James Harden is overrated, here’s why

I’m a huge LeBron James fan, one of the biggest you’ll find. He’s the reason I started watching the NBA and playing basketball. I just wanted to emulate what he could do with the ball. Of course I failed miserably at playing basketball, but the NBA became my passion which is why you’re reading this article right now.

King James has been the best player in the world for probably a decade now. Whether or not he was the best player in basketball when he came up short against the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 is up for debate, but there’s no doubt he was the top player in the league the following season.

3 titles, 7 more Finals appearances and 2 more MVPs later and he is still the best player in the world, even at 35 years of age. However, his reign at the top is nearly at an end. Even a player of his caliber must eventually succumb to old age. 

Father Time is undefeated.

This is all begs the question; who will be the best player in the NBA when LeBron does finally hang up his sneakers for the final time? Right now there are several players that you could say are the heir to the King’s throne; Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant are all names that you could say are next in line. One player who also seems to be thrown in the mix is James Harden, something I just do not agree with. 

To me, Harden is one of the most overrated players in the NBA, and here’s why.

Scoring

Harden is obviously most famous for his scoring, he will likely lead the league in scoring again this year making that his 3rd straight scoring title with his 34.4 PPG. He is a great scorer don’t get me wrong. He can shoot from outside, has an amazing handle and has the strength and guile to finish at the rim and draw a lot of fouls. 

One of the things that really impresses me about Harden is his ability to get to the line. He shot nearly 12 free-throws a game in the 2019/20 season and hit 86.1% of them. Getting the line usually means you aren’t afraid to be physical and challenge the wave of shot-blockers you are going to meet at the rim. Harden is certainly fearless when it comes to attacking the basket and he is rewarded for his bravery.

Harden’s scoring is overrated because his huge point totals don’t hold up well when compared to other great scorers in the league today and throughout history. Harden shoots…a lot. He attempts 22.7 field-goals a game whilst also jacking up 12.6 threes in the meantime. If he was hitting his shots at a good rate then that would be ok, but he isn’t. Harden only shot 43.5% from the field and 35.2% from 3 last season.

He scores so much because he shoots so much. Yes, when he gets hot he is impossible to stop, but when he’s cold he isn’t going to realize it and he’ll keep hoisting up shots. He can shoot you into a game, but also shoot you out of one. Compare his level of efficiency to someone like Durant or Curry and Harden is seriously lacking. Durant has shot over 50% from the field and every season since 2012/13 and Curry (apart from this season where he only played 5 games) has always shot above 45% from the field despite only being 6’3”.

Scoring isn’t just about getting points, it’s about getting points in an efficient manner and Harden is not an efficient scorer. I compare him a lot to Allen Iverson, another player that is overrated in my opinion. AI may have 4 scoring titles, but his career FG% was only 42.5%, not something that produces success throughout an NBA career.

Another measure of how good a scorer is is by seeing how well they score in the regular season vs the post-season. In the regular season, you come up against good teams and bad teams. It’s usually a lot easier to score against bad because bad teams generally have bad defenses. Good teams have good defenses and good teams make the Playoffs.

During his time with Houston, Harden has a regular-season career FG% of 44.2% and 36.2% from 3, ok numbers but not great. In the Playoffs with the Rockets, Harden has only shot 41.2% from the field and 32.2% from 3. You expect all scorers to struggle relative to their regular season averages, but not at this level. As a comparison, LeBron has averaged a 50.4% FG% in the regular season and 49.1% in the Playoffs.

Harden’s numbers are really bad for a player considered an elite scorer. The Beard scores a lot vs bad, disorganized defenses, but when it comes to teams that are well structured and disciplined he is no-where near as good.

Harden’s style of scoring does not translate to winning NBA basketball and it’s the biggest reason why I don’t think he’ll ever win a title as a team’s first option.

Defense & Intangibles

James Harden has the physical tools to be a great on-ball and help defender. He’s 6’5”, 220lbs and has a 6’11” wingspan. Those are fantastic measurements for a combo-guard and he should be a menace to opposing point guards and shooting guards.

It’s the opposite though.

Harden is known throughout the league as a bad defender. He just doesn’t seem to care that there are 2 sides to basketball, not just offense. He looks are though he just wants to score a lot of points and that it’s up to his teammates to pick up the slack on defense. This feeds into my next point as well, Harden is not a good leader for his teammates. 

Harden’s old coach Kevin McHale said of Harden in October 2017, “great passer, the guy’s got phenomenal vision. James can see all the passes and do everything. But James is not a leader.” 

McHale also went on to say that Harden’s teammates in Houston would not listen to him if he told them they needed to play better defense. It’s hard for people to listen to you when you tell them to do something like play defense when you don’t do it yourself. Players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron lead by example which means they get more respect from their teammates, this leads to better team chemistry and a more cohesive basketball unit.

Harden doesn’t inspire the rest of his roster and that’s a huge problem when you’re in a big Playoff game away from home against a great team and a hostile crowd. Harden could fix all this very easily. Like I said he has the potential to be a great defender, he just needs to focus more on that side of the court. If he does that, his teammates will follow and the Rockets will be a much better team because of it.

Harden is a top 50 all-time player right at only 30 years old and he has a lot of time to prove critics like me wrong. Right now I’d say he’s the 6th best player in the NBA behind Steph Curry, not close behind LeBron where a lot of Harden fan-boys would put him. Scoring lots of points (inefficiently) does not make the best player in the league. 

Never has, never will.