James Harden PPG Watch Thread

Poor Rick Barry. Sturdy White guys don't count, I guess. @Os Trigonum

 

I haven't heard a peep from the Looney Tunes monsters. They are not even thinking about it.

 

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.

 

holy ****! 48.5mpg... Thanks for sharing that! Had no idea Wilt played every second of every game (including overtime) for an entire season.

 

The 36ppg seems to be the sweet spot. I think that's doable and realistic. Hope it happens.

 

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.

 

Consider changing your username to Harden4lf, then.