Where does James Harden rank among the best SGs in the league?

He's the best young SG in the league. Both Kobe and Wade (and Ginobili, for that matter) are past their prime.

 

^ his true shooting % is historically good among perimeter players

 

Thanks for highlighting this. I was just going to say, for his usage rate, Harden is the most efficient scoring guard in the league. Now, he's not great defensively. And that's what throws him below Kobe and DWade and probably slightly below Manu. But as someone else mentioned, Kobe and Manu are on the long downside, and DWade is busted up at the moment and not getting any younger. Harden is 23 years old. As long as he keeps his head screwed on right and stays healthy, he's gonna be the top SG in the league in a relatively short period of time.

By the way, with Harden and Lin traipsing through the paint constantly and being aggressive on the PnR, we should be in the bonus very early in the first and third quarters and have the opponent on it's heals with foul trouble on their front line in the fourth quarter. That is a huge tactical advantage. Can't emphasize it enough. Both of those guys go the FT line a ton and Harden is different from Martin in that he doesn't draw mickey mouse fouls off his shot fake from the perimeter. He draws fouls at the rim after exploding off the pick.

This trade makes things very interesting for this team for this season.

 

Harden is better than modern-day Kobe (not saying he's anywhere close to prime-Kobe). Not as good as Wade, but that may change this season, given Wade's age and gimpy knee.

 

Harden will have a more significant role here in Houston, and to quote Lebron James from last night "He (Harden) bout to go HAM in his role now"

 

Harden is a great role player. When your two best defensive players are guarding Durant and Westbrook, it's easy for Harden to get his. When you focus on Harden the way Miami did in the playoffs, he'll get shut down. His offensive game isn't developed enough to be the man. If he wants to be the man in Houston, he'll get the opposing team's best defender in his face and he'll be exposed as nothing more than a role player. I speak truth.

 

Durant in his third year would have also gotten shut down by the Heat. Cut Harden some slack, he just finished his third year and he will improve.

 

>lamb

 

I would say 3rd or 4th, but a whole lot of room to grow being that he is only 23 and has yet to have a starter role.

I think watching him Lin and Asik take advantage of their new starter roles will be a lot of fun and great for our future. Again there is a whole lot of unknown with this team, but the sky is the limit, and thats all I have asked for the past few years. Great job by Morey and co.

 

Not true. Harden played a ton of minutes without either guy being on the floor. He's a PnR playmaker. He sees the floor extremely well and he makes the right play in addition to getting to the rim, finishing, and collecting a ton of And1s and fouls against.

 

3rd-4th. Manu is arguably better.

 

Important thing to note is that wherever he ranks now, he's the one player on that list that is still going to improve dramatically over the next 2 or 3 years. He's by no means a finished product.

Not saying I would rank him over Kobe, Wade, or even Manu, but he might actually be more valuable to a franchise than they are right now just because of his high upside in comparison to his existing capabilities. Eric Gordon has similar abilities at the SG/PG position, but Gordon can't seem to stay healthy. Despite that, he was still given a max contract this past summer.

Needless to say, the Rockets are extremely lucky to have made this deal when they did it. Now its up to the other young guys on this roster to develop their games as well, and build something special in Houston for years to come.

 

Stop it

 

If you're truly serious...you truly need help

 

Top 5, may end up being 1-2 during/after this season since the few guys ahead are old

 

Fixed. When talent is comparable you have to go with the guy who has done it on a higher level.

That being said, I think Harden only has room to grow if he puts in the word. I don't know anything about his worth ethic...but lets hope he embraces the opportunity to improve himself and explodes in his new role (i.e He Who Shall Not Be Named did when he went to Orlando from Toronto)

 

Don't forget Nash was another player who was given a bigger role and only excelled.

Sometimes it happens. Lets hope it happens here.

 

Offensively, he is probably only behind Wade at this moment, with the way he gets into the lane, the ability to score and/or pass; but his defense is not close to any of the top SGs, so it's hard to put him that high.

 

Yeah James Harden ain't no fools gold imo, dude is flat out beast offensively. I hope he will thrive here.