James Harden (HOU) – “The Beard”

Profile:
Shooting Guard: 6’5, 220 lbs; 9th year, Arizona State
NBA Role: all-world superstar • DIFF. BREED
James Harden aka ‘The Beard’: an offensive superstar w/ unrivaled* foul-drawing and shot-making capabilities; how do you want Harden to drop 30? – off the dribble, from downtown, through contact, from the line, on the break – no matter what you do, Harden’s gonna get his; better playmaker than given credit for, though susceptible to a lot of ‘east-west’ dribbling instead of always moving the ball; vastly improved PnR initiator, passer on the break; transitioned to PG under Mike D’Antoni (pssst: he’s basically their point guard anyway, wasn’t a huge deal) – currently top 3 in both points & assists – supercharges HOU’s offense w/ the flip of a switch; highly criticized for poor defense (and flopping) but has shown some improvement lately; from Sixth Man to Superstar to Franchise Player, Harden made an MVP leap (in 2017), has put HOU into legitimate title contention
*in the sense that no one creates fouls quite like Harden – sure, there’s plenty of guys who get to the line at a high rate but they don’t draw “contact” the same way
Signature Move: ‘rock up’ • spin, step back
(*factory setting*) NBA 2K17 Rating: 90
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Couple DOG Facts:
Career: 22.1 points/game, 5.7 assists/game, 5 rebounds/game, 44% FG
Olympic Gold Medalist (2012)
Sixth Man of the Year (2012)
5x All-Star (’13-’17)
2x All-NBA First Team (’14-15)
More on “the Beard”
- “Saved By The Step Back” (DOG Original, Apr. 2016)
- “OK, C Me Now?” – Harden loves sticking it to his former team – another 40 piece in this one (via FreeDawkins; Apr. 2016):
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