It's no surprise James Harden is making yet another push for the Most Valuable Player award after finally winning it last year after leading the Houston Rockets to a franchise-best 65 wins. With little hopes of pulling out a season as impressive as the former, The Beard recognizes his scoring dominance has been the direct byproduct of finding ways to evolve and putting in the work in the offseason to add tricks to his bag.
“Finding ways to evolve with the league,” said James Harden, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “Every single year you have to come back better than you were. For me, I had a pretty good year last year, but I had to come back better and come up with a new move or a new package to keep defenders on their heels.”
Harden has done just that — combining a wrecking ball's strength with nifty handles and ankle-breaking moves, all topped with a swift lefty jumper to put the finishing touches in a well-oiled scoring machine.
The Beard is back to doing what he does best, terrorizing opponents and putting the ball in the hole. It was all he did before Chris Paul signed with the team and Clint Capela emerged as more than the casual lob-catching option.
With the two of them out due to injury, Harden has had to revert to his shot-hoisting ways — only twice as lethal this time, with two extra offseasons to hone his game and master his craft as the ultimate one-on-one grim reaper.
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