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In spite of some doubt as to whether or not he would be able to fit in with the Brooklyn Nets, James Harden has had a tremendous start to his career with his new team. Brooklyn head coach Steve Nash had nothing but praise for his new superstar, with the first-year shot-caller expressing just how delighted he is with Harden's strong start.
For his part, Nash clearly believes that Harden has already proven that he's an excellent fit for the Nets:
Steve Nash's review of James Harden's fit with the Nets so far pic.twitter.com/JuvHn3zLuj
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) February 2, 2021
Quite a few takeaways from Nash's statement here. For starters, the rookie coach had some high praise for Harden's defense. This has long been criticized as one of the former MVP's weaknesses in his game but for Nash, he has been impressed with Harden's effort on the defensive end.
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Secondly, Nash also commended Harden's mindset in joining the Nets. Serving as the cornerstone superstar of the Houston Rockets for so many years, joining Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn required a significant sacrifice for Harden. He knew what he had to do coming in, and so far, there have been no clashes of egos.
Finally, based on his statement about Harden being the Conference Player of the Week in his eyes, it appears that Nash firmly believes that Harden has been the best player on the team — presumably even better than Kevin Durant who has been on a tear of late.
It's hard to argue against Nash, though, with Harden averaging 24.3 points (on 48.4 percent shooting), 7.8 rebounds, 11.8 assists, and 1.1 steals in his first eight games for the Nets.
