Harden: The Future of Basketball
Posted: Wed Jan 7, 2015 6:56 pm
Grantland article is up discussing James Harden and how he represents an evolving game.
Harden haters are going to want to skip this because it will infuriate them because of the pesky facts in the article.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/futur ... n-rockets/
Harden haters are going to want to skip this because it will infuriate them because of the pesky facts in the article.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/futur ... n-rockets/
As of today, James Harden is the leading scorer in the NBA and the most important offensive force on a team in the thick of the Western Conference title race. He’s a legitimate MVP candidate, quite clearly the best shooting guard in the league. And yet, he’s more than that. Those plaudits only scratch the surface of what he’s doing this season.
When Daryl Morey, the mad scientist of analytics, landed Harden in the trade of the decade, he not only got the superstar he coveted, he also acquired the perfect instrument for his basketball laboratory. Morey told Grantland that Harden “is a good fit here, but James would be a good fit with all 30 teams.” Be that as it may, the pair has become perhaps the most stylistically harmonious player-GM arrangement in the NBA over the last two months. By design or by happy accident, Harden plays a brand of basketball that beautifully conforms to his GM’s innovative visions.
Symbolically, Harden might be the most important player in the world. He’s a manifestation of the current trends in offensive basketball. The things that make him such an unusual superstar serve as a leaguewide harbinger of what’s to come.