Kendrick Perkins argues for James Harden as superior to Steph Curry

“James is a better scorer than Steph, he’s a better rebounder, and a better facilitator,” said Perkins, who also prefers Harden’s defense.

On Monday’s “First Take” debate show on ESPN, former NBA player and current league analyst Kendrick Perkins offered a passionate defense of Houston Rockets star and nine-time All-Star James Harden.

First Take’s panel ranks Harden as the league’s No. 6 overall player, with Golden State superstar Steph Curry one slot ahead at No. 5.

But Perkins — who played with Harden in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons in Oklahoma City — had a very different assessment. He said:

With all due respect to the two-time MVP, the best shooter of all-time in Steph Curry, and a three-time NBA champion, to me it’s apples and oranges.

When you look at the body of work that James Harden has put in since the day he stepped foot in the city of Houston, it’s crazy. Even before Mike D’Antoni, James Harden was averaging 25+ [points] a night and carrying the Rockets on his back.

When you think about James Harden, he’s going to go down as one of the best scorers in NBA history. Let’s compare the two. James is a better scorer than Steph Curry, he’s a better rebounder, and he’s a better facilitator.

In the segment with Max Kellerman and Marcus Spears, Perkins went on to say that he views Harden as a superior defender to Curry, as well.

The argument in favor of Curry, of course, is that he has three NBA championships, as compared to zero for Harden. Curry’s Warriors are also 4-0 against the Rockets in playoff series.

However, as Perkins said, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. The 2018 Western Conference Finals is a bit of an outlier, given Chris Paul’s series-ending injury after Houston had taken a 3-2 lead. Excluding that, the Warriors have been the higher-seeded team in all playoff matchups, with an average of 15.7 more wins in those regular seasons.

Thus, rather than framing it as an individual referendum on Curry versus Harden, a better way of characterizing those other playoff matchups would be to acknowledge that all evidence from those regular seasons suggested Golden State was just a far more talented team, overall.

In some ways, the surrounding talent (or lack thereof) might be an argument for Harden. After missing the NBA playoffs in three straight seasons from 2010 through 2012, the Rockets are poised to make it for an eighth straight year in 2020 — all after Harden’s October 2012 arrival.

Perkins makes the case:

When I’m looking at the all-around player, the skillset, and who brings more to the table, it’s James Harden. It’s proven. As soon as he stepped foot into the Rockets’ franchise, he made that franchise relevant again. He’s a better all-around player than Steph Curry.

I was watching games this year where teams were pulling out playoff schemes on James Harden. They were trapping him when he was crossing halfcourt. You don’t see that in today’s game, or in the history of the NBA. You see it in the playoffs, but in regular-season games, teams were trapping Harden to get the ball out of his hands.

In each of the last three seasons, Harden has been the league’s top scorer with an average of more than 30 points per game, including in his 2017-18 MVP campaign. The 36.1 scoring mark that Harden posted in 2018-19 was the most by any NBA player in more than 30 years.

But as Perkins sees it, his best season may actually have come in 2016-17 — when he averaged 29.1 points along with a league-leading total of 11.2 assists as the sole point guard for D’Antoni. “The Beard” also averaged a career-high 8.1 rebounds per game that season, which further plays into Perkins’ argument about Harden’s all-around game.

Compared to Curry, Harden has averaged more assists per game in each of the past five NBA seasons. And as a scorer, Harden has posted more points per game in each of the past three seasons than Curry has in any single season of his entire career.

Assuming the 2019-20 year resumes from its current COVID-19 hiatus, as expected, that could give Harden a chance to make additional headway in these types of rankings. Curry and the injury-ravaged Warriors have the NBA’s worst record at 15-50 and are already eliminated from the playoffs, while Harden’s Rockets should be rested and ready to go.

If Harden can take advantage of the opportunity, perhaps Perkins’ views will become more mainstream in the months ahead.

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