How Good Was PRIME James Harden Actually?

I think what you're seeing with James Harden is the same you know he's he's not doing this off the women [Applause] mostly Johnson and then he hits a three he's an NBA MVP a 10-time All-Star a two-time assists leader and a three-time scoring champion at his Peak many considered him the greatest scorer of all time so just how good was Prime James Harden actually James was never supposed to play in the NBA it's a miracle that he's even alive his mother had several miscarriages and after she finally gave birth to James she nicknamed him lucky Hardin grew up in Compton during the 90s drug wars and to escape gang violence James turned to basketball but because he had asthma and loved fast food James was usually the slowest and least conditioned kid in every game despite his tough upbringing and physical deficiencies James loved to hoop and he focused on becoming an elite ball handler and shooter when he grew to six foot six hardens games blossomed and as a high school senior James became a McDonald's All-American as a sophomore at Arizona State Hardin averaged 20 points and six rebounds and four assists and was named conference Player of the Year and a consensus first team All-American going into the 2009 NBA draft hardened still looked a little chubby and many Scouts believed he had limited athletic potential but after he dominated at the NBA draft combine showing a amazing agility and explosiveness OKC selected him with a third overall pick Hardin joined the most talented young team in the league with KD Westbrook and Serge Ibaka and unlike most high draft picks James didn't have to wait long for the team to become successful OKC won 50 games in his rookie season and the next year the thunder made it to the Conference Finals but it was during his third season when James started to become a big problem for everyone in the NBA coming off the bench Hardin dominated opposing second units averaging 17 points four rebounds and four assists dominantly winning the Sixth Man of the Year award he was often compared to Manu Ginobili another lefty six foot six shooting guard who came off the bench with a similar offensive style and passing creativity in the playoffs OKC dominated the West losing just three games on their way to the 2012 NBA finals but at the biggest stage OKC proved to be too inexperienced and LeBron James wasn't planning on losing his third NBA Finals the heat defeated the Thunder 4-1 and Harden was used as a scapegoat for the loss unlike Manu Ginobili who was always super clutch hardened disappeared in the finals he was shooting terribly and couldn't buy a bucket and defensively it was even worse the media labeled James as a choker but that was a one-dimensional look at things because Hardin was still really young he also played with two ball dominant players in KD and Russ and Coach Scott Brooks was unable to fully incorporate all three of them still OKC's core players were all under 25 years old and everybody believed that the trio of KD Ross and Harden would become a dynasty but when the off-season came the Thunder's owner didn't want to pay the luxury tax so he lowballed hardened on his contract extension James Wanted 60 million over four years and OKC wasn't willing to go over 55. GM Sam presti was then forced to trade Harden in what was one of the worst financial decisions in NBA history Houston jumped on the opportunity to get one of the most talented guards in the end ba and they got hardened for 20 cents on the dollar however some people still believed Hardin was only good as a sixth man and there were doubts about him leading his own team but it took James just one game to shut up the critics in his Rocket's debut the beard had dropped 37 points a career-high 12 assists six rebounds and four Steals and a 105-96 win over the Pistons two days later he scored 45 points against the Hawks and those 82 points were the most any player scored in his first two games with an NBA team coach Kevin McHale soon gave him all the authority and Ultimate Green Light which allowed Hardin to develop a wide arsenal of weapons the beard immediately became an All-Star averaging 26 6 and 5 and pushed the Rockets to the playoffs for the first time in four years in 2014 Houston added Dwight Howard but despite big hopes the two superstars never clicked James wanted to push the pace as much as possible and use transition as an easy way to score points while white felt that he should get more touches in the post but Hardin forced the pick and roll and he viewed Dwight as only a screener and a lob threat which were actually Dwight's strengths but the big man didn't want to be a role player despite Howard's wishes it was clear who was the best player on the team when he had the ball in his hands hardin's game looked like a basketball Sixth Sense dancing on the verge of talent and pure Instinct Hardin developed all assets on the offensive game to absolute perfection his Euro Step was bad when he first came to the league but he perfected it over the years and made it slower and more methodical and it was soon the best Euro Step in the NBA the way Hardin flailed his arms on drives tangling the arms of Defenders to draw a foul was revolutionary genius and disgusting all at the same time but the best aspect of his game was how the beard steamrolled to the basket read the defensive reactions and then in one millisecond made the perfect counter move in 2015 Hardin was named to the all-nba first team and finished second in the NBA MVP voting behind Steph Curry however many people believed Hardin was robbed which was confirmed by the players as James was later voted as the MVP by The Players Association and even though the Rockets made it to the 2015 Conference Finals it was clear that the relationship between their two superstars was dysfunctional almost as dysfunctional as deciding what to eat every day constantly having to go out and buy groceries just to prepare tedious and boring meals well look no further than hello fresh who takes care of the meal planning and delivers pre-proportioned ingredients right to your home so whipping up delicious homemade meals is a walk in the park simply choose your recipes pick your delivery date and enjoy pre-proportioned ingredients and easy step-by-step recipes delivered right to your doorstep and with 40 different Chef crafted recipes to select from every week not only will you have extra time you'll also have variety for breakfast lunch and dinner you can even add on Game Day snacks from a curated selection of over 100 add-ons all you need is 15 minutes and you'll be enjoying it tasty homemade meal that's 25 percent cheaper than takeout and less expensive than grocery shopping and look just before I recorded this I busted out the chef's cap and I whipped up the chicken thyme with green bean couscous and guys look I know hellofresh is sponsoring this but trust me when I say this it was simply amazing I honestly expected it to be good but I did not expect it to be this good and so of course we've got a deal you can't pass up go to hellofresh. com and use code 50 non-stop at checkout for 50 off plus free shipping yeah that's 50 off and free shipping with code 50 non-stop visit the link in the description for this can't miss opportunity after a disappointing 2016 season that saw the Rockets get bounced in the first round James and Dwight weren't on speaking terms anymore and Howard was soon traded to Atlanta for the 2017 season the Rockets hired Mike D'Antoni as their head coach D'antoni was long aware of the power of the three-pointer and with the blessings of the analytics team and GM Daryl Mori the Rockets decided to shoot as many threes as humanly POS possible modifying the seven seconds or less offense he used with the Suns D'antoni gave another meaning to the term run and Gun with over 43s per game Houston broke the all-time NBA record and three-pointers attempted in a season with 3306 attempted threes they shattered the previous record by 714 shooting 27 percent more threes than the 2016 Warriors Harden thrived in this fast-paced offense and because D'antoni made him a point guard and had the whole offense running through him James was stringing together triple doubles like it was a video game due to the extremely high usage rate hardin's numbers exploded on December 31 2016 Hardin recorded a triple-double with 53 points 17 assists and 16 rebounds in a 129-122 win over the New York Knicks becoming the first player in NBA history with a 50-15-15 stat line on January 27th he dropped 51 points 13 rebounds and 13 assists in a 123 118 win over the 76ers becoming the first player in NBA history with multiple 50-point triple doubles in a season the beard finished the regular season with 22 triple doubles and became the first player in NBA history to finish the regular season with at least 2 000 points 900 assists and 600 rebounds James was the league leader in assists with 11.

2 dimes per game and second in scoring with 29 Points on average Hardin finished second in MVP voting behind Russell Westbrook who averaged a triple-double for the year despite hardin's individual Brilliance in the second round of the playoffs the Rockets were no match for Kawhi Leonard Spurs who defeated them in six games on July 8 2017 Hardin signed a four-year contract extension with the rockets for 160 million dollars giving him a total six-year deal with 228 million dollars guaranteed the richest contract in NBA history at the time the Rockets added Chris Paul and PJ Tucker to the team and suddenly Hardin had the most talented teammates since his last year in OKC however NBA Skeptics believed Paul and Harden wouldn't be able to play together because they are both ball dominant toy cars and that hardens numbers would suffer because of CP3 but neither happened Chris and James co-existed perfectly and the rockets weren't so dependent on Hardin to make every play because Paul relieved him of heavy ball handling duties James started playing the best defense of his life while still being the most dangerous scorer in the NBA then on January 30th with a 114 107 win over the magic Hardin became the first player in NBA history with a 60-point triple-double the Rockets finished the regular season as the number one seed for the first time in franchise history with a franchise best 65 and 17 record Hardin won his first scoring title averaging 30. 4 points per game the Rockets breezed past the first two playoff rounds to secure a matchup against the scariest team in the NBA the defending Champion Golden State Warriors despite Houston being the number one seed the warriors death lineup seemed unbeatable and they were the heavy favors to win the series still after five games the Rockets had a 3-2 series lead and it seemed like they could do the impossible but in game six Chris Paul injured his hamstring and was ruled out for the remainder of the series it all seemed lost but in Game 7 Houston played great without Paul they limited the best offense in the NBA to just 43 points and held an 11 point lead at the half but in the second half the Rockets missed an NBA record 27 consecutive three-pointers making just 7 out of 44 shots from Deep with that kind of cold streak Hardin and Company lost the lead the game and the series um one half of basketball two games um game six and seven one half of basketball we just didn't have the same energy that we had in that first half our pace it's uh it's extremely frustrating but it wasn't all negative because Hardin was named the NBA Most Valuable Player finally winning the award after two second place finishes now after the best regular season in franchise history it was logical for the Rockets to lose some steam however nobody expected their complete downfall for the 2019 season Houston lost key defensive pieces in Trevor Ariza and lukenba omute and replaced them with Carmelo Anthony who made their offense stagnant and their defense leaked more than the Titanic the Rockets were badly organized and disunited and then they also lost Chris Paul due to an injury with an 11-15 losing record and without their second best player it seemed like the Rockets would miss the playoffs and then James Harden went ballistic the beard dropped 30 or more points in 32 straight games in 18 of those games Hardin scored 40 or more points four times he had at least 50 including a 61 one point performance at Madison Square Garden James had a streak of five straight games over 40 points and in a totally different five game stretch he averaged 52. Hardin finished the season averaging 36.

1 points 7. 5 assists and 6.