Houston Rockets: James Harden is absolutely a top-5 player in the NBA

First Take ranked Houston Rockets superstar James Harden the sixth-best player in the NBA. Let’s take a closer look at that analysis.

ESPN’s First Take sparked another controversial debate when it ranked Houston Rockets superstar James Harden as the sixth-best current NBA player. While there are certainly plenty of deserving candidates to be ranked a top-5 player in the NBA, there is no doubt that Harden deserves one of those spots. Not ranking Harden as a top-five player in the league is simply ridiculous and disrespectful and his numbers back this up.

Harden has been the best scorer the league has seen in recent history. Harden has developed and perfected a step-back shot that is simply unguardable and this has propelled his offensive production to a whole other level that very few players in NBA history have matched. Since being traded to the Houston Rockets in 2012, Harden ranks first in the NBA in scoring, including two consecutive scoring titles and is on pace to win his third this season, and third in assists.

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His 36.1 points per game, which included a stretch where he scored at least 30 points in 32 consecutive games, during the 2018-2019 season were the most points averaged in a single season since the 1986-1987 season when Michael Jordan averaged 37.1 points per game. On top of that Harden has the fourth-most 50 point games in NBA history with 23, including five this season. Harden also has the most 50-point, 10-assists games and 50-point triple-doubles in NBA history.

People try to take away from the incredible numbers Harden puts up by saying that he relies too heavily on free throws, citing that he averages 8.8 free throw attempts per game in his career. But this is a flawed argument. Free throws are part of the game and one thing all the NBA greats have in common is that they find a way to get to the free throw line.

Jordan averaged 8.2 free throw attempts per game, LeBron James averages 8.0 free throw attempts per game, and Kobe Bryant averaged 7.4 free throw attempts per game and this number would have been higher had he not struggled with injuries over the back end of his career. On top of that, Harden is a career 85.8 percent free throw shooter which is higher than Jordan, LeBron, and Kobe’s career free throw percentage.

Another knock that people have against Harden is that he does not play defense. This would have been a valid point a few years ago, but Harden has stepped up defensively over the past few seasons. Since the 2017-2018 season, Harden is averaging 1.83 steals and 0.77 blocks per game, including a career-high 0.9 blocks per game this season.

During the 2018-2019 season, Harden was the only player in the NBA to record at least 150 steals and 55 blocks. Harden also ranked second in the NBA in deflections with 277 and ranked seventh in defensive loose balls recovered with 73 over the 2018-2019 season. Harden has become a much better defender and his defensive stats show that he should have been named to the NBA’s All-Defense team in 2018-2019.