NBA Draft Profile:
James Harden, Arizona St.

Posted on 19. Mar, 2009 by Justin Shulman in nba-draft

After dominating the Pac Ten conference for two seasons and picking up many accolades along the way, James Harden is bringing his crafty left-handed game to the NBA. James is a sure fire top 7 pick and in addition to being projected as the first shooting guard that comes off the board on draft night, Harden will bring with him the one of the most lethal NBA ready offensive arsenals out of the all the prospect hopefuls. Harden’s blend of size 6’5”, strength, commitment to execute, and his polished offensive game will be coming to an arena near you very shortly.

On the offensive side of the ball, Harden is as exciting as they come. He can score in every possible way. He can create his own shot or take it to the lane with excellent body positioning. When he does get fouled which happens frequently, he is a sure bet to knock down his free throws. James can play in transition or in different half court sets-and not only is he effective, Harden makes the other four guys with him a threat as well. He has a great intuition as a scoring guard of being able to find his teammates with excellent court vision. The thing that sticks out about James Harden is that while he does put up excellent numbers he is very cerebral. James wants to win and will sacrifice his game and personal accomplishments to better the team. If there was one weakness that James needs to show he can handle it’s his lack of aggressiveness when the opposition game plans around him scoring. Sometimes the scorer still has to find a way to score even if there are better opportunities for others.
Harden’s size might not be prototypical for a two guard and his foot speed might not be where it should be to chase around the elite shooting guards in the NBA. James will have to make up for this by using his excellent upper body muscle mass and his nice wingspan. James plays excellent defense away from the ball and is an above average rebounder for his position. At the end of the day Harden has a very high basketball IQ that has made up for a few of his defensive shortcomings. At the next level he will rely on his smarts, peskyness, and the simple fundamentals that made him a great collegiate defender in the first place. If past performance is a predictor of future probability I wouldn’t bet against the crafty lefty.

Will be selected: Pick # 3-8
NBA Comparison-Manu Ginobili

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