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22 years old
This (and the plethora of greys that re-posted it) just keeps getting funnier, imho. The guy is only 22 and has been a vital part of a finals team, and has already hit huge shots in the playoffs.Yet spurfan still acts like its a sin to compare him to their all-holy manu
Yeah, no he doesn't have as many accolades as Manu; his career is just ing starting. Young players get compared to older players, its just something that happens. And when a guy is a left-handed combo guard that comes off the bench, hes gonna get compared to Manu.
god that post was grey
Unless injuries happen
Harden's playing style makes him injury-prone methinksUnless injuries happen
Other than the fact of being lefties, coming off the benh, being crafty, using the euro step, having a crazy offensive efficiency, gettig to the line, the step back three, etc. nothing, they have nothing in common.
What does that even mean? Harden would be lucky to be half the big-game player Manu is.
If Manu were black, he would have been the greatest lefty shooting guard to play the game.
the 22-year-old excuse.
Don't forget getting elbowed by Artest to the head.
Harden started younger and with less experience, yet he's improving quite a bit faster. I would go as far as to say that by the time Harden is 25, his playoff performance will surpass any of Manu's. I'll give flopping skill to Manu, though; he's the goat there.
Coming from somebody who hopes the flopper breaks an ankle.
Plus, maybe Harden will actually be able to stay healthy for a full season
Prior to these finals I may have agreed with you but now I don't know. 'Till this playoffs run Harden had been pretty ty on the postseason, these are the first ones where he actually plays like he does in the regular sason and yet he choked mightly on the finals.
Harden started younger and with less experience, yet he's improving quite a bit faster. I would go as far as to say that by the time Harden is 25, his playoff performance will surpass any of Manu's. I'll give flopping skill to Manu, though; he's the goat there.
Coming from somebody who hopes the flopper breaks an ankle.
I doubt he will be a big performer on the playoffs during the totality of his career, let alone have a playoffs run like Manu had in '05.
Choking in young players is common, he still came through on some tight occasions so it's unfair to assume he won't develop the ability to drop daggers at will. Manu was, what, 27 in 2005? To say Harden can't possibly match & surpass that Manu (whom I believe you're overrating) in 5 years, then it's like saying Harden has hit his ceiling or will hit it soon.
It's not like we're saying Harden will be a top 10 SG in history
It depends on what you consider by "surpassing" Manu, if it's having better stats then yes I think he can definitely surpass him. If you mean actually playing better than Manu at his prime, I don't know if he can. He may but it's doubtful at best, not "likely" like you said.
What about him tells you it's doubtful? All you have to go on is an inexperienced 22 year old not stepping up well in the NBA finals (the highest platform in the basketball world). You're ignoring that it's extremely rare for a player to excel in those conditions at a young age. Heck, the few that did are greats like Magic, Isiah, Kareem.
Now, what I have to go by is the fact that he's a shooter that's improving at a very consistent rate and performing well for somebody with very little experience. He's a perfect comparison to Manu and a perfect prospect to surpass him. I think it's likely because that's the direction he's going towards now. If he gets injured, traded to a terrible team or something, the outlook will change.
Harden and Ginobili are comparable on the offensive end, Harden may even surpass Ginobili as a player, from a skills perspective..his main advantage could be that he'll stay healthy, which is seemingly impossible for Manu..
However, in addition to DAF's point about Manu being a big-game player, Harden is an atrocious defensive player, while prime Ginobili was always a solid defensive player, tbh..
Manu has stepped up in the big moments since a very early age in Europe, on the NT and even as a rookie in the NBA. And Harden doesn't have the athleticism that young Manu had and that's not something that you improve with age.
Europe is irrelevant and Harden doesn't really base his game off athleticism so that's a fairly moot point. He displays a fair amount bbIQ on the floor and defense is another thing that isn't common in younger players. An instance would be Durant, who still is sub-par on defense, but is improving on it. Nobody would seriously say Manu has better than above average defense with a straight face. A lot of your knocks against Harden also relate to NBA players who had better primes than Manu.
Lebron folded under the big spotlight plenty of times, but came through finally. Obviously his prime is better than Manu's. Larry Bird had hardly any athleticism but just was good based on IQ and shooting ability. While the players themselves are not directly comparable to shooting guards, the qualities I mentioned are.
For the kind of players Manu & Harden are, the qualities that justify their place in the NBA are based on skill and experience. Ability to perform under pressure, shooting, facilitating and playmaking are learned skills. Harden, so far, has shown promising growth and there isn't any one reason that would bar him from surpassing Manu.
I would say that the athletic ability on a player that has "slashing" as an important part of his game is fairly important. There's a reason Manu isn't as good as he used to be.
Harden doesn't have the basketball insticts that Manu has either (the ability to come up with huge plays like steals, blocks, draw offensive fouls, offensive boards, pass, etc at the right moments)
The truth is we can argue a lot about this but we will only know who's right with time, next season should be an important one to determine which way Harden's career will go.
Statistically, Ginobili only trailed Duncan, Robinson and Bowen in defensive +/-, in the past 10 years of Spurs basketball..he was always a solid defensive player..at the moment, he's probably below average, but in his prime, he was easily a notable defensive player..
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