James Harden is many things, but a complete NBA player is not one of them. One of the worst defenders at any position in the Association, it was no shock when he was left off the All-NBA teams at the end of the season. No shock to many of us, we should clarify, but a huge shock to Harden.
Speaking with Jason Terry on SiriusXM NBA Radio’s “The Runway,” Harden expressed his dismay that he wasn’t on one of the All-NBA teams.
Terry is one who thinks Harden should have been selected, and he starts out the short segment by quoting Harden’s stats.
“How can a guy averaging 29 points, six rebounds and seven assists — took his team to the playoffs again — not be on any one of the All-NBA teams? I think it’s a travesty,” Terry said.
Harden, of course, agreed heartily with Terry’s sentiment.
“There’s no answer for me. I don’t know,” Harden said. “That’s something that I’ve been thinking about. …Even with all the things that happened this year, even with all the negativity, we still had an opportunity to make the playoffs and, you know, had to finish off a good season.”
Harden also thought his numbers were quite special and said being snubbed is extra motivation for the next season.
The thing neither one of them talked about is the fact that Harden chooses to not play defense on a nightly basis. Nobody else in the NBA shows as much apathy as Harden does towards defending his man.
Not only that, but it’s not like the Rockets are a whole lot better when Harden plays than when he’s riding the bench. For the 2015-16 season, he ranked No. 73 in the Association in terms of plus/minus, averaging plus-1.5 points per game.
In order for Harden to have made it on to one of the three All-NBA teams, one of the following players would have had to necessarily been left off: Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson and Kyle Lowry.
All six of these guards were better overall than Harden for the 2015-16 NBA season.
Harden is a fantastic offensive weapon. He even manages to crash the boards effectively from time to time. But in no way, shape or form was he a good enough all-around player this past season to be included in one of the All-NBA teams.