Shoot. My bad. Barry was at 35.58. Infatuated with eclipsing Kobe!!! Nobody cares about Rick Barry lol. You said so yourself
Here's another thing to keep on eye on. I'm pretty sure no one has ever led the league in scoring on more points than minutes played -- since the Wilt 50ppg year (on 48.5 mpg). Harden is getting close to doing it. The elegance of saying more Points than Minutes played for a league leader is pretty cool.
I don't know why we are talking about Kobe. Harden just needs to average 38.1 PPG for the rest of the season to beat 1987 Jordan and check in at #5 All-time (#1 Post Merger). I don't think that's a tough ask for Harden even when the team is totally healthy. Kobe who?
i'd rather that he average 40ppg than win the championship. That would go down in history forever and ever.
THIS championships are overrated since winning the ring is heavily dependent of teammates and and heavily influenced by officiating RS performances are more objective and thus more relevant! better RS performance also means that the player respects the game , and the fans, putting in effort and excellence day in day out , and is not saving his best for 'when it counts' thus constantly robbing the fans of the joy and skill they pay the money for to watch
Why choose? I want Harden to beat Jordan AND win a ring this year! I don't want the naysayers to be able to point to another flame out in the playoffs as a negative to his season. I want to all of everything!!!!
Yup, even Robert Horry 1 ring is worth more than 2 of Durant. Anyone, and i mean anyone (even a homeless person) could join the GSW team and would still win a ring.
@JayZ750 You should stick these stats in your first post. What I find interesting is that Harden doesn't even crack the top ten in FTA. Its one of his detractor's biggest points- his Free Throw attempts. NBA All-Time Points Leaders: Single Regular Season Per Game Average - Top 50
Wilt ruled the NBA Jurassic age like no other. Harden is reaching stratosphere that no modern player even thought possible. No MJ or Kobe even close to these numbers. Iceman so underrated too.
As of 3-07-19 Games played = 60 Points = 2199 Average = 36.65 His average inched up over the last 10 games, though just barely. Remaining potential games = 18. Average needed over remaining games to finish season at: 33 ppg / Must average 20.8 to finish season 34 ppg / Must average 25.2 to finish season 35.4 ppg / Must average 31.2 to finish season (to pass Kobe) 35.6 ppg / Must average 32.0 to finish season (to pass Rick Barry) 36 ppg / Must average 33.8 to finish season 37.1 ppg / Must average 38.6 to finish season (to pass MJ) 38 ppg / Must average 42.5 to finish season 39 ppg / Must average 46.8 to finish season 40 ppg / Must average 51.2 to finish season So to top MJ and only be behind Wilt, Harden has to average 38.6 to finish the season. VERY VERY HARD at this point, with the healthier team. Kobe on the other hand I think is almost guaranteed. And same with Rick Barry. So pretty easy to see Harden finishing as the 3rd highest PPG player ever (which would be NBA and ABA combined even). In other words, in the entire history of basketball, only 2 players would have ever scored more PPG in a season. Cool stuff.
holy ****! 48.5mpg... Thanks for sharing that! Had no idea Wilt played every second of every game (including overtime) for an entire season.
PPG is probably what people remember down the road. But it's not the best indicator of scoring prowess. The following table shows points scored per every 75 possessions played, with some scoring efficiency numbers: Code: Rk Player Season Age Tm PTS G MP 2P% 3P% eFG% TS% 1 James Harden 2018-19 29 HOU 36.0 60 2247 .530 .363 .538 .616 2 Michael Jordan 1986-87 23 CHI 34.8 82 3281 .491 .182 .484 .562 3 Kobe Bryant 2005-06 27 LAL 34.2 80 3277 .482 .347 .491 .559 4 Russell Westbrook 2016-17 28 OKC 33.6 81 2802 .459 .343 .476 .554 5 Michael Jordan 1987-88 24 CHI 32.7 82 3311 .546 .132 .537 .603 6 Michael Jordan 1992-93 29 CHI 32.3 78 3067 .514 .352 .515 .564 7 Michael Jordan 1989-90 26 CHI 32.0 82 3197 .548 .376 .550 .606 8 Michael Jordan 1990-91 27 CHI 32.0 82 3034 .551 .312 .547 .605 9 Stephen Curry 2015-16 27 GSW 31.9 79 2700 .566 .454 .630 .669 10 Michael Jordan 1995-96 32 CHI 31.9 82 3090 .506 .427 .525 .582 11 George Gervin 1981-82 29 SAS 31.8 79 2817 .504 .278 .502 .562 12 Isaiah Thomas 2016-17 27 BOS 31.8 76 2569 .528 .379 .546 .625 13 James Harden 2017-18 28 HOU 31.7 72 2551 .531 .367 .541 .619 14 Bernard King 1984-85 28 NYK 31.7 55 2063 .534 .100 .531 .585 15 Tracy McGrady 2002-03 23 ORL 31.5 75 2954 .481 .386 .505 .564 16 Kevin Durant 2013-14 25 OKC 31.3 81 3122 .549 .391 .560 .635 17 Michael Jordan 1996-97 33 CHI 31.3 82 3106 .507 .374 .516 .567 18 Dwyane Wade 2008-09 27 MIA 31.3 79 3048 .524 .317 .516 .574 19 Carmelo Anthony 2012-13 28 NYK 31.0 67 2482 .476 .379 .502 .560 20 Russell Westbrook 2014-15 26 OKC 30.8 67 2302 .457 .299 .455 .536 The above doesn't include seasons from before 1974, since basketball reference doesn't provide possession estimates for those seasons. Rather than just points scored per possession and points scored per scoring attempt (which is what the above table captures, essentially), it would also be interesting to look at points scored relative to points scored by the player's team and opponent. Call it Points%, which can be estimated as: Points% = (TmMin / (5*Min)) * (Points / (TmPoints + OppPoints)) Here's a sampling of player seasons, ranked by Points%: Code: Year Min TmMin Points TmPoints OppPoints Points% PPG Jordan 1987 3281 19830 3041 8596 8523 21.5% 37.1 Bryant 2006 3277 19855 2832 8154 7949 21.3% 35.4 Harden 2019 2247 15485 2199 7253 7094 21.1% 36.7 Westbrook 2017 2802 19805 2558 8741 8679 20.8% 31.6 Jordan 1988 3311 19855 2868 8609 8330 20.3% 35 Chamberlain 1962 3882 19410 4029 10035 9813 20.3% 50.4 Durant 2014 3122 19805 2593 8705 8185 19.5% 32 Curry 2016 2700 19880 2375 9421 8539 19.5% 30.1 Iverson 2006 3103 19905 2377 8147 8307 18.5% 33 Baylor 1962 2129 19425 1836 9482 9306 17.8% 38.6 Barry 1965 3175 19590 2775 9911 9679 17.5% 35.6
If harden would quit being fat and lazy he could drop 82 in a game and make this easier on himself the rest of the way
Great post. If you dropped in assists/game, points off of assists it would add to the point - none of the above could also create like Harden. Has anyone normalized "points produced/36 minutes" for the season? I have to imagine that Harden would destroy everyone ever.
He never averaged fewer than 42 mpg. Played till he was 36. Still 2k regular season minutes ahead of Lebron