James Harden’s Offensive Dominance
Kaegan Cowan
11/22/2020
Houston Rockets guard James Harden continued his stretch of superstardom in the 2019-20 NBA season, leading the Rockets to the fourth seed in the Western Conference while finishing third in MVP votes. The 2017-18 MVP’s outstanding performance was not a given coming into the season, though. A blockbuster trade in the offseason between the Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder sent another recent MVP, point guard Russell Westbrook, to Houston in exchange for point guard Chris Paul and a haul of draft picks. It was fair to wonder if putting another high-scoring guard in the Rockets’ backcourt was going to significantly cut into Harden’s offensive production.
Yet, the Rockets were able to effectively accommodate both players into a high-octane offense that led the Western Conference in scoring with 117.8 points per game. Harden led the NBA individually with 34.3 points per game, while Westbrook contributed 27.2. What was the key to Harden putting up so many points? As has become the usual for him, he simply put up a lot of shots. Harden led the league in field goal attempts (22.3 per game), three-point field goal attempts (843) and free throw attempts (11.8 per game, a career high), while also finishing third in the league in minutes played.
Harden’s eye-popping offensive numbers certainly played a big factor in his league-leading Value over Replacement Player (VORP), a statistic which estimates the points per hundred team possessions that a player contributed over a replacement-level player. But Harden’s 7.3 VORP is not wholly explained by his offensive game. Contrary to popular belief, his defense was far from bad; in fact, he led the league in steals (125) for the first time in his career. He also set a career high in blocks per game (0.9). Of course, no one is arguing that Harden is an elite defender, and steals and blocks are hardly the best way to evaluate defense, but the narrative that Harden is a defensive liability is not true.
Harden’s ability to facilitate is also good. While he may have led the league in turnovers, he also finished sixth in the league in assists. The fact that both stats are high on league leaderboards gives insight into Harden’s overall playstyle. He is the primary ballhandler for one of the NBA’s premier offenses, so it makes sense that he is a stat-sheet stuffer. Also, he is the focal point of every team’s defensive gameplan for the Rockets—not only does this help explain his high turnover numbers, but it also makes his scoring numbers more impressive, considering how much attention is being given to him by opposing defenses.
The final aspect of Harden’s overall rating is the offensive system he plays in. Never in NBA history has the three-point shot been embraced more strongly than by the Rockets under coach Mike D’Antoni. The 2019-20 Rockets finished as the slight runner-up to the 2018-19 Rockets in terms of the highest per-game three-point attempt rate in NBA history, and Harden has largely been the driver of that high rate. While he is not particularly efficient from the three-point line (only posting a .355 percentage), his high shot volume from outside made him the league leader in three-pointers made.
D’Antoni’s recent departure raises questions about whether Houston’s (and Harden’s) offensive prowess can continue with a different head coach. No matter who stands on the sideline next season, though, Harden will probably get his shots up.