James Harden is the best SG in the league

[SCdac]

Don't think he's better than Bryant, but Harden is a beast.

26/5/5/2 on 60% TS- incredible. Has a bunch of scrubs at 16-12. Anchoring the #6 offense in the league.

Assuming Kobe comes back to Earth, Harden will probably be #1 by the end of the season.

They're also playing at the fastest pace than any team in the league. Which is usually a tough transition to the playoffs, where games become a grind.

[SyRyanYang]

If anything, Harden deserves more credit for carrying his squad of average talent. Asik is the only one who's well above average.

Lin's been playing well late, Parsons's definitely well above average.

[chazzy]

If the OP wasn't such a troll about it Harden could get a proper appreciation thread. He's really playing well and I wish he played up to his standards in the finals to give us a better series. Kmart is a nice replacement to fill his scoring void but his presence will be missed in the playoffs.

[DatAsh]

It's between him and Kobe this season. Looking at the records and stats -

Harden
26/5/5 on 60%

Kobe
30/5/5 on 59%

Harden
Leading a relatively weak supporting cast to 16-12

Kobe
Leading an almost ridiculously stacked supporting cast to 14-15

- Harden appears to be the clear winner. However, watching the games still leaves me with the sense that Kobe is the overall better player, despite the superior supporting cast and worse overall record. The Laker's struggles have little to do with Kobe's level of play this season. In fact, he's played great. Having watched every Laker game this season, and virtually every Rockets game, I still have to go with Kobe at this point, though I will say that Harden does have him beat on paper.

[Jacks3]

I don't understand how you can say they're "ridiculously stacked" when Nash has been out 25 games, Pau has missed 7 games and generally struggled, and they've had one of the worst benches in the game. Plus three different head coaches...

For the vast majority of the season it's essentially been Kobe/Howard and a bunch of role-players.

[TylerOO]

I don't understand how you can say they're "ridiculously stacked" when Nash has been out 25 games, Pau has missed 7 games and generally struggled, and they've had one of the worst benches in the game. Plus three different head coaches...

For the vast majority of the season it's essentially been Kobe/Howard and a bunch of role-players.

Come on, the Lakers are obviously stacked, especially when comparing them to the Rockets.

[SyRyanYang]

I don't understand how you can say they're "ridiculously stacked" when Nash has been out 25 games, Pau has missed 7 games and generally struggled, and they've had one of the worst benches in the game. Plus three different head coaches...

For the vast majority of the season it's essentially been Kobe/Howard and a bunch of role-players.

Plus Howard not being his old self.

[SyRyanYang]

Come on, the Lakers are obviously stacked, especially when comparing them to the Rockets.

The Lakers are only stacked when their four stars start playing up to their standard. The rest of the team is straight up horrible

[TylerOO]

Plus Howard not being his old self.

You dont think the Lakers system has anything to do with Dwight playing average, for him atleast? He barely gets the ball. Im sure hes frustrated by it too, which harms his play.

[DatAsh]

I don't understand how you can say they're "ridiculously stacked" when Nash has been out 25 games, Pau has missed 7 games and generally struggled, and they've had one of the worst benches in the game. Plus three different head coaches...

For the vast majority of the season it's essentially been Kobe/Howard and a bunch of role-players.

That was part of the "on paper" argument, and it's the reason I made that distinction in the first place. Like I said, the Laker's struggles so far have very little to do with Kobe's play.

This isn't last year though, they actually have a fairly decent bench with Metta, Jamison, and Hill. All three of those guys could be good starters on a number of teams. I'm not sure D'Antoni's properly figured out how to use his bench yet, but that's another matter.

[elementally morale]

You dont think the Lakers system has anything to do with Dwight playing average, for him atleast? He barely gets the ball. Im sure hes frustrated by it too, which harms his play.

He does get the ball, he just doesn't really know what he shoulld do with it. Hint: play above your defender's head.

[red1]

harden will overtake kobe soon

[TylerOO]

The Lakers are only stacked when their four stars start playing up to their standard. The rest of the team is straight up horrible

What standard? Nash and Dwight and Pau can only do so much when Kobe is holding the ball for most of the game. Dont expect any of them to meet their averages of the past. They will start to get towards their old averages if Kobe decides to share the ball. Until then, expect more of Pau's 13-8. Dwight's 16-14. And Nash getting close to 10 assists.

[TylerOO]

He does get the ball, he just doesn't really know what he shoulld do with it. Hint: play above your defender's head.

Kobe probably yells at him when he shoots and misses . Dwight seems scared when he gets the ball

[spiegel]

In the 8 of last 9 wins, Harden has been averaging 30 points 6 assists 5 boards in just under 60% shooting.