James Harden Says “I’m A Great Defender,” But Is He Right?

Right now, James Harden is a legitimate MVP candidate. Last year, the biggest thing holding the current scorer leader back was his slipshod defense. We’ve still seen a number of examples of his lapses on that end this season, despite his GM’s reluctance to admit as much,  and James was aware of the talk as his tongue-in-cheek Foot Locker commercial showed. But in a new Bleacher Report feature, James is as confident as ever, declaring, “I’m a great defender.”

Before the turn of the year, Harden did show he can play some defense, and we still can’t forget his block on Boogie.

https://giant.gfycat.com/YawningCelebratedAntlion.gif

Still, we’re not sure we’d call him a “great defender,” like he did recently:

“I’m a great defender,” Harden says with a hint of defiance. “But it’s really about being able to focus on carrying a team, scoring 30, while locking somebody down. I’ve done a pretty good job of that this year. I’m definitely not worried about critics. I think everybody goes through stretches where they ball watch or let somebody cut behind them or just small things like that. But if the ball is in front of me, I’m great. It comes down to focus level and knowing where my guy is.”

[Bleacher Report]

There’s even a video highlighting some of his best defensive plays, like the block above on DMC:

Here’s the problem with his typical braggadocio, and it’s not just his intermittent snoozing on that end of the floor. The Rockets give up 5.0 points more per 100 possessions when he’s on the court (per NBA.com). True, they score more than 15 points more per 100 possessions when he’s on the court, too, but it’s not like he’s all of a sudden a stopper.

Currently, he’s second in the NBA — trailing only another MVP candidate in Stephen Curry —  in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) as part of ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus.* Of the top 10 players in WAR, only Chris Paul has a lower Defensive Real Plus-Minus (DRPM), and when you look at overall real plus/minus, no one else in the top 10 is as low as Harden’s 0.22. Then again, in real plus minus, the baseline for an average player is 0, so at least Harden’s above the standard NBA mean.

Here’s the crux of the matter, and the biggest reason we feel like Harden won’t ever get his due on the defensive end: he has to carry so much of the offensive burden in Houston, it’s nearly impossible for him to also be an elite defender. A player only has so much energy before he’s spent, and Beard spends so much time initiating Houston’s offense, that’s only seen sporadic bursts of Dwight Howard this season, it would take a Herculean effort for him to also be among the best defenders in the NBA.

Harden is currently eighth in usage percentage, and only DeMarcus Cousins is among the top 10 in usage and also in the top 10 for real plus/minus.

James Harden is doing a pretty good job on the defensive end this year, but he’s by no means a “great defender.” We think he means he could be (like his best all-around comments), if he didn’t have such a heavy responsibility on the other end.

*Real plus minus-plus goes beyond standard plus-minus numbers and looks at the other players on the floor as well as the player in question. You can read more about it here.

Follow Spencer on Twitter at @SpencerTyrel.

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