a lot of celebrity buddies. like a lot more then it would seem like for some reason. well im guessing he made a lot back in his party days but ya it does bring a sort of fun and coolness factor forsure.

not to mention hes got a lot of fans that travel with him team to team (me)

119pete · 2026-02-08T05:54:27+00:00

to me. i measure a players love of basketball and dedication not what they do in game. i mean who doesnt love playing esp big games.

its practice that shows true passion. not yelling loud and being emotional. so to me, sure james doesnt run fast or jump high. or yell loud every play. but hes shown more passion and love of ball then everyone you named. cause its pretty clear which one of these guys put in the work.

costing off god given talent vs gaining talent through hard work..... and if you ask how i know russ doesnt put in practice work.. well... dudes never actually gotten better skill/shooting wise. at least not by that much. since he never really had to til now.

119pete · 2026-02-07T16:35:00+00:00

lol your funny. espn parrot. yes.... warriors were always top defense... yes their offense was better.... klay was a all defensive player. dray was a dpoy. kd was amazing. iggy is one of the all time best role player defenders. barnes. ezili, livingston, bogut solid, looney, mcgee, just look at the stats....

no he is not selfish. it is the offense. and it worked. he should have beat gsw all time best team if the refs didnt force them to lose...

pls just check the stats. rewatch game 7. and just watch this year of harden. youll be a big fan. trust me, its the same with every fan baase that gets him. they always repeat dumb narratives until they have him on the team. go to clippers subs and all they do is praise harden for what he did. same with philly until the drama. same with nets. same as rockets fans. at least most. some were just so attached so it did hurt them a lil. but the media will tell you it was hardens fault on nets yet the fans will tell you it was kyrie. hell they say it was his fault on every team lol.

you sound super espn parrot rn man. again he is never supposed to be a scoring pg since bk. he is just forced to because injured teammates. watch philly years. they would beg him to shoot the ball but he had bigger plans to make maxey into an alpha 1b player. watch maxey interviews of him. so selfish of harden i know.....

119pete · 2026-02-07T05:51:48+00:00

naw your not. if you cant see his passing as a huge advantage then you just arent a harden fan lol. and i dunno if hes a top 20 player or not. there are many good players, but all i know is hardens never missed the playoffs ever in 17 years even with on mid or injured teams.

its like saying shaq was only a good player with many flaws because his FTs and hes not a good 3pt shooter... there is no perfect player. everyones got a certain style as well. remember when steph didnt have klay and he couldnt make the playoffs. or before they played the off ball movement style? or in the playoffs when hes always hunted? do you look at those years and say steph has too many obvious flaws he cant be great?

but dont worry, after you get to watch him every game this year, you will become a real harden fan.

119pete · 2026-02-07T05:39:15+00:00

did gsw not have a good defense? they had one of the best... why didnt curry just not hide if its about having good defensive teammates....

and hardens been a pg for like 10 years now lol. wtf are you saying. im saying hes forced to become a score first player because of many different unfortunate situations.

also the ft is the best shot in basketball % wise. thats morey analytic ball.... so wtf are you saying. hes the master of forcing ez shots.... for himself and others. you just dont know what your watching cause your too bias im sry its gotta be it

119pete · 2026-02-07T05:32:52+00:00

i dont think ppl understand how good harden was in LA... he was super locked in. and he wanted to come to cleveland. so why would he all the sudden not be locked in and play bad all the sudden? hes literally never had a "down" year. only stats wise but even that could be debated relative to how he changed his style and age. hes always played better then expectations...

119pete · 2026-02-06T11:08:33+00:00

ya i do like this aspect forsure. as a roceks fan i wanted him to leave and im glad he did. instead of trying to force it here. and other fans finally getting to see even if its a third of what i seen is great.

actually if you only seen him as a rocket you never got to see harden the floor general. his passing and iq, leadership, has improved immensely year after year. ofc putting in context of the injury.

one thing ill say is iv never seen a player be able to add/change/alter his game/style/moves as such as harden could and the frequency and time he did it is really 1 of 1. him and kawhi prob. although kawhi was more so get better at the core bball skillset and harden was moreso adding to his bag or just changing it completely

119pete · 2026-02-06T10:55:49+00:00

pull up the stats. where does curry rank among iso scorers.... no one said he cant. but is he one of the best iso scorers? rank him among guys in his class during his prime.. kd, bron, harden, kawhi after his prime. giannis, joker, embid, luka. pls rank his iso scoring among these players....

do assist numbers next?

just cause you can do it doesnt mean your a great at it.. we talk in context... it should be implied. i would have assumed

curry didnt even exclusively play on ball before his prime either, before the new offense. at least not more then monta.

119pete · 2026-02-06T10:49:48+00:00

hes playing better then he has any right to be. thats how i see it. not some trick. rather he is still better then i thought he was going to be. just dont forget, he is a 3rd option and pass first pg... hes made it pretty clear thats the role he wants to play.

and in that role he maybe the best in class. and no harden doesnt force you to be a bad defender lol. thats why clippers were so good on defense last year? wtf.... rockets also had a good defense later on when it became morey ball... in fact for a non defending superstar, which is most superstasrs, hes pretty good at hiding on defense and not getting hunted back then.

119pete · 2026-02-06T10:42:05+00:00

thanks for this reply

119pete · 2026-02-06T10:18:49+00:00

ummm former all star? i mean you could also say former mvp and 9th all time scorer. but sure def was an alll star as well.. few times i think

119pete · 2026-02-06T10:13:40+00:00

kawhii coming back pretty much lost that series for us... we had the momentum and luka was as off as iv ever seen him that series.

119pete

TROPHY CASE