CAMDEN, N.J. — Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden is one of the top players the game has seen. He is an obvious Hall of Famer whenever he hangs up his sneakers due to everything he has accomplished in his career.
However, Harden is not the same ruthless scorer he was while with the Houston Rockets. He led the league in scoring three times while with the Rockets because he was the man. With the Sixers, Harden is a complementary piece to Joel Embiid as the Sixers look to take the next step.
In the 2022-23 season, Harden averaged 21 points, a league-leading 10.7 assists and 6.1 rebounds while shooting a career-high 38.5% from deep. This is the second time he’s led the league in assists in his career. He continues to change his game, and PJ Tucker, who played with Harden while with the Rockets, is impressed with The Beard.
“I think his game has just evolved, period,” said Tucker. “To be able to be scoring champ and assist champ multiple times is kind of crazy. How many players can actually do that? To evolve to be more of a playmaker now to get everybody involved, to see a game, I think he has one of the hardest jobs because he’s so used to having the ball so much and playing with Jo. Trying to figure that out every night is crazy and seeing him evolve all year is pretty amazing.”
When Harden was in Houston, he averaged 7.7 assists so even though he was scoring a ton of points, he was still making plays for others and keeping teammates involved.
The only thing is, he was putting up ridiculous scoring numbers that the playmaking aspect of his game was almost ignored.
“Nobody talks about that when you’re getting 60-point triple-doubles and kinda sort of wild, wild stuff that he was doing,” Tucker added. “I think he’s always been a really, really good playmaker just from having the ball so much and taking on defenses and how they play him.”
As the Sixers begin their championship chase in the first round of the playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, they need Harden to be at his best.
[lawrence-related id=78398,78395,78392]