5. JAMES HARDEN
ROCKETS | GUARD | LAST YEAR RANK:13
To guard James Harden is to risk looking foolish. It begins, always, with the hypnotic rhythm of Harden’s dribble. Harden keeps upright as he crosses halfcourt, dribbling high and slow as to beckon his defender closer. As he nears the three-point line, he lurches. His body compacts. His dribble sinks closer to the floor and breaks into sets of staccato—crossing over and back and over and back until an opponent leans ever so slightly on his heels. At that point, Harden has already won.
The world knows that Harden wants to go left and yet defenders everywhere are powerless to stop him. Credit the trance of his handle; Harden’s ball control is so tight and his first step so brutal that he sells defenders on a possibility he never intends to pursue. So left he goes, either past his defender in a single stride or into their body if no clear angle presents itself. The contact is real but manufactured. Driving into an opponent immediately puts the defender at a positional disadvantage, as if left at the mercy of Harden and the officials.
At times those two parties seem to work in tandem. Harden is so strong that he can push through the first hit and extend up and into the second—almost literally forcing an opponent’s hand. Defenders know better than to reach for the ball when it’s in Harden’s clutches. That point is so self-evident that it would seem needless to mention it in a film session or scouting report. Still they reach. Some wind up clubbing Harden across the arms out of desperation, having been bumped from their initial spot. Others are merely charmed out of their situational awareness to the point of answering the Siren’s call.
Those who don’t wind up fouling Harden are either left behind as he skips toward the rim or pushed aside as he steps back. The latter is hardly a cop-out. In Harden’s hands, the step-back jumper is a legitimately efficient weapon and vital counterbalance in his isolation game. Defenders are at once forced to account for the possibility of Harden’s full forward momentum (and all of the pitfalls that go into avoiding a potential foul) and the option of instant retreat. One or the other is available in almost all instances, leaving the make-or-miss outcome to generally be decided by Harden alone.
As one can tell from his scoring output, that proposition tends to go well for Harden. Nothing in his game is all that surprising in the most general sense; Harden relies on a handful of moves, one dominant direction, and the drive to create contact. In the moment, however, Harden’s defender is reduced to a sort of microsecond-by-microsecond agony. One of the marks of a great player is the ability succeed in exactly the ways an opponent expects. Harden, who remains a baffling cover some six years into his NBA career, unquestionably meets that criterion. Scoring as he does while still searching out teammates for kick-out passes makes Harden one of the game’s best all-around engines for offense. Any team that spreads the floor and entrusts the ball with him could reap huge dividends; Harden drew so much attention last season that he wound up creating more three-pointers for his teammates per game than any other player. Most of those passes (and Harden’s assists in general) are fairly rudimentary feeds to the open man. Every so often, though, Harden will rocket the ball through a delicate window or set up a teammate at an angle that shouldn’t work but does. Harden has the handle and vision of an extraordinary playmaker. Where he diverges from that path is in mentality and role, those same qualities that allow him to compete for the NBA scoring title.
All that keeps Harden from climbing higher on this list is defense. Even after gradual improvement, the best that Harden can do in coverage is to become invisible. Houston hides him, as any team would, for the sake of limiting his exposure and exertion. Success in that approach varies depending on matchup, though at the very least Harden does a far better job of tracking his man off the ball than he did a season ago. Provided that his team has the faculties to cover for him (as Houston does, with Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard, and a team of athletes with active hands), the cost of Harden’s defense is negligible relative to what he produces on offense. He’s only at a loss relative to five players—all of whom create like superstars on offense while contributing positively to a team defense. Separating superstars demands the splitting of hairs. Defensive aptitude, in this case, is a natural part to distinguish Harden from those above him.
4. STEPHEN CURRY
WARRIORS | GUARD | LAST YEAR RANK: 8
Stephen Curry plays a form of basketball judo in which every bit of a defender’s momentum is used against them. The threat of the pull-up jumper is so constant and so real (Curry shot 42.3% last season on pull-up threes, which in itself would rank seventh in the NBA) that it draws defenders close in anticipation of the shot. From there the dance begins. Curry will use a single dribble to escape a defender’s lunge before launching up a clear attempt or, if he senses the opportunity, hesitating slightly. Often Curry’s recovering defender will come rushing back into frame, desperate not to leave the NBA’s best shooter completely unguarded. Curry has learned to jump into that recovering defender when he can for an easy trip to the line, though more often he uses their frenzy to escape yet again and send the defense into full breakdown mode.
3. ANTHONY DAVIS
PELICANS | FORWARD | LAST YEAR RANK: 4
The tradeoff in giving Kevin Durant the benefit of the doubt as the No. 2 player in our rankings is that it underrates Davis. Fit this one with an asterisk for upward mobility; no other player in the NBA can quite match Davis’s plausible upside as a still-growing 22-year-old MVP candidate. It seems only a matter of time until Davis becomes the consensus choice for the best in the game—a reality that could come to fruition as soon as this season. For now, we prefer LeBron James and a healthy Durant. For tomorrow, we unquestionably prefer Davis.
2. KEVIN DURANT
THUNDER | FORWARD | LAST YEAR RANK:
The NBA’s premier scorer was stuck playing defense in this year’s Top 100 discussion, thanks to three surgeries on his right foot in less than seven months and two rising superstars—Anthony Davis and Stephen Curry—turning in career years as he watched from the sidelines. Thunder forward Kevin Durant was no automatic write-in for the No. 2 spot on this year’s list, but he wound up holding steady for the third straight year. Four major factors influenced that decision: the quality of his play prior to his injury, his durability prior to last season, the Thunder’s rough go in his absence, and the sense that he enters 2015–16 reenergized and on track to be fully healthy.
1. LEBRON JAMES
CAVS | FORWARD | LAST YEAR RANK: 1
LeBron James has played for more dominant and more successful teams, he’s been more efficient and made the game look easier, and he’s earned greater individual recognitions than he did in 2014–15. But James has never been as captivating as he was during his one-man act during the 2015 postseason, a staggering individual achievement that lacks a modern precedent and—cue the “Hard Knocks” sweeping soundtrack—may not be done again.
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