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Russell Westbrook was lights out before the arrival of Harden and now he’s miserable.
So it’s gotta be because of him right? Aaa take a close look here.
Harden himself penetrates and flips it back out to Russ who’s completely wide open, but he misses.
Again, on the drive, you see how the defense shrinks around the Beard and he makes the right pass to Westbrook with nobody near him and all the time in the world but he misses again.
This is from the same game, Harden would have dribbled back and forth here for who knows how much, but he sees his buddy in the corner open again. And another miss.
In transition against the Knicks, it’s the same exact thing.
A large majority of his 3 for 14 from downtown with Harden on the team were clean looks like this. So you already know that the difference in percentages is most likely a statistical anomaly from a bad shooter like Westbrook.
Look at PG and Kawhi’s numbers and you see the same drop in percentages, but even Paul George took similar type of shots that he always does if you actually dive deep into his shot attempts.
So as much as he’s become the punching bag ever since the trade, Harden is not the only problem.
James himself offered a potential solution: I GOTTA SHOOT THE CATCH AND SHOOT
And yeah, these are a few examples where you see him hesitating, but in terms of the efficiency, he’s actually ok.
The problem with him however is this:
Look at the amount of dunks and layups going down for Harden each and every year.
From 12, now to only 3 per 100 possessions. A 4 time decrease.
Fans might remember his killer stepbacks, but his bread and butter and what made him unstoppable was in fact getting to the rim. And from there he either scored or got fouled.
The decrease in free throw attempts per game is also huge.
11 attempts from the line in 2018-19, to 6.2 last year in a full season with Phily to 3.4 in limited sample size right now with the Clippers.
Right here you see that the speed and the explosiveness is absolutely gone.
And while teams used to guard him from behind a few years ago because they knew he would blow by defenders anyway, right now it’s a way tighter contest on the shots, because opponents know that he doesn’t have the same speed.
This happened to Allen Iverson, to Carmelo Anthony, to many other superstars.
It’s no big deal to get older and lose the quickness.
But when you still wanna be the same ball dominant player, and not adjust, not move without the ball, never set any screens, nothing…Then you’re basically a net negative type of player.
And funny enough, it was the same scenario for AI, Melo and now for Harden.
This is exactly why Philly got much better by just getting rid of him, and exactly why the Clippers are where they are at the moment.
Let me know what you think. Subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.