No. 3: James Harden, Brooklyn Nets
2020-21 Stats: 24.6 PPG/7.9 RPG/10.9 APG/1.3 SPG/.466/.362/861
Hold your horses. Yes, James Harden is a point guard. I’ll explain why in a second. Yes, that means Kyrie Irving is a shooting guard. Get over it. Grow up.
Oh, maybe you get he’s a PG but do not agree with him being No. 3? Well, you’re wrong about that, too. He’s closer to No. 2 than he is No. 4, I promise you. And as a Bucks fan, you can understand any reservations I may have in admitting that.
It is the truth, though. After putting up 40-bombs in half-efforts in Houston, Harden combined his elite talent with immense effort in Brooklyn. The blockbuster trade involving four teams landed Harden with a superteam headlined by his former teammate in Kevin Durant.
After years of being asked to supply the scoring as a Rocket, the Nets needed him to facilitate. They had two elite shotmakers in Irving and Durant. They needed their version of Steve Nash, who happened to be the team’s head coach. And Harden delivered. He became the team’s de-facto point guard and is listed as such on basketballreference.com.
His impact went beyond the starting lineup. When the other two stars hit the bench, it was up to Harden to create all the offense with a bench unit. He turned a motley crew including Bruce Brown, Nic Claxton, and Jeff Green into a wrecking ball in the Eastern Conference. He was also able to handle the scoring load when called upon, scoring 30+ nine times after arriving in Brooklyn (two of them 40+).
The only thing missing on Harden’s resume is playoff success. He has a great chance to earn it this year with a re-stocked and (hopefully) healthy Nets squad.