James Harden was a one-man offense during his prime, who could go off for 50 on any given night. Yet, his dominance never translated to postseason success, inviting criticism about his effectiveness. Bonzi Wells, Tyler Johnson, and Rasheed Wallace shared their gripes with Harden’s play-style on the Sheed & Tyler talk show.
Advertisement
“Remember back in the day when James Harden had that run? And he was mixing people? I was like, man, I’d get bored,” Bonzi began. The hoopers discussed how fans in the modern era relied heavily on their handles to break down opponents. But the 2004 NBA champion Wallace didn’t view the possession long isolations as a skill.
Rasheed explained, “I’ll let you break me down however you want, east or west. And maybe south. You not going toward the basket with all that sh*t.”
As a power forward, Wallace often played the defensive backline. He knew that beating one defender didn’t guarantee an open look at the basket, and for him, it was inefficient basketball to waste most of the shot clock in a one-on-one matchup that doesn’t end at the rim.
Rasheed also shared that Steve Nash was one of the first to introduce the “unnecessary multiple dribbling sh*t“. But he still believed that the Canadian point guard did it effectively. Nash was a master at keeping his dribble alive and would often use it to create openings for his cutting teammates. That’s not how Sheed viewed modern-era ball-handlers like the left-handed guard, though.
“I could dribble 15 times to pass it. What the f*** are you doing?… You could have passed that in two dribbles. ‘Aw shit, I ain’t got it, lemme pass it out’,” Wallace stated. He summarized the new mindset as, “You wasting everybody fucking time out here to try, TO TRY, to get a shot up. It don’t make no sense.”
The former Piston player viewed the aversion to embarrassment as the reason why guards like Harden would eat up the entire shot clock and still pull from 25 feet. That’s why Rasheed proclaimed that what Harden did to get his 30+ points per night during his prime was “not a skill.” Quite ironic since that’s the exact rhetoric Harden used a few years ago against Giannis.
Harden previously called Giannis Antetokounmpo unskilled
One of Harden’s favorite arguments when comparing himself to his contemporaries is that he’s more skilled. He used it against the Greek Freak after Giannis picked Kemba Walker over The Beard during the 2020 All-Star draft.
For someone who prides themselves on their skillful approach to the game, James Harden probably won’t take Rasheed Wallace’s comments well. Some back-and-forth between the players from different eras would provide valuable insights into the progression of the game.
