There are many stars in the NBA, active players, such as James, Durant, Curry, Alphabet Brother, Thick Brow Brother and Small Card, etc. are all superstars in the league today, and they are also the players who are most mentioned by people, but there is a player who is very strong, but people do not recognize him very much, that is- James Harden, there is more lace news off the court, once in the Thunder is three brothers, so there are certain reasons for being underestimated, but aside from these, simply from the performance on the basketball court, Harden is an underrated superstar. Today, we're going to talk about Harden as a player.
Slightly fat world star, against the strength of the foot
Harden is 196cm tall, weighs 99kg, the perfect guard height, kobe bryant in the same period 199cm, weighs 97kg; Jordan is 198cm, weighs 98kg; Harden is a little heavier, but not overweight, which gives him a great advantage in the confrontation, compared with other guards, Harden's figure has the upper hand, like the league's now more famous point guard, Curry is 191cm tall and weighs 87kg; Lillard is 188cm tall and weighs 88kg Irving is 188cm tall and weighs 88kg; Wei Shao is 191cm tall and weighs 90kg; and against them, once it falls to a low position, Harden can basically crush everyone, and when breaking through, he can also rely on height and weight to fight against opponents and maintain his balance.
Super possession is underestimated
Speaking of dribbling, many people used to think of Iverson, and now many people will think of Irving, this is true, their possession is indeed the top in NBA history, but Harden also has a super ability to control the ball, to be honest, Harden's possession is very good, often see his crotch continuous dribbling, this is really beautiful, suddenly a change of direction, directly into the basket, or retreat to shoot a three-pointer, the opponent is often caught off guard. He played as a point guard, played point guard without any pressure, and his ability to control the ball was underestimated.
Super lethality is misunderstood
For Harden, in the Thunder's three seasons, is as a substitute to play, there are not many opportunities, after the Rockets, Harden's ability was completely stimulated, there is a superpower but has been misunderstood, that is, his ability to create injuries, in the Rockets' 9 seasons, Ha has played more than 10 free throws in 7 seasons, In the other two seasons, he also averaged 7.5 and 9.1 free throws per game, which is very high, in contrast, a player like James, who is keen to break through, has only averaged more than 10 free throws per game in the nineteen years of his career, 10.2 times in one season and 10.3 times in two seasons. Like Bryant, who averaged more than ten free throws per game in his career, there were 3 seasons, and Jordan's words were 2 seasons.
In contrast, you can see how strong Harden's killing ability is, but many people think that Harden is touching porcelain, but I don't think so, because the referee is the same group of referees, the rules are the same rules, competitive sports are like this, how much can be done within the scope of the rules, that is where the person's ability lies. Therefore, Harden's lethality is so strong, it can only be said that his sense of rhythm is really super good, but fast or slow, the rules are mastered vividly, this is a kind of learning, not touching porcelain, his super lethality is really misunderstood.
Super organizational skills are masked
Harden is a playing guard, but his organizational ability is really super strong, among the active players, Harden can be said to be second only to Paul and James, leaving aside the time spent on the bench in the first three seasons, and then in the next 11 seasons, Harden averaged at least 5.8 assists per game, including 2 season assists in double figures, 11.2 in 2016-17 (the king of assists that season), 10.9 in 2020-21, which is not an easy thing to do, even if you add the bench data of the first three seasons of his career, Harden's career average of 6.6 assists per game, compared to the current popular scoring super guard, Curry is 6.5 times, Irving is 5.7 times, Lillard is also 6.6 times, these three have always been the main players. So Harden's organizational ability is top-notch, and his organizational ability is really covered up by other capabilities.
Super scoring ability is overlooked
When it comes to scoring ability, the most talked about among the active players is Harden's current teammate Durant, which is really powerful, many people agree with Durant's super scoring ability, followed by Curry, alphabet brother, etc., but everyone basically can't think of Harden, his super scoring ability is really ignored. Harden has averaged more than 29 points per game for five consecutive seasons, including three consecutive seasons of more than 30 points, which were 30.4 points per game in 2017-18, 36.1 points per game in 18-19, 34.3 points in 19-20, dominated the league's leading scorer for three consecutive seasons, and is the only player in the active duty to average more than 30+ points per game, averaging 36+ points per game after Jordan's 37.1 points per game in 1986-87 The player who scores.
Compared with other top active stars, Durant has averaged more than 30 points per game twice (30.1 points and 32 points), Curry has twice (also 30.1 points and 32 points), James has twice (30 points and 31.4 points), and Westbrook has 1 time (31.6 points), all of which are far less than Harden's points, and Harden's super scoring ability is really ignored. In addition, with 50+ points per game, Harden ranked fourth in NBA history with 23 times, second only to Chamberlain (118 times), Jordan (31 times) and Kobe Bryant (25 times), 11 times more than James, who ranked second in the active duty, 13 times more than Curry (10 times), and Durant (7 times) 18 times.
The only 60+ triple-double in NBA history
The NBA is the top player in the basketball world, no one can easily get 50+ points, it is even more difficult to get 60+, only 8 of the active players score more than 60 points, you can imagine how difficult it is, plus rebounds and assists to double-double at the same time, it is simply difficult to go to the sky, but Harden has cut a 60+ triple-double. In a game in the 2017-2018 season, Harden scored 60 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists on 19-of-30 shooting, becoming the first player in the NBA's decades-long history to cut a 60+ triple-double. A player like James, who has both scoring, rebounding and assisting abilities, and is known as the most versatile player in history, has never scored a 60+ triple-double, and others dare not imagine.
Harden this player, off-court lace news affected people's judgment of him, but on the basketball court, he is definitely a top player, epic level star, won 3 scoring kings, 1 MVP, 1 assist king, 9 all-stars, whether it is scoring ability, or organizational ability, in history is ranked number one, he "does not live up to the name", is really far undervalued.