NBA
Why YOUR Hate of James Harden is Utterly Ridiculous
Don’t hate the player, hate the game that Harden has revolutionized.
Love to hate on James Harden? You’ve come to the right place! No shame in my game — I’ll happily be the heel to your haterism of The Beard since it’s completely ridiculous (and getting my article clicks at the same time)!
When using logic, this is an open and shut case. His MVP, plus 3 MVP Runner-ups, 2 scoring titles (soon to be 3), 5x 1st Team All NBA selections, 8x All Star selections, 6th Man of the year award, 1x annual minutes leader, 2x NBA 3pt field goals leader, 2012 Olympic Gold Medal, countless other statistical accolades, mean handles, ability to draw fouls and finish And 1’s, step-back threes, spooky deceleration, and ability to blow by defenders who are quicker and more athletic than him — all while being one of the most statistically efficient players in the NBA for the past 7 years — should be enough to convince anyone he’s the definition of a baller. Case closed, right?
But as they say, “Haters gonna hate.” And given your indulgence in player hating isn’t a rational endeavor, I know things like logic and facts won’t change your mind. So even if those accolades above weren’t enough (even though they most certainly should be), here are 5 typical James Harden criticisms and why they’re simply lazy excuses to be a Negative Nancy.
1) TRAVELING
Harden’s step-back three is devastating and nearly impossible to stop. This is in large part because he has brilliantly pushed the boundaries of what you can do legally within the NBA rule book giving him a competitive edge over his contemporaries. Regardless of your desire to ignore the facts, it is fact Harden’s step-back is not a travel. Davion Moore on Sportskeeda explains it perfectly:
“In the Rule 10, Section XIII section, it explains why Harden can use his step-back jumper. According to the section, ‘A player who receives the ball while he is progressing or upon completion of a dribble, may take two steps in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball… James Harden’s step-back jumper includes a ‘gather step’ that allows him to gather the ball, then take two steps. He does the ‘gather step’ just in time to avoid traveling.”
You can see below where the NBA officially explains that Harden’s step-back is a legal move:
As you can see, no amount of wish-casting will change what you think is traveling. What matters is what is traveling. Hating on Harden for pushing the boundaries to get a competitive edge is like the child who gets mad at their teacher because Little Billy got an A and they got a C. “It’s not fair!”
“Yes, it is… he studied while you stayed up watching reruns of The Golden Girls.” Great show, but you‘re still getting that C while The Beard did his homework. And to make matters worse for your kind, players like Steph Curry, Lebron James, Luka Doncic, and others have implemented a Harden style step-back and side-step three into their arsenals. In other words, Harden revolutionized the game.
Love Doncic? Even though he clearly styled a lot of his game from Harden and pulls the step-back three all the time? …Hater.
2) DRAWING FOULS
Harden gets to the line. In fact, for the last four years he’s led the league in free throw attempts per game… as a guard. If you’re not a Rockets fan, seeing Harden draw fouls, get to the line, put points on the board, and eventually contribute to your team’s L’s must be infuriating. I’d probably hate that too if he was putting points up on my team like that. But the difference is you’re hating the player when you should be hating the game! If you’re honest with yourself, that’s a skill you wish your players had because it stops the flow of the other team’s rhythm, puts points on the board, and contributes to wins.
Harden has made it into an art form. So much so that many defenders won’t swipe at the ball or even put their hand out on defense in fear that he’ll push his hands through their arm and draw a foul. And as you yell at your television, “Come on! That’s not a real foul,” guess what happens on a semi-regular basis? …He hits the shot anyways and gets the And 1. I’ve honestly never seen a player hit so many difficult And 1 three point shots. It’s really something to behold.
The point is, while you’re busy getting mad — just like when Dennis Rodman would infuriate opponents with his intelligent tactics on the court — this is nothing short of genius on the part of Harden. Manipulating the rules of the game to your advantage is a skill, and in drawing fouls, he’s mastered it. If you sit back and allow yourself to watch it unfold objectively, you’ll see how impressive and effective it really is.
Think Rodman was cool in The Last Dance? Even though he infuriated other teams and their fan bases with tactics to get under their skin and draw fouls in the spirit of winning games? …Hater.
3) BALL HOG
Harden consistently has some of the highest usage rates, shot volumes, and points scored in NBA history. Haters love to claim that he’s a “selfish ball hog.” Jealous you can’t ball like that?
But in actuality, as one of your leading Beard haters Max Kellerman frequently says on ESPN First Take, Harden is actually a team player. D’Antoni asks Harden to keep the ball in his hands because it statistically maximizes the team’s chance of success according to analytics.
But anyone who regularly watches the Rockets play will tell you Harden loves getting his teammates involved and does a fantastic job doing just that. In the 2016–2017 season, Harden led the NBA in assists with 11.2 assists per game! And to further this point, since 2013 Harden has never had a season with under 7 assists per game. We should be talking about Harden being a dimer, since he’s actually an underrated passer.
Love Kobe and A.I.? Even though they were both one man shows on offense with an extremely high shot volume and usage rate? …Hater.
4) NOT A TOP 5 PLAYER OR BETTER SCORER THAN MICHAEL JORDAN
His Beardness, The Bearder, or El Bearderino if you’re not into the whole brevity thing, is in constant debate as to whether he’s a Top 5 player currently and if he’s a better scorer than His Airness. Those with a strong anti-Harden bias would say ‘No’ to both of those, while the Harden fans would answer yes to the first and the Homers might even say yes to the second.
As far as being a scorer, even the most cynical and negative Debbie Downers can’t deny Harden’s scoring talent. Look at these points per game numbers:
- 2014–2015 - 27.4 ppg
- 2015–2016 - 29.0 ppg
- 2016–2017 - 30.4 ppg
- 2018–2019 - 36.1 ppg
- 2019–2020 - 34.4 ppg
But does that mean he’s a Top 5 guy or that he’s a better scorer than MJ? I can’t answer that type of barbershop debate. But I will say this — when arguing about whether Harden is Top 5 or better or worse than MJ as a scorer, even when arguing the negative you’re essentially arguing he’s one of the best players in the world. It would be one thing to pick some random guy who never comes off the bench for the Knicks and argue that he sucks. But these arguments unwittingly make the case that Harden IS a top player. So a couple of guys are ranked higher or the best player who ever lived is a better scorer… so what? That means this guy is a baller and one of the best in the world to be even mentioned in that conversation.
Love Steph Curry? Even though he’s often not considered a ‘Top 5’ player or a better scorer than MJ? …Hater.
5) PLAYOFF CHOKER
Last but not least, we get to the newest fad of haterdom pushed heavily by your hater-in-chief, Max Kellerman. He has popularized these overblown critiques on ESPN First Take with comments like, “James Harden chokes under pressure.” To be fair, there have been a couple of notoriously bad closeout games for The Beard. But let’s look into that with a little more rationality, shall we?
First and foremost, and before we get to the numbers, are you ready for your haterism to be shut down in one easy argument? It’s really simple. If Harden had Steph, Klay, and Dray as his teammates, he’d have multiple rings too. It’s that easy. Harden in his prime has worked with much less, and has had to pull his teammates up while competing against one of the best dynasties in NBA history in the Warriors. The fact that he even got to the Western Conference Finals pulling all the scoring weight on his shoulders speaks to how great he is as a player. Harden has never had a cast of superstars to work with in the past that can compare with KD, Steph, Klay, and Dray on paper. Chris Paul is a great point guard, but still Harden had to practically carry the scoring load alone for the entire team.
Second, you might be thinking, “Well, Kawhi did it. And Harden didn’t.” So is your argument Kawhi is better than Harden? You’re hating on a guy because he’s not Kawhi? That’s weird, but OK, see point #4. That argument is still in the realm of inherently arguing that he’s one of the best players in the league and has nothing to do with choking.
Third, as Kellerman regularly claims and Tom Ziller points out in SB Nation, his points per game and efficiency ratings do go down in the playoffs. But in fact, as Anthony Ducket points out, while his efficiency drops some, his numbers don’t actually drop that much and are still really tough:
“…he averages 29 points per game during the regular season on 44.3 percent from the field and 36.3 percent from deep. In addition, Harden averages 7.7 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game during the regular season along with 4.4 turnovers per game. During the postseason, Harden averages 28.2 points per game, 7 assists and 5.2 rebounds, in addition to 4.5 turnovers per game.”
But regardless this is really a spurious straw man. Given the fact that Harden takes a huge volume of shots as a one-man show and he’s playing better defenses in the playoffs who have time to focus and prepare for him, it’s predictable that his numbers would drop. KD’s Warriors numbers look great because no one could afford to double him because of all of the Warriors’ firepower. Meanwhile, Harden is literally facing double and triple teams all game long by playoff teams. Of course Harden’s numbers will drop. That’s common sense. So that argument really doesn’t say much.
Max Kellerman would counter, “Micheal Jordan’s playoff numbers didn’t drop, they got better.” But again, Jordan had Pippen, and what’s left of that argument is once again establishing Harden is not Micheal Jordan (See point #4… again.) A lot of players aren’t as efficient in the playoffs, as Ziller says,
“Stephen Curry has famously seen a performance dip in the playoffs, specifically in the NBA Finals. That doesn’t diminish his starring role on three championship teams or his status as the best shooter ever…”
Why? Because the playoffs are hard, and players who rely on skill like Curry and Harden are more likely to have dips, particularly when they’re the primary option with little support and take difficult shots. Steph’s numbers drop even with the support of Klay and Dray (and KD for a stint)! Another player who has a similar scoring weight on his shoulders is Giannis Antetokounmpo. As teams also prepare for his solo scoring act, his numbers and efficiency both drop in the playoffs as well even while his shot selection is nowhere near the difficulty of Harden’s. Harden and Steph live on way tougher shots, and Harden does it without other superstar scorers, so a decline in efficiency in the playoffs should be expected.
Fourth, what about those bad games of Harden’s in the playoffs? Reggie Miller, Kevin Durant, Lebron James, Steph Curry, Charles Barkley, and every other NBA star has had bad games in the playoffs. Even MJ, who is the gold standard that no other player can measure up to, has had games where he blew it in the last few seconds or had games where he went cold. And here is a big point — usually the players with rings like Steph Curry had other superstars to carry the load when they were playing badly during a playoff series (as mentioned above). Harden hasn’t had that luxury until the addition of Westbrook.
Fifth, “Well, OK, but Harden chokes in the clutch moments.” You sure about that?
“I thought we were talking about the playoffs.” We are. I was just making a point.
Anthony Duckett wrote a really great article which chronicles all of Harden’s playoff series statistics — good and bad. And if you’re actually interested in seeing the actual story, go check it out. Like any other player, there is both good and bad. Harden has had his share of bad playoff games, no doubt. But that’s not the standard we’re arguing about. We’re arguing about whether he’s one of the biggest chokers in the game or of all time. If anything, his numbers look predictable and more like a superstar who has had good and bad games when asked to carry the load in crunch time. So does Harden always choke when it matters? The fact is, this fallacy is simply not true. Has Harden choked in big moments? Yes… similar to other stars. Has Harden shown up big in big moments? Yes as well.
How about facing elimination in 2014? “Harden scored eight of the Rockets’ final ten points to close out the game and helped the Rockets extend the series to Game 6.” Or in the 2015 playoffs against the Warriors, as Anothy Duckett writes,
“With the Rockets facing a sweep in Game 4, Harden scored 45 points, which was not only a game high but also the most points any player would score in any game of the series. Harden shot a staggering 63.6 percent from downtown and shot 92.3 percent from the charity stripe…”
In the 2016 playoffs against the Warriors, after shooting 60% from 3 in Game 1 and scoring 28 with 11 assists in Game 2, he hit this last second shot in overtime to sink the Warriors and win Game 3…
How about that 2018 series against the Warriors?
“In Game 1 of the [2018] series [against the Warriors], Harden scored a game-high 41 points and shot 55.6 percent from deep... During Game 2, Harden had… 27 points and 10 rebounds… In Game 6… he had 32 points, nine assists and three steals.”
What about the infamous Game 7 collapse where they went ice cold from behind the arc as a team and Harden missed all 11 threes causing Max Kellerman to call it a “historical choke job” on the part of Harden? In that game, most people don’t realize he still dropped 32 points! Yes, that was a terrible game for Houston. But for a “historical choke job” that sticks to Harden’s legacy, dropping 32 is still a level of effectiveness most NBA players can’t achieve.
Finally, last year in 2019 against the Warriors where they lost Game 5 & 6 after Durant was sidelined with injury (which was a real let down), individually…
“In Game 5, Harden had a game-high 31 points on a ridiculously efficient 62.5 percent from the field... [F]acing elimination in Game 6, Harden had a game-high 35 points, as he made six treys on 40 percent from deep.
[For the entire series], Harden shot 44.3 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from deep… [while] Curry… shot 40.3 percent from the field and a mere 27.9 percent from deep. Yet, the media’s narrative after the series was that Harden choked and Curry rose to the occasion, even though the numbers tell a different story.”
The reality is Harden has come up big in the clutch many times. This hate-tastic narrative that James Harden always chokes just doesn’t hold water and isn’t supported by the facts.
Still bullish and unable to listen to facts? I know it’s hard being a hater… Hater.
But hey, I get it. Fans love to create all kinds of reasons to hate on great players and pretend their success is some type of fluke instead of just enjoying watching great athletes do their thing. They did it with Allen Iverson, and now he’s one of the most beloved players in NBA history. Go figure. Whether people realize it or not, part of it is flattery since a good heel can’t draw heat without posing some type of threat to the babyface. Just ask Stone Cold Steve Austin.
At the end of the day, rivalries are part of the joy of being a sports fan. You’re entitled to like, dislike, and even hate on whoever you want. It’s a free country. And since it is, I’m also free to write an article and get clicks strictly off the strength of your haterdom. I guess everybody wins. God Bless America… I think I’m getting teary eyed. Stay safe out there.
This article, Why YOUR Hate of James Harden is Utterly Ridiculous, was originally written by Corey Perkins and appeared first on his Medium page.
