James Harden is much closer to becoming a CP3 to Joel Embiid and Co. rather than Bobby Marks’ suggestions – Russell Westbrook or John Wall.
Advertisement
James Harden’s transformation within a few days of moving away from the Nets is quite obvious. Not just physically, he has found his game back again which he was struggling to find throughout this season.
Before joining the Sixers, through 44 games, he was averaging 22.5 points, 10.2 assists, and 8 rebounds per game on 41.4% shooting, his worst numbers since 2011. It showed in Brooklyn’s performance, without Kevin Durant in the starting lineup they lost 11 out of their 13 games before Harden got traded.
In the midst of that toxic situation in Brooklyn where the Beard tried his best to get out of the ball club to rejoin Daryl Morey’s team, ESPN’s NBA Insider Bobby Marks said this on The Lowe Post.
“Two years from now, we will be talking about James Harden the way we talk about John Wall and Russell Westbrook. I’m going to go a step further; if you watch James Harden play now, he’s a better shooting version of Russell Westbrook.”
James Harden could end up becoming Sixers’ Chris Paul
Since making his debut for the 76ers, Harden has not been in the same stratosphere as his former Rockets teammates. Only his play-making skills make him close to being a Chris Paul to Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, than Westbrook or Wall. Thanks to Tweeter, “RedNinetyFour”, who covers Houston Rockets for Forbes Sports, to make us realize it as well.
The worst take of the entire year was the guy that said on the Lowe Post that James Harden would be Russell Westbrook/John Wall in two years. He can literally age into the CP3 in PHX role with Embiid/Maxey around.
— RedNinetyFour (@RedNinetyFour) March 5, 2022
And then along with the 12 assists, the man is averaging around 27 points, 7 rebounds, and less than 3 turnovers on close to 59% shooting from the field and 49% from downtown in 4 games thus far.
And the Sixers already look dependent on him, as he rested on Saturday, they lost their 5-game winning run to Heat. They had a team total of 13 assists as Harden sat out for the back-to-back game.
Yes, the sample size is small and that efficiency will drop as the 2018 MVP plays more games, but those assists wouldn’t drop as long as he has the current MVP leader of the Sixers running around him for lobs and pick and rolls.
He might also overtake CP3 on the assists-leaderboard to win the second assists title of his career as the Point God is out injured probably for the remainder of the regular season.
So it’s safe to say he’s close to ending up as CP3 rather than John Wall or a better shooting Russell Westbrook.
