James Harden

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