Is James Harden's crazy efficiency the result of natural bball IQ

There is no such thing called bball IQ.

Harden is the combination of skills, heart and gut. Superstar he is.

 

Javale Mcgee begs to differ. I know there is such thing for sure. For example, I feel the WNBA has higher bball IQ because athleticism and height are less of a factor.

Have you ever played Ball? Have you ever pretended to do a stepback three, or waited for a defender to jump at you on a wide open three. Instead of shooting, you wait until the defender is jumping towards you and then you pass the ball to nearest teammate on your side. While the defender is still in the air, you bolt straight to the hoop. If your teammate has a decent bball IQ then he/she will know to give the ball right back to you. This is a textbook give and go. Far too often at the Y, my teammate just chucks it up, embracing their .100 3-point percentage. This is poor bball IQ

 

He has a natural sense of rhythm and very good athleticism.

 

I noticed a very interesting play yesterday.

Harden had the ball in his hands screaming for Asik to come out and set the pick, Asik wasn't paying attention so Harden had to stomp on the floor in frustration before Asik moved.

The moment Asik started moving up to set the pick, Harden threw the ball to Parsons and Parsons drove right to the lane for an open lay up. The Asik pick was a distraction to pull his defender away from the paint.

I don't know if that was a set play or just plain awareness, but that was pretty nifty of Harden.

I don't remember if that was exactly how it played out, but if I'm correct that bucket by Parsons made the score 57-59 in favor of Dallas.

 

We can hand out the judgement after postseason run

 

That was pretty much what happened, it almost felt like it was a deliberately play, the stomping included, because Parsons defender (was it Dirk?) went ball watching and completely lost him.

 

I remember that play.

Sometimes Harden will dribble the hell out of the ball for close to 20 seconds. Everyone is probably screaming at him at home to pass the ball, go to the basket,OR JUST DO SOMETHING! (me too admittedly). Then he passes to Delfino, Beverly, (TD, Morris) with little time on the clock and they have no choice but to shoot the ball in motion. I don't know if he does that on purpose so they don't think so much and just shoot or he is really just trying to take air out of the ball; but they usually score a bucket or get a decent shot when he does that. BBALL IQ?

 

obviously he has a natural feel for the game, but sometimes I wonder how much players themselves are studying the advanced stats. I remember reading that Battier studied long print outs to get ready for his defensive assignments. Is it possible that Harden at one point figured out that 3's, drives, and free throws are the best shots in the game and worked to reinforce these skills?

 

You might be thinking of your namesake. The adults are discussing men's basketball.

 

Radioactive spider?

 

Actually I think there is more BBall IQ in the WNBA than in the NBA. Due to less testosterone the game is more balanced. There are no athletic freaks that just jump over people that are 7'6. My last year in college, my pick-up team got destroyed by 5 girls that were on the college team. These girls passed, set-picks, boxed out and were lights out shooters. In my opinion, the womens game has far more bball IQ

 

When any other play scores 20+ points on 10 shots, that's usually a season highlight game for them. With Harden, I've gotten so used to it that I take it for granted. Just gloss over it at this point.

 

Probably had more to do with the fact that they were on the college team and you just had a random group you play pick up games with.

 

Women bball players always box out. Them big ole bootys stop you dead in your tracks.

 

I was just busting his balls and being snarky. However, thank you for resurrecting the old canard about girl teams and fundamentals. It's just so pure, I really enjoy it more. Oh wait, look at the shiney dunk. What was I talking about?

 

He's deceptively agile and quick, has awesome foot work, and defenders don't wanna get Soul Glo from his beard on their jerseys