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James Harden is closing in on Carmelo Anthony for No. 10 on the all-time scoring list. (Photo by Juan Ocampo\/NBAE via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
James Harden, on the NBA\u2019s top-10 all-time scoring list? After pondering that for a moment the other day, his response was the same as what his body language tells defenders while breaking their ankles with a crossover:<\/p>\n
\u201cGet outta here.\u201d<\/p>\n
You see, Harden wasn\u2019t supposed to keep company with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and other scoring greats who got buckets by the bucketful. Because:<\/p>\n
He came off the bench his first three seasons.
\nHe spent his entire NBA career on the ground, not in the air.
\nAnd his body, according to the armchair fitness experts, wasn\u2019t designed to hold up this long \u2014 now 17 seasons and counting \u2014 and longevity is a prerequisite for membership on any all-time list.<\/p>\n
But here he is, about to nudge his way among the 10 and officially certify his ticket to legendary status. Plenty has happened since the beard grew thick, all of it punctuated by points. His ability to create space, shoot the 3-pointer, get into the paint for floaters and cleverly draw contact for fouls all made him among the greatest scorers of this \u2014 and now any \u2014 generation.<\/p>\n
Yet, he\u2019s still processing all of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo way,\u201d he said. \u201cNo way that I got the opportunity to be a part of this list. Man, it\u2019s literally like a dream come true, all the work that I put in, coming to fruition. So many things this game has done for you, and I\u2019m sure for those guys as well. Those names are still being talked about post basketball. It\u2019s an honor to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harden has led the league in scoring three times, which he did for three straight years when he averaged 30-plus points in each. He\u2019s also second on the all-time 3-pointers made list after Stephen Curry. His style agrees and identifies with his era, where the floor is spaced and isolation plays constantly run. Harden mastered the technique of space creation and taking his man off the dribble, and his passing \u2014 he\u2019s a two-time assists leader \u2014 made it tricky for teams choosing to double-team him.<\/p>\n
Those teams had to pick their poison, or very often, Harden would choose for them.<\/p>\n
At his peak, from 2017-20, he was almost impossible to guard one-on-one. Those years in Houston, as the centerpiece of the offense designed by coach Mike D\u2019Antoni and tailored to Harden\u2019s skills, he was a force. Harden constantly had the ball and the green light.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t like this from the start of his career. He was the third overall draft pick in 2009 who had the fortune, or maybe misfortune from a scoring standpoint, of joining an Oklahoma City team with a young Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.<\/p>\n
Both teammates would eventually lead the league in scoring multiple times; Durant is No. 8 on the all-time scoring list and Westbrook should crack the top 15 this season.<\/p>\n
OKC went to the NBA Finals two years later and the Thunder were seemingly set to be a fixture among championship contenders. But with Durant and Westbrook locked in as the 1-2 options, Harden was initially a role player \u2014 a stunning designation in retrospect \u2014 who averaged less than 10 points his rookie season and just 12 in his second.<\/p>\n
In his first three seasons combined, all with OKC, Harden scored 2,795 points. By comparison, he had 2,818 in one season (2018-19) alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know about the others on the top 10 list, but I remember when KD came in, LeBron (James) came in, all those guys came in averaging something like 27 and I was literally a sixth man,\u201d Harden said.<\/p>\n
The turning point, and it was sharp and sudden, was the summer of 2012 when OKC, flush with young talent, hesitated to give Harden \u2014 again, a sixth man although a solid one \u2014 a max extension. His description now of what came next is simple and direct:<\/p>\n
\u201cLife changing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, Harden being traded to Houston and getting his own stage and being aligned with D\u2019Antoni was a development that created a legend. Suddenly, Harden became an NBA commodity. The trademark beard, the highlights that went viral and stockpiled ankle-broken victims \u2014 sorry, Wesley Johnson \u2014 and the constant buckets took him to another level in every way.<\/p>\n
Suppose he never left OKC?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do think about what could\u2019ve happened,\u201d he said. \u201cI probably wouldn\u2019t be able to be who I am, creating an entire James Harden line; I\u2019m on my 10th signature shoe. All that probably wouldn\u2019t have happened if I stayed there. I probably would have a championship, though. Who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n
And this \u2014 suppose Harden was groomed in Houston by a coach other than D\u2019Antoni, who once authored a scheme where his teams were instructed to shoot in seven seconds or less once the ball crossed mid court?<\/p>\n
\u201cOh my God,\u201d Harden said. \u201cHe\u2019s a genius. I don\u2019t think he gets enough credit for revolutionizing the game of basketball, doing things that teams are doing now. He was doing that before with the Suns and then with us in Houston.\u201d<\/p>\n
In one way, Harden wasn\u2019t built, literally, for top-10 status. He\u2019s 6-foot-5 and somewhat blocky. He\u2019s not wiry and never able to soar eyeball level to the rim. He rarely dunked, then or now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look at this list and all those guys are way bigger than me, way more athletic than me,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only two guards are Kobe and Jordan, and they were flying. That\u2019s another reason why I\u2019m proud of myself because I\u2019ve had to figure out how to maneuver around people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harden needed weapons, which he sharpened and used unapologetically. Three, in particular: The 3-point shot, the step-back and the crossover. Which one is most responsible for putting him in the top-10?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe step-back,\u201d he said. That\u2019s where Harden fakes as though he\u2019ll drive to the hoop, then quickly shuffles backward to create space between his defender to launch the shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe separation,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I feel I have an advantage to where, if you\u2019re too far away, I can shoot it or get by you, score or make the pass. I\u2019m still putting on that move.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is amused by the legacy and the evolution of the devastating offensive move.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got started making it, I don\u2019t know if you remember, but they\u2019d say, `He\u2019s traveling, he\u2019s traveling.\u2019 Now everyone\u2019s doing it. You created something and it takes a while and now it\u2019s like, even young kids are doing it. I\u2019m not saying I created something but I definitely took it to another level.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s still at a reasonably high level, definitely for his age; Harden is averaging 27 points at 36 and on his fifth team. Not being very athletic has perhaps contributed to his longevity; Harden\u2019s limbs have been spared from years of jumping constantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think he\u2019s doing too much (practice work) but it\u2019s his routine since he\u2019s been in the league,\u201d said Clippers coach Ty Lue, \u201cpreparing his body, keeping himself ready to go. And he loves to hoop. He loves to be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
And how much longer will Harden be out there? That could have implications for his final place on the top 10. Harden should overtake Shaquille O\u2019Neal (28,596) this season for ninth. He has averaged roughly 1,400 points in each of the last three seasons, and at that pace could catch Wilt Chamberlain (seventh) and maybe Dirk Nowitzki (sixth) in the next few years.<\/p>\n
Harden shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just a kid who grew up watching Kobe, to where I\u2019m shooting Kobe fadeaway 3s,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m blessed and grateful. If I get the opportunity to keep going, I will keep going. I\u2019m just taking it one year at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lue doesn\u2019t see why not.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, for him, it doesn\u2019t rely off athleticism, speed, dunking the basketball, so the way he shoots, the way he gets guys off the dribble to get to his spot, I think he can play for a while,\u201d Lue said.<\/p>\n
One last question for Harden: Was there ever a game or a season or a time when he believed the ball was going in, no matter what?<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like that still,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Shaun Powell has covered the NBA since 1985. You can e-mail him at\u00a0spowell@nba.com<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on\u00a0X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Harden is closing in on Carmelo Anthony for No. 10 on the all-time scoring list. (Photo by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,145210,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-329153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-james-harden-nba-scoring-list","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}