How Harden’s elite playmaking is taking the Nets to new heights

The first thing that comes to mind when James Harden is brought up in any typical, run-of-the-mill basketball conversation is probably his ability to score using his array of offensive tools, such as his handles, his step-back three, and his finishing skills at the rim.

Ask anyone else – probably who aren’t the biggest Harden fans out there – and they’ll bring out Harden’s notorious reputation for drawing fouls through various methods.

But it was this skill of Harden’s – arguably his most elite and taking precedence over his scoring this season – that was front and center against the Golden State Warriors, one of 16 assists that contributed to a 134-117 win:

Such an example is why doubling Harden off the pick-and-roll is an extremely dangerous proposition. Name your screen setter – Clint Capela during the Houston Rockets of yesteryear, Christian Wood during Harden’s tumultuous final days with the Rockets, or in this instance, Bruce Brown, a 6-foot-2 guard moonlighting as a center – and Harden will take care of the rest, as long as the screener does his part.

“We just really made eye contact,” Brown said of the sequence. “Usually [Harden] tells me to just run, find openings, and he’ll find me. And he does every time.”

Since the trade from the Rockets that brought him to the greener pastures of Brooklyn, Harden has done exactly what Brown said: find openings. He does so with massive offensive help, being surrounded by two of the deadliest scorers in NBA history. 

Such is a luxury that not many can afford; Harden, being one of the few with such privilege, has been allowed to flourish as a creative and dynamic passer.

Harden is an absolute maestro at controlling the pace and flow of a halfcourt offense, operating with a cadence and tempo that is of his own making. He is akin to a chess grandmaster, if you will – seeing every piece on the board and carefully assessing the situation. His plan of attack is predicated on what kind of look the defense throws at him. Doubling him, as previously stated, is often a doubled-edged sword; he won’t score, in all likelihood, but he’ll find a teammate who will.

With the dearth of rim protection the Warriors currently have, the Nets were able to feast on rolls to the rim, such as the one Jeff Green was able to make above, thanks to another ill-fated double team sent Harden’s way.

Throwing traps and doubles toward Harden is by no means a revolutionary concept. He has faced plenty of defenses in the past who were willing to sell out on him in an effort to get the ball out of his hands. The gameplan back then was simple: let anyone but Harden score, and the defense will live with the result.

Living with the result has become a harder pill to swallow for defenses nowadays. Letting Danuel House and Austin Rivers shoot in lieu of Harden was tolerable, even if they did end up making the shot. Replacing them with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving is a nightmare scenario, and the Warriors were the latest to experience such dread.

Durant has become a willing recipient of Harden’s playmaking. Being his teammate during the golden age of the Oklahoma City Thunder, he witnessed Harden developing such a skillset early on, and seeing it transform into one of Harden’s most valued traits isn’t a surprise to him.

“He’s just always played this way,” Durant said of Harden’s facilitating. “I can’t say he’s changed anything up… He’s still out there creating for everybody.”

Creating for everybody, as Durant put it, has been Harden’s unofficial job description during his tenure with the Nets. He is the rare superstar that elevates others’ abilities as a result of his own elevated transcendence.

Take Jeff Green, whom Harden has formed somewhat of a natural connection with. Harden often seeks Green slipping screens on pick-and-rolls, punishing double teams and switches against smaller defenders. Green is more than capable of finishing at the rim, as he displayed against the diminutive paint presence of the Warriors. 

But a specific facet of Green’s game has been unlocked with plenty of assistance from Harden: three-point shooting. A career 33.7% shooter from beyond the arc, Green is currently converting threes at a rate of 42.4% – on pace to be a career high.

Breaking down his three-point shot profile further, Green is shooting 43% on corner threes this year, per Cleaning the Glass. With the Nets delving into small-ball lineups and 5-out configurations that feature Harden as the main facilitator, Green has often found himself open as a spot-up shooter, a role that he has become proficient in.

If a below-average shooter such as Green is transformed into a serviceable one under the playmaking wiles of Harden, what more an elite shooter?

Making a conscious decision to help off Joe Harris to contain Harden’s drive is easy to criticize. But put yourself in the defender’s shoes. Do you let Harden, an elite rim finisher, have his way in the paint after beating his man off the dribble? Or do you force Harden to kick it out to a career 43.4% three-point shooter who is currently shooting at an astronomical 49.2% rate on threes this season? 

That is the very definition of picking your poison.

Harden and Harris are developing a budding chemistry in the Nets’ second unit that usually opens the 2nd and 4th quarters. During those minutes, Harden virtually takes on the role that he had with the Rockets, that of the fulcrum in a spread pick-and-roll offense. Harris is an elite catch-and-shoot player – 54.1% on 5.6 catch-and-shoot three-point attempts per game, per NBA Advanced Stats.

But Harris does so much more than be a stationary observer. He occasionally sets screens for Harden, a skill the best shooters in the league employ to free themselves up for a look, or to break loose the recipient of the screen.  With Harden getting most of the eyes from defenses, it has often been Harris who has benefited from such screens. 

“Clearly, [Harden’s] an elite playmaker,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said after the game. “While he only took 11 shots, he still had 19 points. But his playmaking is what improves our team more so than scoring… I think that allows it all to fit together.”

Harden’s imprint on the Nets offense is undeniable, despite averaging only 15.5 shot attempts per game this year, on pace to be the lowest of his career in 10 years ever since he averaged 10.1 attempts during his third year in the NBA. 

He is averaging 23.6 points per game, also the lowest it’s been in 10 years, while attempting 7.1 free-throw attempts per game, a low number considering that he was averaging double digits in that category from 2014 to 2020. 

What Harden is “lacking” in scoring (a funny term, considering that most players would kill to average nearly 24 points per game in a season), he is making up for in raw assists per game. 

Harden is currently averaging 11.2 assists this season, on pace to tie his career-high assists average set during the 2016-2017 season. He is doing so on a usage rate of 26% – again, the lowest it’s been in 10 years. 

Harden’s impact this year has been reflected accordingly in the advanced metrics. The Nets outscore opponents by 7.1 points per 100 possessions with Harden on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass. 

That number, although qualifying Harden as an overall plus, could be so much better. With more time to jell on offense with his fellow superstars (the Nets’ Big 3 has only played a total of 7 games together), expect that it will.

Defense is altogether another matter, one that Harden still has much to improve on. The Nets are 7.6 points per 100 possessions worse defensively with Harden on the floor, although by no means does the fault lie solely on his shoulders. 

As a team, the Nets are sporting a defensive rating of 114.1 points allowed per 100 possessions – 23rd in the league, per Cleaning the Glass. That again is a matter of cohesion and chemistry, both of which should improve over time, with the game against the Warriors a sign of a possible upward trend.

Despite such concerns, Nets general manager Sean Marks is looking more of a genius gambler in giving away considerable draft capital and reliable role players in exchange for Harden, a transcendent superstar who does away with traditional notions of positional playmaking. He has always been classified as a two-guard, but Harden is, in reality, a point guard, one who is elite at setting the table for his teammates to eat upon.

“Four days ago [during practice], I looked at him and said, ‘You’re the point guard and I’m going to play shooting  guard,’” Kyrie Irving said after the game. 

“That was as simple as that. He’s been taking control of the [playmaking] responsibilities and doing an incredible job and it just makes my job easier to just go out and play.” – Rappler.com