It seems like it was ages ago when 2019 James Harden single-handedly led the Houston Rockets to contention.
Harden put together some of the greatest offensive seasons this game has ever seen, emulating Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and even reaching Wilt Chamberlain territory on a regular basis.
There was a point when there was a legit debate about Harden being the greatest scorer in NBA history:
“It’s time to admit that James Harden is the NBA’s best scorer since Michael Jordan,” ESPN’s Kirk Goldberry wrote. “On Saturday night, Harden dropped 60 points on the Atlanta Hawks in less than three quarters of play. It was another virtuoso performance by the world’s greatest offensive basketball player. Through 19 games, Harden is averaging an incredible 38.9 points per game and, barring injury, he’s on pace to win his third consecutive scoring title, something only MJ and Kevin Durant have done in the 3-point era.”
That’s why CJ McCollum doesn’t want people to take him for granted.
When talking about the league’s recent offensive explosion, the Pelicans guard made sure to remind everybody that James Harden was doing that night in, night out just three years ago:
“James [Harden] was doing stuff like this regularly,” McCollum said on his podcast. “He’d have a week where he’d go 55, 54, 50 with triple-doubles.”
https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1611192279636615168
Of course, Harden’s style didn’t exactly translate into championships, which is why most people may not respect him as much as they do other players.
But Harden’s historic run will be hard to match, let alone top, so we should really put what he did into context.
