Since Harden debuted in 2009, only LeBron James has scored more points, while only James, Chris Paul, and Russell Westbrook handed out more assists. Over his final four seasons in Houston, Harden averaged roughly 32 points and nine assists on 62% true shooting.Ī disturbing number of postseason no-shows and his propensity to create leverage for himself through turmoil and chaos have created some backlash for the 75th Anniversary Team member, but there's no denying Harden's place as an all-time great and offensive revolutionary. When coach Mike D'Antoni arrived in Houston and made Harden a point guard, it unlocked an almost unprecedented level of offensive mastery. Though his athleticism never blew anyone away, Harden's footwork, vision, and ability to change speeds allowed The Beard to orchestrate the pace of play. Why he's here: After beginning his career as an impact reserve in Oklahoma City, Harden was launched to superstardom in Houston, where the analytically inclined Rockets (under then-general manager Daryl Morey) saw the promise in Harden's combination of shooting, foul-drawing, and playmaking. In addition to 60 points on 19-of-30 shooting, Harden posted 11 assists, 10 rebounds, four steals, and a block, helping Houston to its 36th of a league-leading 65 wins. In the midst of his MVP season in 2017-18 - a career year that saw him lead the league in scoring a year after leading in assists - Harden put together an individual performance for the ages, recording the first 60-point triple-double in NBA history. Signature performance: 60-point triple-double Jan. James Harden NBA Photos / NBA / Getty Images He may have fallen short of the sport's ultimate prize, but he helped revolutionize the way the game was played. His exploits helped turn the entire NBA into an up-tempo, spread pick-and-roll league in which nearly every offense vaguely resembles that of the Seven Seconds or Less Suns. What made Nash such a deadly pick-and-roll operator was the number of different ways he could decimate you in two-man actions: as a lethal pull-up shooter from deep or from mid-range, as a deft floater artist, as a sneakily crafty at-rim finisher (thanks in part to his early adoption of the one-handed gather), and, of course, as a passer who could toss pinpoint lobs or hit rollers on the bounce from any angle. There have been only 10 other such seasons in league history, and no one else hit those benchmarks more than twice. Though he'll primarily be remembered as the best distributor of his generation, he was also a terrific (if low-volume) scorer an all-time great shooter who hit 42.8% from 3-point range and 90.4% from the free-throw line for his career and a member of the ultra-exclusive 50/40/90 club four times, with a fifth season in which he came up just one made free-throw short. Nash was an indefatigable, improvisational genius who made everyone he played with better. The other two? The 2015-16 Warriors and 1996-97 Bulls. Nash captained four of the six most efficient offenses in NBA history when adjusting for league average (the 2001-04 Mavericks and the 2004-10 Suns), per Basketball Reference. The lone exception during that run was a second-place finish in 2007-08, when his Suns scored 0.1 fewer points per 100 possessions than the Jazz. If watching him run and pass circles around opposing defenses wasn't enough to convince you, consider the numerical facts: Over a nine-season span between 20, the team for which Nash ran point led the league in offensive rating eight times. Why he's here: Though he never reached the Finals, never cracked 20 points per game, remained a minus defender his entire career, and didn't pile up the eye-popping counting stats some of the other legends on this list produced, Nash was one of the greatest offensive engines we've ever seen. Nash averaged 30.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 12 assists on 63.9% true shooting in a thrilling six-game victory that secured the Suns' first conference finals berth in 12 years. Then, in the second round of the playoffs, he ran into his former team, which had declined to match Phoenix's contract offer the previous offseason but remained a 58-win juggernaut. In the first season of his second go-around with Phoenix (which originally drafted him in '96 before trading him to Dallas), Nash led the Suns to 62 wins and won his first of two straight MVP awards.
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