James Harden is undoubtedly a unique player, and he knows it. The Beard has an unmistakably confident answer when asked if he needed to adapt to the NBA's faster-paced offenses throughout his career.
"I'm one of the people that the NBA had to adjust to," the 10-time All-Star said said . "So, just being in here, being crafty, working on it. Loving it."
That sounded like an egotistical answer, but there's a lot of truth behind that claim. Only the Golden State Warriors had a pace of over 100 when Harden was a rookie. (Pace is the number of possessions in a 48-minute game.) The rest of the teams had below 98. Last year, ten teams reached the 100-possession threshold, and eight others had at least 98.
Still, the 2009 third-overall pick kept climbing up the ranks until he earned the Michael Jordan trophy in 2018. Even though he wasn't the one-man wrecking offensive crew a few seasons ago, Harden averaged 16.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 8.5 assists for the Los Angeles Clippers last season.
Greatest scorer ever?
James Harden was as dominant a scorer as the NBA has seen in its history. Former Rockets and current Sixers general manager Daryl Morey once claimed the Beard is a better scorer than Michael Jordan. As an analytics guy, Morey, of course, would spout numbers to prove his stand.
"It's just factual that James Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan," Morey said on a " Selfmade with Nadeshot " podcast episode in 2019. "Based on literally, like you give James Harden the ball and before you're giving up the ball how many points do you generate? Which is how you should measure offense. James Harden is by far No. 1 in NBA history."
Harden averaged 30.1 points in his MVP campaign and 36.1 and 34.3 in the next two seasons. His Airness averaged a career-high 37.1 in 1987 and at least 30 in seven other seasons. That's the raw numbers. However, no matter where one stands in this argument, the Los Angeles native is one of the best scorers in basketball.
However, the key to Harden's scoring was exploiting the gray area between selling and drawing contact. The Beard was a master at drawing fouls, and he essentially scored in double-digits at the stripe in his prime years. An ESPN article called it a 'repertoire of foul-baiting moves' that always puts opponents on their heels.
"He flops on offense just like I flop on defense," former Celtics guard Marcus Smart opined . "He's been in the league a long time, and he's built that reputation. It's hard to guard him knowing that, at any given moment, you can get called for a foul. He does a really good job of using his body and using the rules to his advantage."
The James Harden rule
In the 2021 offseason, the NBA introduced a rule change likely aimed at James Harden's crafty "foul-baiting" tactics. The Association firmly put its foot down on what they call "non-basketball moves" to make the defenders look like they're committing fouls. Some examples are hooking a defender's arm, pump-faking and leaning onto a defender, stopping on a dime, and jumping back or into their paths.
Steve Nash, Harden's former coach in Brooklyn, felt the NBA targeted the shooting guard with this rule change. Consistent with what he was implying in the Clippers' 2024 Media Day interview, the three-time scoring champ insisted he won't change his style of play.
"I'm not the type to complain about it," Harden said , per Sports Illustrated. "I just ask every official [if] they see a foul just call a foul. Sometimes I feel like coming into a game it's already pre-determined or I already have that stigma of getting foul calls but, I just ask for officials to just call what they see."
Whether he likes it or not, though, Harden will have to adjust his game to give the Clippers a chance in the upcoming season. They lost Paul George to free agency, and Kawhi Leonard may be out for some time after a knee procedure.
Related: James Harden reveals how he wants to be remembered when his NBA career is over: "That I was a winner"
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