James Harden is Top 10 All Time in TS%

Since TS% is such an important stat on this site, I thought I'd mention that James Harden is top 10 All-time (not counting ABA stats). For those interested, here are the top 10 of all time:

1. Artis Gilmore .643
2. Cedric Maxwell .629
3. James Donaldson .618
4. Adrian Dantley .617
5. Tyson Chandler .615
6. Reggie Miller .614
7. Charles Barkley .612
8. Magic Johnson .610
9. John Stockton .608
10. James Harden .607

Just a note, since this stat is all telling for who is the best and most efficient offensive player, here are some players that we didn't realize were totally overrated offensively:

24. Kareem Abdul Jabbar .592
37. Shaquille Oneal .586
39. Manu Ginobili .589
45. Dirk Nowitzki .582
47. Lebron James .581
56. Karl Malone .577
60. Chris Paul .575
75. Paul Pierce .56892
77. Michael Jordan .5686
79. Dwyane Wade .568
94. Larry Bird .565
95. Oscar Robertson .564 (Actually tied with Brad Miller)
107. James Worthy .559
114. Julius Erving .558 (Tied with Paul Westphal)
133. Kobe Bryant .555 (Tied with Danny Ainge)
145. Hakeem Olajuwon .553
155. Tony Parker .551
157. Tim Duncan .5509
182. Kevin Garnett .547

How did James Harden accomplish this? Lets take a look at this year. I know it's only a sample size of 3 games, but he is 18-49 from the field which is .367. He is also 6-17 from the three point line which is .353. But he has 36 free throws in three games which is 12 per game. With those free throws, he is 34-36 and .944. With these stats, his TS% is .589 which is good for 39th all time which matches Manu Ginobili's career TS%.

TS% = Points/(2 * FGA) + (0.88 * FTA) =
76/(2 * 49) + (0.88 * 36) = .589

Not to sound too "captain obvious", but my conclusion is that Harden achieved such a high TS% with a FG% of .367 and 3Pt% of .353 is because he got to the line 12 times per game. Here's where my proof becomes subjective...but I think Harden laterally runs into players to flop out these foul calls to get his 12 free throws per game. So if this is the method of determining the best offensive player of all time, then it's a sad state for the NBA. If you do the sniff test, it doesn't seem like James Harden should be considered a better offensive player than Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Larry Bird, and Dr. J...but if TS% is truly the judge of who the greatest and most efficient offensive players, then I say the NBA sucks now. Because it has become a league where flopping skill is standard where the most efficient offensive players are determined now. Forget all the championship rings between Jordan, Kobe, Bird, DWade, and Dr. J, they just are not efficient enough to be considered a top offensive player. Or, maybe TS% is just a misleading stat.

And I pose this question...why is Cedric Maxwell not getting more love from this site? He is the #2 all time in career TS% and played for the Rockets in 1987/88.

Another note...Reggie Miller ranks #6 all time in TS% and took advantage of his kickout when he took a 3 to draw fouls. They eventually made a rule to negate the loophole he found. I admit, James Harden is very talented at taking advantage of a similar loophole by laterally running into people to draw fouls. Just seems like it's time to create a James Harden rule to close the loophole. They don't call these 50/50 calls in the playoffs though and may be the primary reason Harden struggles in the playoffs.

Background data:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ts_pct_career.html

 

I'm creating a new meaningless stat called TS% Effectiveness (TSE%). This is a stat that determines how many championships produced per TS% delivered. So the formula is as such:

TSE% = # of championships * (Points/(2*FGA) + (0.88 * 36))

Here's how the top 10 TS% rank in this TSE% stat:

1. Magic Johnson - 3.048
2. Cedric Maxwell - 1.258
3. Tyson Chandler - 0.615
4. Artis Gilmore - 0
5. James Donaldson - 0
6. Adrian Dantley - 0
7. Reggie Miller - 0
8. Charles Barkely - 0
9. John Stockton - 0
10. James Harden - 0

How about where Michael Jordan, Kobe, Dr. J, and Larry Bird score?

Jordan - 3.41
Kobe - 2.775
Bird - 1.694
Dr. J - 1.674

So ranking these by my new and meaningless TSE% stat:

1. Jordan 3.41
2. Magic 3.048
3. Kobe 2.775
4. Bird 1.694
5. Dr. J 1.674

Not the most realistic of who is the greatest of all time, but I think it passes the sniff test more than the top 10 career TS% rankings.

 

If you are going to give Lebron and Durant that sort of pass, then why do we not give Kobe that sort of courtesy? To be fair to Kobe, he was the first non center to break the high school to NBA barrier. When the NBA GMs saw that Kobe was able to deliver an NBA championship in 2000, it changed their opinions of high school players and their transition to the NBA. Lebron drafted in 2003 and given immediate opportunity in Cleveland gives Kobe credit for paving the way. Please do not say that the 2000 championship had nothing to do with Kobe and was all Shaq. Just trying to save another offshoot discussion.

 

I don't mean to totally hate on Harden on a Rockets forum, but I'm a big hater of the fact that NBA refs are determining who wins games...especially in the regular season. The NBA seems to have turned into a league where the offensive players try and run into whoever they can to try and draw fouls as a first option. Then there are two floppers (offensive and defensive) on each of these plays. This results in the refs needing to make a decision on a 50/50 call which ultimately results in the half of the fans complaining that the refs caused their team to lose. I reminisce of the days when the best NBA players tried to just make field goal attempts as a first option and created more drama that didn't encompass the referees determining the winners. James Harden happens to be the biggest offender of this in my opinion so that is why I hate.

 

Just an offshoot note, but Kobe is more significant than most people think because he made people think about high school straight to NBA with his accomplishments. I actually compare him a lot to Julius Erving actuallly because Dr. J made people think about the ABA and actually led to the merger. I said it earlier, but if it wasn't for the championship that Kobe was a big part of in 2000, it wouldn't have paved the way for Lebron and others. It also changed the relationship between the NBA and NCAA which resulted in rules to add an age limit to the NBA draft eligible players.