Now that the NBA season has ended, lets talk about what pieces need to be moved.
What will the Knicks do about Phil?
Does Hassan stay in Miami?
What direction can the grizz go in?
He's less hopeless than melo. Hardens just young and rich and loves partying, and thinking about partying while he's on D. He might get over it and turn into a solid vet some day
What makes you all think that Harden is more likely to figure it out than Melo was? His D has gotten worse every year for the last 4 years. I'm not buying the he plays a lot of minutes excuse so does/did MJ, LBJ, Butler, George, Kobe, GP, Stockton, etc and they still played both ends of the court. The fact that he's out of shape is an even bigger red flag. I don't see a guy that will "get it" I see a guy that wants to play offense and just dogs it on D. Maybe I'm proven wrong but a team with Harden as their top 1-2 guys will never win a title.
Harden played the most minutes in the NBA this year, but I agree that it doesn't excuse his defense. I disagree that it has steadily gotten worse though; IMO his D was a lot worse in 2013-14 than it was in 2014-15. In '14-15, he carried them in a way that very few players can. And they seemed to have good chemistry, unlike this trainwreck of a season.
Part of the reason he was out of shape was because of an ankle injury. I also think part of it is that he doesn't have the determination to improve the way someone like Steph does, but if he can bring back the '14-15 Harden I think you can win with him.