n_huffhines
What's it gonna cost?
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I was gonna post something about Karl Malone in the Jordan Doc thread, but I figured people who don't want to hear that discussion aren't going there anymore.
Zach Lowe has the perfect take that Harden = Malone. It's great because style-wise and personality-wise they are completely different players but they're likely going to end up with the exact same legacy. I've come up with a theory as to why they fall short in the playoffs. I think it's because they don't have enough moves. They're not 7-footers, they're not playing above the rim, and they're not the fastest guys on the floor, so having a handful of moves probably isn't going to cut it.
For Malone, I only count 5 moves.... face-up fade which set up a blow-by, turnaround fade, jump hook, and a little runner. That's it. For his career, Malone averaged 24.2 per 36 at .577 TS% and in the playoffs that dropped to 21.7 and .526
Harden averages 26.4 and .612 TS% in the regular season and 24 and .585 in the postseason.
You should expect a little dropoff in efficiency from just about anybody, but both are clearly better in the regular season. Harden's stats are still really good, just not enough since the offense is so reliant on him. Harden has more moves than Malone if you want to count all the dribble drive variations, but ultimately he's just shooting a 3 or getting to the rim and it's predictable.
I know I give Kobe a lot of ****, but maybe his greatness was in the fact that once the D tightened in playoff basketball he had a million moves and spots he liked, and shooting a little above average efficiency with his D leading the way on the other end was enough. In other words, Kobe might have been able to shoot a crazy TS% if he just maximized his 5 best moves but now you're too reliant on these tendencies, and playoff D will get you.
Zach Lowe has the perfect take that Harden = Malone. It's great because style-wise and personality-wise they are completely different players but they're likely going to end up with the exact same legacy. I've come up with a theory as to why they fall short in the playoffs. I think it's because they don't have enough moves. They're not 7-footers, they're not playing above the rim, and they're not the fastest guys on the floor, so having a handful of moves probably isn't going to cut it.
For Malone, I only count 5 moves.... face-up fade which set up a blow-by, turnaround fade, jump hook, and a little runner. That's it. For his career, Malone averaged 24.2 per 36 at .577 TS% and in the playoffs that dropped to 21.7 and .526
Harden averages 26.4 and .612 TS% in the regular season and 24 and .585 in the postseason.
You should expect a little dropoff in efficiency from just about anybody, but both are clearly better in the regular season. Harden's stats are still really good, just not enough since the offense is so reliant on him. Harden has more moves than Malone if you want to count all the dribble drive variations, but ultimately he's just shooting a 3 or getting to the rim and it's predictable.
I know I give Kobe a lot of ****, but maybe his greatness was in the fact that once the D tightened in playoff basketball he had a million moves and spots he liked, and shooting a little above average efficiency with his D leading the way on the other end was enough. In other words, Kobe might have been able to shoot a crazy TS% if he just maximized his 5 best moves but now you're too reliant on these tendencies, and playoff D will get you.