JAMES HARDEN, YOU'VE GOT TO FIND WAYS TO BE BETTER

As a superfan of basketball, this month my post is about one of my favourite basketball players. Ready to discover more about him?

James Harden

James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player from the Houston Rockets of   NBA. He played college basketball for Arizona State, where he was named All-American Player of the Year in 2009.

Harden was selected with the third overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder. In 2012, he was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year with the Thunder and helped the team in  the NBA Finals,but  they lost against the Miami Heat in five games. 

Harden was traded to Houston before the 2012–13 NBA season. During his matches with the Rockets, he became one of the NBA's most prolific scorers and became the best shooting guard in the NBA. In 2018, Harden led the league in scoring and was named the NBA Most Valuable Player,that is the award for the best player in the basketball year. He is a seven-time NBA All-Star and  is a two-time member of the United States national basketball team, winning gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2014 FIBA World Cup.

James Harden  says: ”I want my step-back to be one of those

moves that last forever”

James Harden is determined to make his step-back move one of those that lasts forever in the minds of NBA fans. The 2018 MVP says that he will continue to be an innovator on the court.

James Harden on the one-legged stepback 3s: “With basketball, you have to be creative. This is my 11th year, and every single year I want to get better. I don’t want to stay the same. You’ve got to find ways to be better.”

Harden, whose step-back has emerged as arguably the league’s most lethal weapon over the past few years, said he doesn’t know whether he’s yet confident enough in the one-legged variation to use it in games that counts. But that goal has been in Harden’s mind since he made the shot a focus of his summer work. “But you know how Mike (Jordan) has his fadeaway and Dirk (Nowitzki) has his one-leg and (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) had the sky hook, I want my step-back to be one of those moves that lasts forever”. So when I travel around the world and I see little kids saying “Hey James, I got a step-back!” “It’s me being a creator and me being an innovator and paving the way in basketball in my own way, doing it how I want to do it, and that’s what it’s all about. As a little kid playing in these parks, that’s what I imagined, that’s what I dreamed of. Now it’s coming to reality, so it’s pretty cool”(from an interwiew for ESPN).

5 Things that you may not know about James Harden

1.  Asthma

It might not be visible but Harden has been dealing with asthma for most of his athletic career. At the University of Arizona he used an inhaler and sometimes even played limited minutes because of the respiratory hindrance. How much better would he be if it wasn’t for his condition?

     2.  He doesn’t like being called “Junior”

James Harden’s full name is James Edward Harden Jr. He has a bas relationship with his father, so he doesn’t want to see “junior” anywhere near his name or have anything else to do with his father.

3.  Second Youngest 6th Man of The Year

In 2012 Harden got the 6th Man of The Year Award, averaging 16.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. At only 22 years old, he became the second youngest player to get that honor after Ben Gordon, who won it in 2005 with the Bulls at 21.

4.  Manu Ginobili’s influence

The Spurs are always a threat to any other Western Conference team, so Manu Ginobilli has been one of the biggest influences on Harden’s game. The similarities are really noticeable, the movements, the deadly shooting range and, of course, the left hand. It looks like the student is quickly becoming the master

5.  His Beard

His beard, was not actually Harden’s decision. The mighty facial hair came out as a result of simply not wanting to shave. Apparently, he still feels the same way even today.

GABRIELE J.