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NBA Stats Notebook: Giving James Harden the flowers he deserves

nqajqrqw8months ago (05-16)Basketball Hub135

Only 18 times in NBA history has a player averaged 20-pluspoints, 10-plus assists and 5-plus rebounds per game across anentire season. James Harden and Nikola Jokic are on pace to jointhe list this year.

Three NBA players — Russell Westbrook, Oscar Robertson and IsiahThomas — have put up at least 20 points and 10 assists per gameover four or more separate seasons in their career. Harden is onpace to be the fourth.

Harden missing out on his 11th NBA All-Star appearance is simplya travesty. Maybe it's because the scoring volume is down, orbecause he's no longer the top bucket-getting option on his team.Whatever the case may be, he deserves applause for the way he hasadapted with age and in a new role to help Philadelphia reinventits path to contention.

6 threes for @JHarden13and call it a SZN HIGH! pic.twitter.com/OZF4WCWR1i

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 2, 2023

Harden is currently posting 21.0 points, 10.9 assists and 6.4rebounds per contest. His mark of 14.9 field goal attempts per gameis the lowest since his days on the Oklahoma City Thunder, but hisoverall efficiency is on par with his prime years in Houston —albeit in different forms. And with a dominant scorer in JoelEmbiid by his side, Harden has reached new heights as atable-setter.

At 33 years old, Harden doesn't attack the basket with the sameferocity as his peak years. Only 24% of his shot attempts arecoming at the rim (career-low), per Cleaning the Glass, and he'sdriving the basketball 13.3 times per game (lowest since 2013-14),according to Second Spectrum. They're still high numbers for mostNBA players, but low by Harden's standards. His straight-linespeed, probably still underrated in his heyday, has been sapped agreat deal.

That's okay. Harden hasbeenrelativelyconfined to the perimeter, andhe's made it work with a 38.8% three-point clip, his best since2011-12. One key reason for the jump: Harden is canning a red-hot47.7% of his attempts off the catch, which make up over one-eighth(12.7%) of his total shot diet, according to PBP Stats. That's thelargest share of catch-and-shoot treys he's logged since 2016-17and almost double last year's frequency.

James Harden’s reaction to making threecatch-and-shoot 3s was pretty funny.And then, more serious: “I’ve been working on it, so that’s prettyexciting. You don’t do too much, just catch-and-shoot it. You putthe work in, I work on it every day.” pic.twitter.com/bH9p2iGTNX

— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) February 2, 2023

This isn't to say Harden has completely disavowed his iso-ballways. According to Synergy, he takes the third-most isolationpossessions per game (6.2) in the NBA. But those possessions areless taxing because he has a co-superstar beside him; Embiidactually logs a slightly higher isolation volume (6.3). And Hardendoesn't have to will himself to the basket at his age — Embiid isalso collapsing defenses.

The Harden-to-Embiid assist combination is the most popularconnection in the league this season. The Beard has hit up TheProcess 150 times, per PBP Stats, including 71 Embiid buckets atthe rim. Their 40-assist lead on the second-most prominent combo ofTyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield (110) is as large as that duo'sedge between it and the 31st-ranked coupling (a tie between JalenBrunson and RJ Barrett, Killian Hayes and Bojan Bogdanovic, andChris Paul and Deandre Ayton).

Meanwhile, though much less often, Embiid is the most frequentpasser when Harden picks up an assisted bucket. They've teamed up19 times this season, including 11 Harden makes from beyond thearc.

The Embiid-Harden pick-and-roll has boosted their ascension toperhaps the most dynamic two-man action tandem in the league. ButHarden's comfort in Philly is also boosting the supporting cast —most exemplified in Tobias Harris.

Harris, now 30 years old, has quietly settled into an efficientcomplementary role while Harden, Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and ShakeMilton initiate most offensive possessions. He's shooting acareer-best 58% from two-point range. Harris' at-rim frequency(34%), field goal percentage (69%) and assisted-make rate (62%) areall the highest of his four-plus seasons with the Sixers, accordingto Cleaning the Glass.

Less than a minute into the second half,James Harden records his 71st career triple-double with this dimeto Tobias Harris 🔥pic.twitter.com/uC4MpbmmYv https://t.co/VEgsAzQYG2

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 8, 2023

The scoring opportunities get easier with Harden on the floor.The former MVP sends 18.1% of his passes to Harris, who in turnmakes 59.2% of his ensuing twos and 37.7% of his threes. Harris hastypically averaged 8-10 drives per game over the course of hisprime years vs. his 6.7 drives this season. The creation burden hasbeen lessened and the efficiency has increased.

It helps that the Sixers added De'Anthony Melton to space thefloor and act as a secondary ball-handler, and Maxey certainlygives them another sharp driving punch. But Harden has madeeveryone, including Harris and Embiid, better since finding hiscomfort level on the team.

Harden's average of 92.7 touches per game ranks third in the NBAand is still on par with his typical touch rate throughout hiscareer. He's still the ignition for Philly's ninth-ranked offenseand a matchup nightmare when he's on the floor, even if the picturelooks a little different.

Whether it's the lack of All-Star recognition or the generallack of buzz, Harden's superstardom has taken a back seat in thenational consciousness. Don't make that same mistake.

THE OUTLIERS (a.k.a. other random interesting numbers Ifound in the void):

A cool blocked shot locations graphic from Edoardo Vergani.Look at Bol Bol!

NBA: Blocked shot location of the 12 playerswith most blocks during this season!What pops out? Let me know! pic.twitter.com/shFXLWFonW

— Edoardo Vergani (@ed_vergani) February 4, 2023Brandon Miller is such a fascinating NBA Draft prospect:

Brandon Miller is putting up unprecedentedversatility and efficiency in his jumpshot diet for a college bigwing. Here's how he compares to some other 6'7+ shooters - JabariSmith, Keegan Murray, Saddiq Bey, Brandon Ingram, and KhrisMiddleton. pic.twitter.com/DUNsKNXfb4

— Mark (@MarkC_NBA) February 2, 2023The Pacers are an absolutely chaotic basketball team, as shownin this table from Tom Bassine:

Net rating in each quarter.Best by Q:1 - Nuggets2 - Pacers3 - Thunder4 - Cavs pic.twitter.com/0dKf9ChDbI

— Tom Bassine (@tvbassine) February 5, 2023
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