I'm really glad someone else came up with this comparison as well. I've been saying for a while that Doncic is basically a white Harden. He's not as athletic or long as James, but their offensive games are very similar. Both are playing the old man's game, really crafty. Great passers. Both are sub-par on defense, but for different reasons. Harden simply doesn't seem to care about it and instead saves his energy for offense, while Doncic just doesn't have the lateral quickness to ever be a very good defender (though he can definitely become average in that department, he seems to have a really high basketball IQ). Also, I have some doubts about Doncic's ability to grow a beard like Harden has.
Doncic is longer than Harden, not just because he is taller, but he trumps him in standing reach, he currently measures at 8'11.5 to Harden's 8'7.5, so quite a big difference.
Yes, Harden has longer wingspan relative to his height, but his shoulders are also lower which limits his reach.
Comparing Harden's defense to Doncic is being unfair and inaccurate towards Doncic.
Doesn't matter if Harden's defense sucks because he is lazy or because he lacks lateral quickness.. he wasn't the quickest in his agility drills in 2009 draft combine and he can't stay in front of anyone quick on the perimeter right now, and what matters is the end result and he sucks.
Doncic on the other hand, is tasked to guard PGs, not SGs and SFs like Harden, so it's really not fair to judge him in that criteria, and I still think he does fairly well against Euroleague PGs.
I actually see Doncic as a positive player on that end, with the game going into off-ball screens more and more, I actually see him as quite an effective defender when surrounded by compatible players.
Both Harden and Doncic are good rebounders for their position. Harden in my opinion had quite an abberant year in terms of reboudning numbers. He was cherry picking and his contested rebounding rate was very low.. one of the lowest in the league.
Doncic otoh, while I don't have his advanced rebounding numbers, consistently boxes out much bigger players and takes higher % of contested rebounds in comparison.
Kevin Love, to no surprise has the highest uncontested reb % and that should be of no surprise to fans. I still think he is an impactful rebounder, but his numbers are skewed.
With the game going away from Iso and midrange game and evolving into more off-ball screens with illegal screens, 3pt shots and switching, Doncic's measurements and attributes far outweigh his athletic shortcomings.
Defensive awareness imo is more important than lateral quickness, especially if the game revolves around screens and less ISO.
On the offensive side, Doncic has ways to go and he may not reach Harden's ability because of his athletic deficiencies which limits him on that end much more imo.
Harden is very athletic, his spectactular finishing(whether it is by trying to draw fouls or not, doesn't matter) is what makes him such a threat from every range. Doncic FGA inside the arc is miniscule and if he doesn't improve in that aspect, it might limit his overall game on that end and his ceiling.
With all my love for Doncic, I still put Porter as my 1st overall pick atm.. he looks quicker and more explosive than he was a month ago and I expect that to improve further.
