Long before he was a superstar guard for the Houston Rockets, James Harden was a star in college for Arizona State University (ASU).
In his two seasons at ASU from 2007 through 2009, Harden’s unorthodox playing style often confounded and frustrated viewers and opponents — just as it frequently does today for fans of rival NBA teams.
Here’s a sampling of the reaction from 11 years ago in a March 2009 profile on Harden, written by Pete Thamel for The New York Times:
Harden is the Pacific-10 player of the year, a first-team all-American who projects as a top-five pick in the NBA draft. He also leads the country in unflattering praise.
“Coming in, he was kind of chubby,” his teammate Ty Abbott said. The Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins said: “He’s deceptive. He looks fat.”
And Harden himself acknowledged: “I’m old school. I’m not the fastest guy or the quickest guy.”
From choosing Arizona State over blue bloods like Duke and UCLA to a game long on nuance and short on explosion, the 6-foot-5 Harden is the epitome of an unconventional player. But in two years in Tempe he has managed to reshape his body, revive the Sun Devils program and position himself as a top pro prospect.
Perhaps the crowning achivement of Harden’s college hoops career came on March 13, 2009, when Harden led his fourth-seeded Sun Devils (25-10) to a 75-65 upset victory (box score) over the top-seeded Washington Huskies (26-9) in the semifinal round of the Pac-10 Tournament.
Those Huskies were loaded with backcourt talent, led by three future NBA players in Isaiah Thomas, Quincy Pondexter, and Justin Holiday. And yet, it was the sophomore Harden who became the story with game-highs of 24 points and nine rebounds — all while leading Arizona State to its first conference championship game in program history.
Harden scored those 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, including 3-of-5 (60.0%) from 3-point range, and he made several key plays late as the Sun Devils closed the game on a 17-5 run.
“I thought they stepped up and hit some big shots,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. “They came through when they needed to.”
In previous conference tournaments, Arizona State had compiled a 3-10 record and never even reached the semifinals. A week later, Harden led ASU to what was just the school’s second NCAA Tournament berth in 13 years, and ultimately a first-round victory over Temple.
Of Harden’s game at the time, Thamel wrote:
He is a maestro of subtlety. He has an effective jab step, uses his shoulders to clear space and has a lethal pull-up jumper. His most impressive statistic may be that he attempted 253 free throws this season, an average of 7.7 per game. One of his defining traits is his ability to lean into defenders to draw fouls.
To say he is not athletic would be unfair. His vertical jump is about 32 inches. (Harden lobbied ASU strength coach Rich Wenner to say it was 38). But he certainly would not be mistaken for explosive. His ability to get to the rim is a testament to the wise use of athleticism.
“He learned to play on the ground,” said [Arizona State assistant] Scott Pera, who coached Harden at Artesia High School in Los Angeles. “He learned to play the game with his feet and his head. Through time, as he’s grown into his body and his length and his athletic ability, he still knows how to do all those things.”
“It worked out to his benefit that he didn’t have that athletic ability at a young age. I think that’s a key to his success.”
Back then, Harden didn’t have anything close to the long beard that has come to define his appearance in the NBA. According to Thamel, Harden’s original college beard was born out of “more apathy than style,” with Harden explaining that he was simply too lazy to shave.
Just as the beard began coming into greater focus in the spring of 2009, so did Harden’s on-court efficiency — which remains one of his greatest attributes as a professional. In his March 2009 story, Thamel wrote:
Harden’s 20.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 50.2-percent shooting all are more impressive considering that Sendek’s offense is notorious for limiting possession.
“The thing that really stands out to me is that you look at his stats and he’s efficient,” Hopkins said. “Then you find out their opponents have the least amount of possessions against them in the country.”
As Harden has matured, so have the Sun Devils. He came to a team that went 8-22 in the previous season and led them to the National Invitation Tournament last year. This is the first N.C.A.A. tournament appearance for the Sun Devils (24-9) since 2003.
Harden has evolved with the program. He arrived with a body-fat percentage of more than 14 and is down to 8.5 percent. He traded McDonald’s and In-N-Out Burgers for fruit and became well acquainted with the treadmills and Stairmasters at Arizona State. He is listed at 218 pounds.
Harden continued his evolution in the NBA, first over three seasons in Oklahoma City and then over the last eight years with the Houston Rockets. Now 30 years old, Harden has become an eight-time All-Star, an MVP, and the league’s leading scorer in each of the last three seasons.
Harden is still searching for his first NBA title, of course, with that quest set to resume whenever the NBA is able to end its coronavirus-induced hiatus. In the meantime, the stoppage offers an opportunity to reflect on the long journey of one of the league’s most unique stars.
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