RealGM

Harden's PER36 for December: 18 points on 44%FG/ 44%3PT/ 83%FT/ 61.8%TS, 4.5 REB, 3.2 AST, 1.6 STL.

Brooks, play him more!!! He's only playing 26 minutes a game so far in December. Sadly, that is Harden's career high for MPG in a month so far. Brooks is getting there but come on

However impressive those figures are, it's to be expected that his production will fall off with increased MPG. That said, Harden has been playing solidly on the defensive end as well, and has earned his right to more playing time.

I'm actually really proud of James, he had a shocking start to the season but has really turned that round as of late. He's playing some fantastic ball and Brooks needs to punch him up to 30+ MPG.

RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Green 5.9/ 1.8/ 1.0/ 0.3/ 16.0
Selofosha 6.2/ 1.8/ 1.9/ 0.5/ 7.4
Starter 12.1/ 3.6 3.0/ 0.7/ 23.4
Ibaka 8.7/ 0.3/ 0.5/ 3.1/ 13.7
Harden 4.7/ 2.5/ 1.7/ 0.3/ 13.8
Bench 13.4/ 2.8/ 2.2/ 3.4/ 27.6

Stats adjust per 36mins.
I think it's pretty clear what's more important for the season is to ensure that green/durant play lesser minutes. Westbrook seems ok as he played on average 33 mins

Judging by pure stats should be a problem to decrease green by around 5 mins to give 5 extra mins to harden and ibaka. Can take away 5 mins total from Durant/Selofosha( depends on game).

I don't think harden should be starting yet since i would prefer him to end games. If Selofosha is a defensive stopper and he doesnt end game(harden bring more points) and he doesn't start (harden earned his rights to start), he'll primarily be asked to shut down bench players or bench scorer.

James Harden's been playing much better. He's playing like he did to end last season.

He should be getting thirty minutes a game, at least. Our team has no spacing at all offensively with Harden out of the game, we need him in there. Teams know that Jeff Green can't shoot and they are playing off him now. It's hard to run an offense when you've only got one guy on the court who can make a jump shot consistently.

Harden's numbers for March:

18 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 50 fg%, 33 3pt%, 90 ft% on less than 30 minutes a game.

hmmm, it's almost like we've seen these stats before...

Harden has just been awesome since the trade. His efficiency as the 3rd option is great, and he is taking full advantage of playing alongside 2 other offensive players that demand attention. Hopefully KD and Russ gain trust in him in crunch time situations so we don't always have to go 2-on-5 and rely on hero ball.