Of course he's playing around. No way in a real NBA game you turn away from the defender and do a behind the back dribble. Maybe you can get away with it when a big has switched to you. It can't be a bread and butter move against perimeter defenders.
I don't think that's the "move" in question. The move in question is the jumpshot he did at the end off of one-leg. Maybe I'm reading too much into this but if this is an actual legit move he's working on it's basically to counter the defenders that will wait until he performs his stepback to close out. Defenders are going to wait for Harden to do a stepback 3 but this is basically a he's shooting his shot while gathering momentum to look like he's going to execute a step back. Again, this might be reading into this too much and Harden might just be messing around. But it's definitely a good counter to think about.
A lot of his signature moves come from just playing around at first. Don't be surprised if he does this at some point in the season.
Looks like he's getting the shot off faster this way, rather than picking up his dribble then setting his feet then shooting. That said, I'd bet this is him ****in around and having fun in pickup games. I would be surprised if he started doing this in NBA games.
He is anticipating that defenders next year will guard him from behind like Utah — so this is just his counter to that ...lol.
If he can hit a fadeaway 3 off 1 foot at a decent percentage, then great. I’m a little skeptical, lol.
Yup. I can't tell from this angle but it looks like instead of doing a stepback where he gathers in motion to go backwards he's actually moving laterally. If that's the case then he's creating more space for his shot because defenders are anticipating him stepping back and not to his right / their left.
I'm in the party that doubts this is the new move. He said himself that the new move would "look like a travel but it's not" and that didn't look like a travel to me. I will say this though, I'm excited to see what EGo has added to his repertoire. Morey said on his podcast with Craig Ackerman that EGo was working on some new moves. Some of them were Harden's moves. Can't wait.
So if James pulls this off, he will basically never have to right again haha. I dont know, Im not sure if this is his new move, I feel James likes to keep his new moves close to the vest. I wonder why James never cared about working on his right hand. Prolly cause he doesnt have to haha. Whatever the move is, hopefully its a counter to forcing him right. This cant happen anymore. That strategy should no longer be viable come this season.
Yeah, first time I saw this I also got the same impression as you - it all makes sense. Harden needs a counter to that step back move that results in another decent 3pt look and this was the next logical place to take the move. As joking referred to above, this is also actually a legit counter to Harden being "back guarded" like how Bledsoe guards him. The defender would be limited in contesting a side shuffle fade away 3 in that scenario because Harden has another way to create separation from someone who is shaded trying to take away his movement to his left and behind the 3pt line.
