http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/17644562/james-harden-becomes-full-point-guard-houston-rockets HOUSTON -- Houston Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said Monday morning that shooting guard James Harden is changing positions. He's becoming a full-time point guard. "With James you make a joke he's a 'points guard' because he's going to score some points," D'Antoni said. Under the new up-tempo offense, D'Antoni has decided to put the ball in Harden's hands more than last season, like a traditional point guard, to get opposing defenses off him in the half court. It should also allow Harden to become more of a playmaker.
And this is different than before..how? He never doesn't have the ball, all he has now is the title that gives him the excuse to have it all the time.
I bet he'll lead the league in scoring. And he'll average about 2 assists per game, 0 steals, give up 30 ppg. And he'll be happy about that.
well, he averaged 7.5 assists as a sg last year, so i'll take the over on the 2apg projection. that said, i agree that i don't think it translates to wins. i do agree that putting a terrible defender at pg isn't as big a deal considering all the pick and roll action in the current nba playbooks, but i question whether harden can run a dantoni scheme offensively. he's a rudy three offense type, which is what houston has run since he's been there. dantoni asks for the ball to move, and harden has NEVER played that way. it will be like playing soccer or something. his stats will be video game crazy because of their pace and his usage, but they won't be a top shelf team playing that way.
while i see some similarities, i think russell's a different player and closer to a real pg than harden. one way you can see it, ironically, is in their off ball play. russell understands off ball movement, which is why he's able to make some of those highlight reel passes. harden only does draw and kick or drive and dump. you almost never see him make a quality pass that doesn't come off the dribble, on the move. that's tyreke evans/dwyane wade stuff. russell's more like ginobili, imo, who probably could have played some point if he had an off hand.
Really? Harden isn't a good shooter - can't shoot well despite all the bail outs. And his ast/to ratio is atrocious for someone who handles the ball so much, especially on good teams. Russell's rookie season was largely on par - just in terms of shooting and ast/to - with Harden's career numbers. And he was on a terrible team. I also think DA has better vision, passing, and defense.
Harden is a career 37% shooter from the three point line so I'm not sure what you are talking about. He is a scorer first and will always take questionable shots that will lower his efficiency but 37% is excellent for a volume shooter and scorer. I hate James Harden. His game sucks to watch, his face too and he has never been very successful. But he is a great player in his own right and to say Russell is better at this or that is just pointless. Russell is not better than Harden overall, actually not even close right now. If Russell becomes Harden, everyone here and their mother will be more than happy.
