Even with only 36 games from James Harden concluding season, the Brooklyn Nets moved from 15th in the NBA in gratis throws made per game to fifth. Harden shot 85.6% and averaged vii.three attempts per game afterwards moving to Brooklyn last January. xiii. Forth with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, Harden forms a frighteningly good Big 3 for the Nets.

That trio has combined for two MVP awards, 19 All-NBA selections, and 27 All-Star appearances. Yeah, they're pretty good. Even though they managed to play together just eight times last flavor, they were plus-7.2 points per 100 possessions in 202 minutes. In the playoffs, the trio was a ridiculous plus-22.1 per 100 possessions in 130 minutes. That 135.4 points per 100 is scary, as well.

In Harden, the Nets may have a subconscious advantage that comes to the forefront early and ofttimes in 2021–22.

James Harden is already predicting danger for the rest of the NBA

When asked nigh this flavor, James Harden is calling for big things from the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets were the No. two seed in the Eastern Conference last season despite Irving missing 18 games, Harden out for 23, and Durant sidelined for 37. The prospect of a healthy Big Three must be a business concern for the remainder of the East.

Later on all, Brooklyn pushed the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks to overtime of Game vii in the conference semifinals without Irving for the final three games of the service and with Harden hobbled for those three contests afterward missing Games 2–iv with a hamstring injury.

A good for you Harden volition mean a great bargain to Brooklyn, and he acknowledged that. He told a Houston TV station in Baronial what the balance of the NBA is facing.

"Healthy James Harden … it's scary, scary hours."

James Harden on … James Harden

Harden averaged 24.half dozen points per game in 36.6 minutes per game after the trade as his shot attempts (understandably) dropped from 22.3 per game in his last full flavor with the Houston Rockets to sixteen.half dozen in Brooklyn.

The Nets accept an enormous built-in advantage with Harden, Irving, and Durant, as all three are outstanding costless-throw shooters. The Beard, at 85.viii% for his career, is the worst shooter of the trio; Kyrie hits 88.1%, and KD checks in at 88.3%. Foul them at your ain peril. And Harden has an added advantage he brings to the tabular array.

No squad has drawn equally many fouls on 3-point tries as Harden has during his career

James Harden came into the NBA in 2009 as the 4th overall pick of the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder. In his 12 seasons, opponents fouled him 521 times while attempting 3-point shots. Considering he spent almost of that time with the Rockets, they were the No. ane team in that category over that span.

But the next highest team on the listing, the Los Angeles Lakers, drew 439 fouls on 3s from 2009–21. That's 82 fewer than Harden. The Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers were the only other teams with 400 such calls.

And from a team strategy standpoint, the only thing better than a guy shooting near 86% getting 2 free throws is that histrion attempting three of them.

Since 2009, no histrion in the NBA is inside 1,400 gratis throw attempts of Harden's total of 7,659. Second on the list is his former teammate in Oklahoma Metropolis and Houston, Russell Westbrook, with 6,211. LeBron James is the only other player with more than six,000 foul shots (6,193).

At that place is a potential fly in the ointment for the Brooklyn Nets, however.

New rules emphasis may lessen James Harden'south impact on the Brooklyn Nets offense

James Harden has been the most adept player in the NBA at drawing fouls while taking 3-pointers and the Brooklyn Nets stand to benefit from that
James Harden has been the most adept player in the NBA at cartoon fouls while taking 3-pointers and the Brooklyn Nets stand to do good from that. | Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Grouping/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images

The NBA is dandy down on players ruled to make 'non-basketball game' moves

Officials are learning to place what the NBA'southward competition commission chosen "non-basketball game moves."

Among those moves are such tactics equally:

  • Players throwing themselves into defenders to draw contact.
  • Ball-handlers changing directions or stopping designed to go into a defender's path.
  • Shooters kick their legs out at odd angles; a furthering of the so-called "Reggie Miller dominion" enacted in 2012.
  • Dribblers hooking defenders with their off-ball arm, a James Harden trademark.

Marginal instances of such contact volition be no-calls. But offensive players found to create contact egregiously will exist subject to foul calls. Harden (or Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young) might foul out in 3 minutes if they don't change their ways.

That's non a likely scenario. James Harden built a reputation as an elite — if often infuriating — offensive force. If the referees call the game differently, a thespian with Harden's very particular ready of skills will adapt. The Brooklyn Nets might lose a few opportunities at the line, but they're still going to be very hard to stop.

Statistics courtesy of Basketball game Reference and Stathead .

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