James Harden is a superstar

[Bravely Done]

Given he has a concussion, I think there's a good chance he doesn't play again in the regular season, making his stats final:

16.8/4.9/3.7 (19.2/4.7/4.1 per 36) on .660 TS%. 3rd in WS/48.

Plus the very high rating in RAPM and the like.

I don't know about "superstar", but Harden is very good and very important to the Thunder.

that .660 TS% is #2 in the NBA

here are some other advanced stats...

.582 eFG% is #1 in the NBA
125.3 ORTG is #3 in the NBA
7.5 OWS is #5 in the NBA

I used to think Westbrook and Durant were miles ahead of James as a player, not anymore. I think if Harden was given Westbrook's or Durant's usage he would out produced both.

And i don't think you know anything about basketball.

[bbms]

He simply is an amazing player. Imo, Top20 in the league. And if he was given more touches, it's not a strecht to say that he could be a top10 player in this league.

[ahonui06]

The overrating of James Harden in this thread is getting out of hand. Almost embarrassing really.

[dream_catcher_9]

Given he has a concussion, I think there's a good chance he doesn't play again in the regular season, making his stats final:

16.8/4.9/3.7 (19.2/4.7/4.1 per 36) on .660 TS%. 3rd in WS/48.

Plus the very high rating in RAPM and the like.

I don't know about "superstar", but Harden is very good and very important to the Thunder.

that .660 TS% is #2 in the NBA

here are some other advanced stats...

.582 eFG% is #1 in the NBA
125.3 ORTG is #3 in the NBA
7.5 OWS is #5 in the NBA

I used to think Westbrook and Durant were miles ahead of James as a player, not anymore. I think if Harden was given Westbrook's or Durant's usage he would out produced both.

And i don't think you know anything about basketball.

It could be argued that James Harden is a better basketball player than Westbrook right now in terms of impact. You give Harden starters minutes AND all-star Usage and he could blow him out of the water both statistically and performance. And I'm a big Westbrook fan.

As for outperforming KD, he will always be the better scorer, but Harden is on another level in terms of passing and ability to read defenses and playing smart basketball.

Harden can run a well tuned offense, KD needs help(playmaking guard) to get him in his spots and take pressure off him.

[C-izMe]

The overrating of James Harden in this thread is getting out of hand. Almost embarrassing really.

It's shameful. Better than KD? Really.

[dream_catcher_9]

The overrating of James Harden in this thread is getting out of hand. Almost embarrassing really.

It's shameful. Better than KD? Really.

with Durant's usage? Absolutely.

KD needs more help to run a good offense than Harden does. When KD was all by himself(2007) he was on a pretty terrible offense, and even when Westbrook came in(2008), they were still terrible. The moment Harden joined the team their offense skyrocketed, and right now it's one of the best in the league, thanks to James.

[Rapcity_11]

Almost embarrassing really.

Icredibly ironic statement.

[Krodis]

Superstar-like performance to close out the sweep tonight.

[fallacy]

If he's not a superstar, he's about as close as you can get.

[tsherkin]

He certainly closed the game out very well. Hard to call a guy playing 31 mpg a superstar, though, and that's what he played in the RS. Very Manu-like; All-Star worthy, but clearly not the centerpiece player and really not a superstar. Hell, before tonight's 34 minutes, he was averaging 31.7 mpg in the playoffs this year too.

[Krodis]

He certainly closed the game out very well. Hard to call a guy playing 31 mpg a superstar, though, and that's what he played in the RS. Very Manu-like; All-Star worthy, but clearly not the centerpiece player and really not a superstar. Hell, before tonight's 34 minutes, he was averaging 31.7 mpg in the playoffs this year too.

Well, it's 34.33~ MPG in the playoffs not counting the Game 3 blowout.

[tsherkin]

Well, it's 34.33~ MPG in the playoffs not counting the Game 3 blowout.

We'll see how it goes over the length of the series. I don't think 4 games can really overturn a season in which he played Manu minutes. Again, he's played an All-Star-worthy season, IMO, but it takes more than that to be labeled a superstar... and you can't really be a superstar without actually being the centerpiece of your own team, and the Thunder clearly aren't his team.

[mrblunt]

Well, it's 34.33~ MPG in the playoffs not counting the Game 3 blowout.

We'll see how it goes over the length of the series. I don't think 4 games can really overturn a season in which he played Manu minutes. Again, he's played an All-Star-worthy season, IMO, but it takes more than that to be labeled a superstar... and you can't really be a superstar without actually being the centerpiece of your own team, and the Thunder clearly aren't his team.

How do you expect him to be a superstar with two superstars type players on his team? If he had his chance to shine on another team I think he could be a superstar in this league no doubt.

[ahonui06]

Jason Terry makes everyone look like superstars. He is probably the worst defensive 2 guard in the league. I'd personally like to thank James Harden and the Thunder for ending DIRK's misery of Terry for the past 7 years. I can only presume Terry is gone from the roster after yet another chokejob by the Jet.

[bbms]

He is crazy good. Ressembles Chris Paul and Steve Nash in terms of efficiecy.

[colts18]

How do you expect him to be a superstar with two superstars type players on his team? If he had his chance to shine on another team I think he could be a superstar in this league no doubt.

If the thunder have 3 superstars, why aren't they dominating the league?

[Doctor MJ]

How do you expect him to be a superstar with two superstars type players on his team? If he had his chance to shine on another team I think he could be a superstar in this league no doubt.

If the thunder have 3 superstars, why aren't they dominating the league?

Perhaps you don't consider Bosh a superstar, but this seems like an odd question given the existence of the Heatles and them only being slightly better than the Thunder despite LeBron & Wade being a considerably more talented duo than Durant & Westbrook.

I'm kind of assuming that anyone saying vehemently that Harden is a superstar isn't saying he's glaringly superior to Bosh though.

[tsherkin]

How do you expect him to be a superstar with two superstars type players on his team? If he had his chance to shine on another team I think he could be a superstar in this league no doubt.

I don't. You can't be a superstar until you prove it; the talent might be there, hypothetically, but until you do it as The Man, actually filling the role of superstar, you don't get the label in my book.

Might he be a superstar? I think he probably could be the focal point for a team, but I don't really know if he could be as good as the word implies in the primary role. It's possible, but I'm quite hesitant to make that comment just yet.

[Vindicater]

He is crazy good. Ressembles Chris Paul and Steve Nash in terms of efficiecy.

My god...

Are you seriously comparing James Harden to Steve Nash in terms of offensive efficiency?

If James Harden becomes the man on his own team and keeps up this efficiency for another 8+ seasons he might be in the same breathing space as Steve Nash.

Holy wow.

[tsherkin]

Holy wow.

I think he meant strictly from the perspective of scoring efficiency. Harden rocked a 66% TS in the regular season this year, which is stunning by any conception, and he's currently leading the postseason at 68%. He was at 125 ORTG in the RS and 128 so far in the PS.

That's pretty comparable. I wouldn't say his net offensive EFFECT is the same, but in terms of efficiency (which is what the poster wrote), yeah, it's comparable.