I found this and I just wanted to share it with yall.
This is during his 6th man years.
It is a recent Tuesday afternoon, and James Harden is running through drills, cutting and slicing past assistant coaches on his way to the rim. Aside from his beard, which juts outward from his chin as if trying to colonize other faces, he doesn't appear that different from most NBA shooting guards: 6'5", 220 pounds, long but not freakishly long arms, chiseled but not too chiseled physique. The No. 3 pick out of Arizona State, Harden can't leap especially high and isn't all that fast, at least compared with his peers. (The Rockets embed accelerometers in their players' jerseys during practice, and while Lin is far and away the quickest-accelerating, Harden isn't among the top three.)
What makes Harden a freak is the extreme nature of his game. The three most efficient shots in basketball are a layup, a three-pointer and a free throw. The worst is a long two-point jumper, a shot only a few players—such as Dirk Nowitzki—can hit regularly enough to make worthwhile.
More than any team, the Rockets embrace the concept of avoiding midrange jumpers, acquiring players who naturally adhere to it. (Lin, who incessantly attacks the rim, is one example; Battier, who rarely shoots anything other than a corner three or open layup, was another.) It's one thing to find players with a natural tendency. It's another to land Harden, who is the living, breathing, Eurostepping embodiment of it. To look at his shot chart is to see a giant red splotch around the basket and then a half-moon outside the three-point arc; the midrange is virtually barren. Last season 87% of Harden's shots were either at the basket or from behind the line, and what's more, he is an elite finisher when at the rim. As a result, his .660 true shooting percentage, which measures shooting efficiency by weighing threes and free throws, was not only the best in 2011--12 but also, as Basketball Prospectus recently noted among high-usage players, only Charles Barkley has had a higher true shooting percentage. In history.
http://sportsillustr...495/4/index.htm
Fascinating.
Now he's at .585 for true shooting but still astounding.
Edited by Buckko, 18 August 2013 - 04:02 AM.
