Houston Rockets: On James Harden’s Offense, Defense, MVP Case (Video)
Ever since he left got traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets, James Harden has lived up to expectations and proved, vehemently, that he’s the leader the Thunder never thought they needed and the Rockets were missing.
In his third season at the helm of his own team, and after only five years in the NBA, James Harden has turned into one of the most reliable and proficient offensive weapons and shooting guards in the NBA.
It is imperative for us, as we try to put his 2014-15 season into perspective, to compare him against the top shooting guards around the NBA.
#NBA SG PER:
— RealGM (@RealGM) December 8, 2014
1. James Harden: 24.9
2. Wade: 24.5
3. K. Martin: 22.3
4. Jimmy Butler: 21.2
5. J. Crawford: 21.0
Stats: http://t.co/2KhwMW726k
OFFENSE
HoopsHabit colleague Adam McGee just had an extensive and thorough investigation on the “25 Greatest Shooting Seasons in NBA History” (which you should most definitely check out here), in which he talks about how the shot, in general, lacks the attention it deserves versus a “ferocious dunk” or “a thunderous block shot” and I couldn’t disagree more.
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Of course, there’s nothing like a momentum-changing dunk or block to put the crowd on its feet, nevertheless, from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s skyhook, to Reggie Miller‘s, Ray Allen‘s, Klay Thompson‘s, Stephen Curry‘s and Jamal Crawford‘s hypnotizing shooting motions, the shot has always been considered — because of its degree of difficulty — one of the most mesmerizing actions on the offensive side of the court.
During his tenure with the Thunder, Harden was used as a sixth man coming off the bench. However, the moment he landed and took over the leader-lacking Rockets, Harden’s numbers started looking eerily similar, and sometimes even better, than the ones of former-teammates Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant*:
| Rk | Player | Season | Age | G | GS | MP | FG% | 3P% | 2P% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Durant | 2012-13 | 24 | 81 | 81 | 38.5 | .510 | .416 | .539 | .905 | 7.9 | 4.6 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 3.5 | 28.1 |
| 2 | James Harden | 2012-13 | 23 | 78 | 78 | 38.3 | .438 | .368 | .477 | .851 | 4.9 | 5.8 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 25.9 |
| 3 | Russell Westbrook | 2012-13 | 24 | 82 | 82 | 34.9 | .438 | .323 | .466 | .800 | 5.2 | 7.4 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 3.3 | 23.2 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/22/2014.
Prior to the start of the 2014-15 season, which marks Harden’s third year with the Houston Rockets, general managers around the NBA voted him the best shooting guard in the league ahead of Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson.
Twenty games into the season, they might’ve been right.
| Rk | Player | Season | Age | GS | FG% | 3P% | 2P% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PTS | ORtg | DRtg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Harden | 2014-15 | 25 | 21 | .419 | .338 | .468 | .893 | 8.8 | 8.9 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 6.1 | 35.4 | 114 | 98 |
| 2 | Klay Thompson | 2014-15 | 24 | 20 | .447 | .431 | .458 | .877 | 5.5 | 5.2 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 3.2 | 31.2 | 111 | 99 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/12/2014.
James Harden leads the league in free-throw attempts, 192, and points per game, 26.4
DEFENSE**
In the aftermath of a terrible defensive 2013-14 season in which he was deemed one of the biggest defensive liabilities in the NBA and awarded the James “disconnected-controller-defense” Harden nickname, Harden promised during the offseason to try and commit to defense and become, finally, the two-dimmensional player he ought to be.
After being exposed with a 10-minute video which depicted his lack of defensive effort, a new video has emerged showing Harden’s commitment to the not-so-attractive side of basketball:
Let’s try to put Harden’s defense into perspective:
- Harden has as many steals per game, 1.9, as Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Curry, Tony Wroten and Chris Paul. (sixth in NBA)
- Harden is tied for the league-leading spot in Defensive Win Shares, through 20 games, with Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green with 1.5. (first in NBA)
- Harden’s 97.7 Defensive Rating is better than DeAndre Jordan‘s 98.0, Danny Green‘s 98.1, Chris Kaman‘s 98.2, Tony Allen‘s 98.4, leading MVP candidate Anthony Davis‘ 99.4, DeMarcus Cousins‘ 99.4, Klay Thompson’s 99.5, Zach Randolph‘s 99.5, and Marc Gasol‘s 99.6. (sixth in NBA)
For all the previous reasons, even though only a quarter of the season has gone by and the MVP-race is far from over, it is time to start thinking about Harden as a top-3 leading candidate of the prestigious award. Of course, it all depends where exactly will the 17-5 Houston Rockets end the season, if Anthony Davis’ New Orleans Pelicans fail to reach the playoffs, Harden’s chances are even better.
Anyway, with Dwight Howard, Terrence Jones, Francisco Garcia, Kostas Papanikolaou and Isaiah Canaan padding the Rockets’ injury list, it all could turn against him and his team sooner rather than later.
(*Let’s all take a minute to thank Thunder management for trading Harden. What a nightmare would it have been if they knew Harden could be this good and developed a scheme with Harden Durant and Westrbook on the floor at the same time.)
(** This is by no means an effort to support James Harden’s 2014-15 first-team All-Defense campaign. It is just simply a recognition of Harden’s ability to commit towards a two-dimensional playing style throughout the first 21 games of the season.)