James Harden: The NBA’s Most Controversial Superstar
The Team Factor
Now before you go justifying that “created offense” statistic away (Westbrook and KD being on the same team lowers their percentages, Draymond Green‘s facilitating and Klay Thompson‘s scoring lowers Curry’s percentage, C.J. McCollum‘s scoring does the same for Dame, etc.) let’s remember that we can’t have it both ways.
In other words, if all of the other players having star-caliber talent alongside them is a detriment to their case or an excuse justifying why they don’t stack up to Harden in this category, it should also serve as a defense for the Beard’s lack of team success since he doesn’t have that same type of talent around him.
Look at Houston’s roster; is it any wonder he’s had to carry the load as the league leader in minutes per game at 38.2? He’s got a fading 30-year-old Dwight Howard as his accompanying “star”; a drastically regressing Corey Brewer on the wing; a hardworking but not great point guard in Patrick Beverley; an inexperienced Clint Capela; a disappearing act in Terrence Jones; and an injury-prone stretch-5 in Donatas Motiejunas.
Two players have averaged 20 PPG for their careers with an AST% over 25, USG% over 25 and TS% over 60 -- Steph Curry and James Harden.
— Machine Pun Kelly 🇺🇦 (@KellyScaletta) April 6, 2016
No wonder Houston was on the verge of missing the postseason! Just because everything came together for last year’s team does not mean it was destined to happen for this one, especially with so many key players getting another year older. Any team relying on Michael Beasley, Andrew Goudelock and Jason Terry to play regular minutes this late in the season is probably not a playoff team.
Bearing in mind the kind of ragtag bunch Harden his playing with, the Rockets’ defense is 0.9 points per 100 possessions better on with him off the floor…but Houston’s offense is also 8.1 points per 100 possessions worse when he sits. The Rockets have a +0.9 net rating with the Beard in the game, but they’re an atrocious -6.3 without him.
And all of this is without taking into account the ill-fated Ty Lawson trade that kamikaze’d this team’s chemistry, or the fact that head coach Kevin McHale was hastily fired 11 games into the season. Harden must assume some of the blame for his team’s struggles, but to say they’re solely his fault is nothing short of idiotic considering all he does for this team on offense.
Next: The Bad