He had 22 games in which he played 20-29 min (27min avg):
.527 FG%, .438 3P%, averaging 16.3 pts per game.

Those numbers seem to bear out that Harden is less efficient with more minutes. Sorry, I don’t have TS stats, but the correlation would look the same.

The Honorable Cock Jowles: Where do the shots come from? You seem to imply that Harden will be tasked to “create” his own shot. Yet there are several times during the course of an NBA game when a player receives no opportunity to “make a play.” Consider a coach-called iso for Westbrook. Is this done because a play cannot be called for Durant or Ibaka or Harden? Is it indicative of their ability, or is it simply a call to “shake things up,” or whatever?

To argue that Harden cannot increase his usage without his efficiency dropping is to say that his team simply cannot give a few of Westbrook’s opportunities to Harden and reasonably ask for the same level of efficiency. This would imply that Westbrook MUST use the possessions because no one else can. And that, I believe, is bullshit.

let’s extend the logic. Can the Knicks get Chandler a dunk every possession, or a Novak open 3 every possession? What are Hardens most efficient plays? Transition and spot-ups… Can the Thunder offense get those shots for Harden every possession, or does the defense intentionally limit these kinds of opportunities in the same way they attempt to limit Westbrook basket attempts. Its very difficult to substantially increase usage without increasing ball-handling shot types….most of hardens attempts come off of decisions he or his teammates make on open shots, by asking Harden to carry a larger burden of the offense, you are confining a higher percentage of his decision making into less efficient opportunities…highly efficient scorers are primarily opportunity scorers, who take advantage of the best opportunity most frequently…. The higher the usage, the proportion of optimal opportunities decrease. Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony do not take a high percentage of open opportunity shots.

ruruland:
To reiterate, say Harden has a ten percent increase in usage asa No.1… Where are those shots going to come from, will he play with someone who can create for him, and how many of those new shots come against set defense? How does a defense change if Harden is the priority primo, and how much more frequently does he play against elite defenders?

Where do the shots come from? You seem to imply that Harden will be tasked to “create” his own shot. Yet there are several times during the course of an NBA game when a player receives no opportunity to “make a play.” Consider a coach-called iso for Westbrook. Is this done because a play cannot be called for Durant or Ibaka or Harden? Is it indicative of their ability, or is it simply a call to “shake things up,” or whatever?

To argue that Harden cannot increase his usage without his efficiency dropping is to say that his team simply cannot give a few of Westbrook’s opportunities to Harden and reasonably ask for the same level of efficiency. This would imply that Westbrook MUST use the possessions because no one else can. And that, I believe, is bullshit.

Nobody is saying Russell Westbrook is a bad basketball player. He’s just overrated (offensively). But for those of you questioning if Harden would be as efficient on another team, how efficient would Westbrook be if he was traded to a team like Sacramento tomorrow? Westbrook, Durant, Harden, and Ibaka all benefit tremendously by playing with each other, and they would all see a decline in efficiency if they were asked to play with a less talented group of players. None of those guys are LeBron, CP3, or Dwight Howard, so singling out Harden isn’t fair. Can you imagine if Westbrook played for Sacramento, Cleveland, or Washington? Where would he be in terms of scoring efficiency?

Another thing is that James Harden is NOT a one trick pony like Novak, Landry Fields, Tyson Chandler, or Ryan Anderson. He can score from anywhere on court and create his own offense. Now I’m not saying that James Harden can be a team’s #1 scorer. To me, James Harden is best off playing as a #2 scoring option. But he is not limited to just one thing; he can play.

Juany8: You also seem to be willingly ignoring that even though every NBA player is amazing when left open, defenses CONSTANTLY leave guys like Harden, Tyson Chandler, and Ryan Anderson open, knowing exactly how efficient those guys are, to prevent guys like Westbrook and Melo from shitting on them 1 on 1. Now Harden is good enough to get shots on his own, I just doubt at a .660 TS%