Red Mosquito

4/5 wrote:James Harden is over here so confused because the media twisted themselves into pretzels defending KD, Kyrie, Kawhi, AD, etc. moves as player empowerment and he tries it and everybody is pissed at him.

Ha!

Can someone give me a cliff's notes on why people dislike Harden so much? I almost never watch the NBA.

Orpheus wrote:Can someone give me a cliff's notes on why people dislike Harden so much? I almost never watch the NBA.

It's a combination of several factors (I don't necessarily prescribe to every one):

- style of play (iso ball that does not involve actively involve teammates)
- tendency to flop or exaggerate contact to an obscene degree, many feel like he is playing the refs rather than basketball
- the perception of him being a spreadsheet/analytics wet dream putting up empty stats in regular season games
- lack of commitment to defense (just search for clips of his matador-like d)
- complete collapses/no shows in major playoff, closeout games (lots of stinkers out there)
- has begged for several star teammates and then doesn't want them after 1-3 years of playing with them (ex. Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Westbrook)
- has a reputation for being actively involved in certain nightlife activities
- not a good leader/teammate for a player of his skills/abilities

He's an incredibly talented player who is an historically great scorer, but some of these are just hard to ignore.

Orpheus wrote:Can someone give me a cliff's notes on why people dislike Harden so much? I almost never watch the NBA.

I can only answer for me. His game is aesthetically displeasing. He's efficient from a stat's perspective because he basically only takes three types of shots: threes, layups, and FT's. He does lots of petty arm hooking/flopping to get those FT's which is annoying. Watching a guy score 31 points while shooting 3/17 on pure iso ball is just not my definition of good basketball. I probably have other more petty answers than that, but it's a start.

Makes sense, thanks y'all. The only basketball fan I know is a Rockets guy so not exactly a lot of bad Harden press coming from that direction.

Monkey_Driven wrote:

Orpheus wrote:Can someone give me a cliff's notes on why people dislike Harden so much? I almost never watch the NBA.

It's a combination of several factors (I don't necessarily prescribe to every one):

- style of play (iso ball that does not involve actively involve teammates)
- tendency to flop or exaggerate contact to an obscene degree, many feel like he is playing the refs rather than basketball
- the perception of him being a spreadsheet/analytics wet dream putting up empty stats in regular season games
- lack of commitment to defense (just search for clips of his matador-like d)
- complete collapses/no shows in major playoff, closeout games (lots of stinkers out there)
- has begged for several star teammates and then doesn't want them after 1-3 years of playing with them (ex. Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Westbrook)
- has a reputation for being actively involved in certain nightlife activities
- not a good leader/teammate for a player of his skills/abilities

He's an incredibly talented player who is an historically great scorer, but some of these are just hard to ignore.

Yeah, all of this.

I can't believe there will be real, meaningful games in two weeks.

Monkey_Driven wrote:I can't believe there will be real, meaningful games in two weeks.

Yup. It's insane. I think I saw somebody post that the Finals ended in week 7 of the NFL season and the new season begins during week 15.

4/5 wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:I can't believe there will be real, meaningful games in two weeks.

Yup. It's insane. I think I saw somebody post that the Finals ended in week 7 of the NFL season and the new season begins during week 15.

As the fan of a team that didn't make the bubble, I am ready to watch. How many games will Lebron play before February 1st? 8-12?

Monkey_Driven wrote:

4/5 wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:I can't believe there will be real, meaningful games in two weeks.

Yup. It's insane. I think I saw somebody post that the Finals ended in week 7 of the NFL season and the new season begins during week 15.

As the fan of a team that didn't make the bubble, I am ready to watch. How many games will Lebron play before February 1st? 8-12?

Same here. I don’t think I’ve seen them play since February.

4/5 wrote:Aight, np.

My man.

Somebody hide Riley's phone from him.

Holy Clippers contract man.

they will be back to the old clips before too long

GAR TO THE PELICANS

Kyrie Irving is such a fucking clown

I've already seen enough to know Patrick Williams is legit. Versatile. Great frame. Looks like he can shoot.

Coby White and Laurie Markkanen suck tho

Welp.

Man Riley really about to go after Harden now.

4/5 wrote:Welp.