Gilbert Arenas Rips into James Harden for His Play Style and Inability to Play with Others

The Houston Rockets have been trying to get James Harden the perfect partner since 2013. Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and the latest player to not work with him was Russell Westbrook. So now they have brought in John Wall.

Three-time All-Star and Wall’s former teammate, Gilbert Arenas, ripped into Harden for his inability to play with others. He said, “Harden is going to have to reevaluate how he plays the game… Everyone has come and gone, so is it them or is it you?”

There are no doubts about Harden’s ability to produce stats, but as one teammate gets replaced by another, it looks like he is the problem after all. He can drop 50, but it doesn’t seem like he can develop the chemistry required to make the team gel well and win.

Gilbert Arenas criticizes James Harden for his style of offense

Arenas also talked about how Harden’s style of offense is incomplete and does not involve his teammates. He also labeled him a one-on-one player. He said:

“You give a guy who’s a one-on-one player, a whole game of one on one. One on one is the last four minutes when the game counts… You use your natural ability to get us buckets. Not 48 minutes of it. That’s what the game has turned into, 48 minutes of one-on-one style. So when I look at how his game is played, he’s the easiest person to guard, but hard to guard. Because he has perfected this style. But he doesn’t know how to backdoor, flare, baseline run, and he doesn’t post up. You have this great offensive guy who only has one offensive tool… You have no complete offensive game, where everyone can actually eat.”

This style of offense has taken the Rockets to the Conference Finals twice, but never beyond that. During the 2020 Playoffs, they barely survived against a rebuilding Thunder in the first round and got embarrassed by the Lakers in the second round.

Former Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni is also to blame for Harden’s play style because it was his tactics that focused on surrounding the whole offense around the 2018 MVP.

If Harden stays in Houston, fans will be hoping new coach Stephen Silas can help him improve, and take the team to new heights.

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