Is James Harden's biggest issue this year still hamstring related?

[Shogon]

Well, psychologically speaking, anyways... if not flat out being out of playing shape and out of practice. It was only 4 months ago that he was last injured.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXdLqRqIxKk

If you watch this interview, he flat out states...

"As much I want to get back to 30, 40 points... you can't do that. I had no opportunities to play pickup this summer. Everything was rehab for 3 months."


Which totally makes sense. I believe it. You can't go as good as he was to... what he is now... that quickly... without it being injury related.

Anyways...

He's still a piece of shit and the refs are still calling his bullshit.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Auvsxvef8U

:facepalm

No room to land? What a ****ing brain dead announcer. He kicked his legs way the **** out in one of the most unnatural shooting motions you will ever see.

[Shogon]

And if you want to argue that he didn't have room to land, basically you're arguing that if you do that step back the defender literally just has to stand still, watch you shoot and literally not defend you at all. Silly.

[outofstomach]

it’s a combination of the rules and his hamstring injury. not only has he not ran any pickup games, he has to adapt his play style to compensate for his reduced athleticism, in addition to having to anticipate getting clobbered and hacked on drives with no calls, he’ll get it together

[outofstomach]

And if you want to argue that he didn't have room to land, basically you're arguing that if you do that step back the defender literally just has to stand still, watch you shoot and literally not defend you at all. Silly.

or idk.. maybe don’t jump towards the shooter? maybe just put a hand up to contest like they literally teach you in high school? these new rules really do reward shit defense

[Shogon]

or idk.. maybe don’t jump towards the shooter? maybe just put a hand up to contest like they literally teach you in high school? these new rules really do reward shit defense

So uh... since you can't be all up on guys and putting hands on them anymore, you have to give them some space so they don't blow by you.

And now you're saying you want the guy to just stand still and put a hand up as Harden creates an ADDITIONAL 3 feet of space on top of the space that you ALREADY give him because you're not allowed to touch him and have to account for the possibility of him blowing by you?

That's not defense. That's called not allowing defenders to play defense.

[outofstomach]

So uh... since you can't be all up on guys and putting hands on them anymore, you have to give them some space so they don't blow by you.

And now you're saying you want the guy to just stand still and put a hand up as Harden creates an ADDITIONAL 3 feet of space on top of the space that you ALREADY give him because you're not allowed to touch him and have to account for the possibility of him blowing by you?

That's not defense. That's called not allowing defenders to play defense.didnt say anything about standing still, the issue here is jumping. i have never heard a coach encourage a player to jump or literally sprint at a shooter to contest a shot (unless they are getting there extremely late, and have to make up for it + they’re absolutely sure they’re shooting the ball) there’s a certain way you’re supposed to close out, and you are discouraged from jumping at every single jump shot because not only can you injure the player, it puts you out of position

[FultzNationRISE]

Not buyin it.

Hamstring definitely limits your explosion but theres no reason he couldnt just play a high IQ skill-based game like Luka or CP3 and make an impact. There was video of him practicing his “new moves” so dont tell me he had no time in the offseason for conditioning. The difference is he doesnt have the competitive drive those other guys do.

If he cant play “Harden ball” then he barely gives effort and he sucks ass. Thats a mental thing and something that should be within his control but evidently just not in his makeup.

Harden has an extremely low motor and I suspect not getting foul calls creates more malaise in his play than the injury does.

Guy is a loser on the basketball court. Always has been. Dont know why people expected it to suddenly change one day.

[outofstomach]

Not buyin it.

Hamstring definitely limits your explosion but theres no reason he couldnt just play a high IQ skill-based game like Luka or CP3 and make an impact. There was video of him practicing his “new moves” so dont tell me he had no time in the offseason for conditioning. The difference is he doesnt have the competitive drive those other guys do.

If he cant play “Harden ball” then he barely gives effort and he sucks ass. Thats a mental thing and something that should be within his control but evidently just not in his makeup.

Harden has an extremely low motor and I suspect not getting foul calls creates more malaise in his play than the injury does.

Guy is a loser on the basketball court. Always has been. Dont know why people expected it to suddenly change one day.
harden has a low motor?

[Shogon]

didnt say anything about standing still, the issue here is jumping. i have never heard a coach encourage a player to jump or literally sprint at a shooter to contest a shot (unless they are getting there extremely late, and have to make up for it + they’re absolutely sure they’re shooting the ball) there’s a certain way you’re supposed to close out, and you are discouraged from jumping at every single jump shot because not only can you injure the player, it puts you out of position

OK how exactly do you want him to close out on that step back where he's not then within James Harden's alleged landing space?

Whether you realize it or not you are literally advocating for that step back to not be defended.

[Shogon]

Not buyin it.

Hamstring definitely limits your explosion but theres no reason he couldnt just play a high IQ skill-based game like Luka or CP3 and make an impact. There was video of him practicing his “new moves” so dont tell me he had no time in the offseason for conditioning. The difference is he doesnt have the competitive drive those other guys do.

If he cant play “Harden ball” then he barely gives effort and he sucks ass. Thats a mental thing and something that should be within his control but evidently just not in his makeup.

Harden has an extremely low motor and I suspect not getting foul calls creates more malaise in his play than the injury does.

Guy is a loser on the basketball court. Always has been. Dont know why people expected it to suddenly change one day.


Yet another part of it could also be that D'Antoni is out of town. I wonder how much that matters.

There's a lot of shit going on here but I don't think for one second Harden is going to end the season as a 15ppg player.

[FultzNationRISE]

harden has a low motor?


:biggums:

[FultzNationRISE]

Yet another part of it could also be that D'Antoni is out of town. I wonder how much that matters.

There's a lot of shit going on here but I don't think for one second Harden is going to end the season as a 15ppg player.


His ppg might go up if he gets healthier, because it might give him more opportunity to be James Harden. My point is just that‘s not a good thing unless you care exclusively about regular season stats, and not competitive potential. He’s healthy and skilled enough right now to make a bigger impact if he had the heart and balls for it, but he doesnt. He’s fat as fvck and is just playing a watered down version of Harden ball.

So yeah, his lack of statistical impact might be related to injury. But his lack of general impact is still related exclusively to his absence of balls IMO.

[outofstomach]

OK how exactly do you want him to close out on that step back where he's not then within James Harden's alleged landing space?

Whether you realize it or not you are literally advocating for that step back to not be defended.jump on the side of him if you absolutely have to.. anticipate the stepback.. hell, if you want to jump you can jump straight up rather than literally at the shooter

i play basketball irl and deal with shooters all the time, and the last thing that i personally ever do is jump, i either jump late, or close out very hard and send them to help etc. defending stepbacks aren’t easy especially if someone can hit them at a high clip, but there’s other ways rather than literally throwing yourself at the shooter and not allowing them to come down

im not an NBA player though so who knows, maybe im just biased and see everything skewed on purpose

[FultzNationRISE]

jump on the side of him if you absolutely have to.. anticipate the stepback.. hell, if you want to jump you can jump straight up rather than literally at the shooter

i play basketball irl and deal with shooters all the time, and the last thing that i personally ever do is jump, i either jump late, or close out very hard and send them to help etc. defending stepbacks aren’t easy especially if someone can hit them at a high clip, but there’s other ways rather than literally throwing yourself at the shooter and not allowing them to come down

im not an NBA player though so who knows, maybe im just biased and see everything skewed on purpose


You mean in the “real life” you made up as a backstory to this gimmick?

Cringe.

[warriorfan]

You mean in the “real life” you made up as a backstory to this gimmick?

Cringe.

:roll:

[Ghost1]

https://i.postimg.cc/NjhVvYSp/hrthrhj.png

[outofstomach]

You mean in the “real life” you made up as a backstory to this gimmick?

Cringe.

…what?

[noonereal]

it’s a combination of the rules and

his teammates. They suck.

KD is all alone out there this year.