By Steve Bunin
The Kevin Durant vs. Dwyane Wade social media battle became a national story over the last few days, after SI.com failed to put James Harden on its list of top-10 players in the NBA (ranking Harden 11th and Wade eighth) .
Asked about the list, Durant told a reporter Harden belongs in the top 10. Asked who he should replace, Durant immediately responded, “Dwyane Wade.”
But Wade responded on Instagram:
"Kevin Durant said James Harden should replace me in the Top 10... Note to self* Make him respect your place in history ... again"
To which, Durant tweeted: "Show me don't tweet me.."
Today at Toyota Center, I asked both Dwight Howard and Harden himself for their take on the spat and where Harden belongs in the hierarchy of NBA elite. Both of them thought it was a legitimate beef - not some prank or fabricated debate to spur interest in any product or themselves.
Harden’s response: “That's how KD felt. He felt that way.” Q: How do you feel? Are you a top10 player? Harden: "For sure. For sure. Last year, I had a chance to prove it. Kind of broke out of my s a little bit."
Howard’s response: “I think it's real. What I told James is, stay away from it. We do our talking on the floor. We'll play both those teams, and when we do, show them who's the best shooting guard in the world.”
Q: What do you think? Do you think he's a top 10 player? Howard: “No doubt. He has the ability to be one of the best shooting guards to ever play the game.”
By the way, here’s SI.com’s top-15, in reverse order:
20-16: Kyrie Irving, Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki.
15-11: Stephen Curry, Marc Gasol, Kevin Love, Derrick Rose, James Harden.
10-6: Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan.
5-1: Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, LeBron James.
http://www.csnhouston.com/basketball-houston-rockets/talk/harden-howard-weigh-durant-and-wade?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo
Rockets should be damn fun to watch. They have immense potential.
Harden is the best SG in the league, there isn't much of an argument against it, tbh..
I'd still rather have Three in a big game situation, though..
Yeah, Wade is still better in the clutch. Hope Harden can improve on that and defense.
Parsons looks stronger
Houston once had a top 3 swingman of the league and a center who was said to be the league's best, but that team hadn't gone nowhere further than the 1st round until the season MWP (then named Ron Artest) joined them. You only win championships by winning games rather than discussions, imho.
The anus of America: 2
Miami: 3
Let us proceed...
Such a girl you can actually see his vagina sticking out in that pic
I just cant believe how Durant can say: "Show me don't tweet me.."
This guy is an idiot.
Dwight tellin you s to "Move on"
NBA needs more beef, tbh.
As much as I dislike D-herp, Harden hasn't done anything special to warrant a top 10 list in anything. Prove than you can carry a team on your back an entire season and ring, then he can KD can make all the noise they want. Until that happens, they should stay humble and just play.
when Harden can STOP letting a 35 yr old Kobe Bryant torch him on a daily basis then we can have this discussion....the is soft and plays no defense when Harden can prove he's more than just regular season fake gold then we can talk...does the have any awards to his name?
Until then I gotta roll with Wade being the better player...and lol @ Dwight trying to ride Harden's ...Dwight gonna be in for a rude awakening when does finally wake up and realize his dumb ass will never get a ring
Well he did carry the team on his back last year with Jeremy L
6th man of the year, tbh. They play every day? Didn't know that.when Harden can STOP letting a 35 yr old Kobe Bryant torch him on a daily basis then we can have this discussion....the is soft and plays no defense when Harden can prove he's more than just regular season fake gold then we can talk...does the have any awards to his name?
Until then I gotta roll with Wade being the better player...and lol @ Dwight trying to ride Harden's ...Dwight gonna be in for a rude awakening when does finally wake up and realize his dumb ass will never get a ring
you're gonna get a good lessons in baksetball 101 this upcoming season...Harden had free reign...no one game planned for him because they all just considered it a good / fluke season...if he shows the first half of the season he's a legit 1st option then teams will game plan and once they do I won't believe the guy is real until I see how he handles that pressure of being doubled and forcing the ball out of his hands....until I see him handle that he's just a good basketball player who had a fluke season...not convinced...I've seen too much basketball and too many really good 2 guards...Well he did carry the team on his back last year with Jeremy L
Harden's not the one who crumbles under pressure of being double teamed, that would be Lin. Harden's problem is on defense and forcing/getting fancy with passes. He was game planned for well before the playoffs, which he still got points, teams TRIED forcing Lin to beat them.
listen harden is what 23 and Kobe is 35 and harden still cannot stay in front of or stop Kobe...forget harden being better than Wade he's not even better than a 35 yr old Kobe...Kobe could have easily led the league in scoring last season at a time when he did nothing but pass the ball...Harden has such a long way to go...until he shows me he's a consistent winner and can win play-off games I'm putting him on the level of Andre Igoudala and Kyrie Irving, Paul George...very good players just not quite ready...they don't belong in Wade, Durant , Lebron discussions...and Wade, Lebron, Durant don't belong in the Kobe discussion...the Kobe level is a different level altogether
and they will again....this time though you're gonna have to deal with doubling Harden and then forcing the ball into Dwights hands....Dwight is gonna cost you major games...he will hit some but he will fold under that free throw pressure when it counts the most...if Mchale is smart he would make Lin the second option for late game situations...if nothing else learn from the Nash / Howard failed experiment...if you can't listen to Steve Nash direct you then I question your intelligence altogether..to be honest
Don't know what your point is there. Harden doesn't play defense at all. So there's really nothing impressive about that.
yeah right. Kobe's career high in assists is 6. Harden averaged 5.8 in his first year of starting, so it's easy to see he'll easily surpass that. Kobe passed so much that they almost missed the playoffs. He would have averaged less than harden if he didn't have 3 games of 10 assists to stat pad
I agree about winning playoff games about Harden, but Kobe don't belong with Wade, LeBron, And Durant.
Double Harden, Parsons will be open, or Dwight.
Don't know what your point is there. Harden doesn't play defense at all. So there's really nothing impressive about that.
yeah right. Kobe's career high in assists is 6. Harden averaged 5.8 in his first year of starting, so it's easy to see he'll easily surpass that. Kobe passed so much that they almost missed the playoffs. He would have averaged less than harden if he didn't have 3 games of 10 assists to stat pad
I agree about winning playoff games about Harden, but Kobe don't belong with Wade, LeBron, And Durant.
Here's the vid but he doesn't belong
The Lakers recently snapped a four game losing streak. In that game Kobe, the league leader in field goal attempts and missed shots, had a season low of 14 points but a season high of 14 assists. This makes sense to me since Kobe shooting less means more efficient players are shooting more. Kobe has a lower career true shooting % than Gasol, Howard and Nash (ranked 17,3 and 2 respectively). Despite this he takes more than 1/4 of the shots. Commentators usually praise top scorers no matter what, but recently they have started looking at data and noticed that the Lakers are 6-22 when Kobe has more than 19 field goal attempts and 12-3 in the rest of the games.
Here's the vid but he doesn't belong
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