Harden/Gordon or Wall/Beal. Who ya got?
— RedNinetyFour (@RedNinetyFour) February 7, 2017
I posed this question yesterday while watching Cavs/Wizards, with the backdrop being the Wizards’ recent surge towards realization of their immense potential. The case for our guys is dampened by Gordon’s recent struggles and the team’s struggles as a whole. But that’s really looking at things in an in-the-moment analysis sort of way. The Rockets had their month, and the Wizards are having theirs.
Even despite John Wall’s ascendency towards true superstardom this season, Harden would still be considered, I think unanimously, the best of the four players. There’s a legitimate case to be made that James Harden is the best overall offensive player in the NBA.
The debate really boils down to Beal vs. Gordon, and whether the gap between the two is enough to offset the gap between Harden and Wall, (or whether there is even much of a gap at all).
Beal’s stats certainly are better. But I can’t shake the feeling that a lot of his “star”, at least in comparison to Gordon, is a factor of his age. Beal is still just 23, whereas Gordon is 28. The league is still waiting for Beal to fulfill his promise, whereas Gordon largely had been forgotten. And Gordon was coming off 20+ points per game seasons at age 23 as well.
I’m biased of course, but I’d undoubtedly take our guys, in this sport where individual greatness holds supreme. Harden can take a game over in ways few others can, and Gordon is just fine spotting up off of him.