https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/6/15/21290999/top-5-nba-playmakers-lebron-james 2. James Harden, Rockets The Great James Harden Debate—now a cherished NBA tradition—has never been concerned with Harden’s talent so much as whether he uses that talent for good. All of which means that Rockets fans neck deep in MVP voting conspiracy theory and media types clutching their pearls over the sanctity of the traveling rules begin at essentially the same place. Harden is a great player—too great to be disrespected as he has, perhaps, or too great to rely on cheap tactics, but fundamentally great. Twitter wars are waged because of the way we view truths through our own impressionistic lenses. If we set those aside, we can see one thing clearly: Building a team around Harden is one of the safest ways to 50 wins and an elite offense. That was true when he ran a space-age pick-and-roll with Dwight Howard or Clint Capela; it was true when he took turns isolating alongside Chris Paul; and it’s true now that he’s made room for Russell Westbrook. Each of those stages required its own mode of playmaking. Harden used to set up Houston’s shooters by attacking the paint, collapsing the defense, and kicking to the corners. Assisting was largely an act of momentum. More recently, it’s become one of positioning—a response to defenders edging a step or two in Harden’s direction before he even makes his move. Houston runs the NBA’s most methodical offense, largely because of how much Harden can accomplish within a 5-foot radius. In general, the purpose of a defensive game plan is to help teams cover ground—to triage the threats on the floor in a way that prevents overexposure. Harden reduces those best-laid plans to a single opponent or, more recently, to a desperate double-team. There may be no greater affirmation of a star’s playmaking ability than opponents regularly running a second defender his way before crossing half court.
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/6/19/21296565/top-5-scorers-nba-james-harden-kevin-durant 1. James Harden, Rockets Give it up for one of the game’s great innovators. Harden lives in the lab, in the sense that his increasingly isolated game seeks to control for all variables. By waving off traditional ball screens, he limited the defense’s ability to bring another defender his way. With an unprecedented focus on the stepback 3, he rendered most help defense irrelevant and tilted the balance in his favor. Any player can work on their moves. What Harden has done is build skill upon skill to challenge the basis for offense as we know it. Why bother thinking three moves ahead when you can just flip over the chessboard? As a result, Harden does a staggering amount of his scoring unassisted. What help he gets is often indirect (the spacing of the court, the threat of a quick pass to his teammates, etc.), leaving Harden himself to engineer how a possession should actually unfold. There is a philosophy of positioning and movement to Houston’s offense, but the mechanics of how shots are created are left primarily to Harden and Russell Westbrook. Each has their own way, but Harden confounds defenses by flooding the game’s simplest premise—one-on-one basketball—with incredible complexity. A crossover isn’t just a crossover when Harden could carry his momentum through for a step-back. A hesitation isn’t just a hesitation when any lunge or reach will be twisted into a foul. There’s always a catch, and from it, the means to score a few more points atop thousands.
