As if the fast rising Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t already have enough talent in their starting line-up with names like Durant, Ibaka, and Westbrook, rumor has it that 3rd year pro James Harden will be the starter at SG when and if the NBA ever gets going again.
To the casual fan, mostly all that is known of Harden is that he was once the #3 player chosen in the 2009 NBA Draft after a short, yet spectacular career at Arizona State and that he always sports a headband and has one of the illest beards this side of Baron Davis.
Part of the reason he remains anonymous is probably because most Thunder games are on television way too late for working class Americans to be able to bear witness to both the beard and his ever improving play. While the Thunder have gotten some TV time during a deep playoff run this season, many don’t immediately recognize Harden since he is almost never in the starting line-up but instead excels as OKC’s top scorer off the bench.
After averaging 20+ per night at Arizona State, he has put up 9.9 and 12.2 per game over his first two NBA seasons. In addition, James is a better than average 3 point shooter as he has made nearly 40% from behind the arc in his short pro career.
With the NBA already deciding to scrap the official NBA Summer Leagues, held annually in Orlando and Las Vegas, many NBA players young and old have taken to playing in some of the country’s very best pro-am Summer Leagues like LA’s famous Drew League, DC’s Barry Farms, and Dyckman in NYC.
If you remember, around this time last Summer was when former Villanova guard Corey Fisher scored 105 points in an NYC Summer League game. While his almost unbelievable century mark performance will live on as legend on the NYC blacktop, it didn’t quite translate into Big East play for Corey as he had an average senior campaign and went undrafted.
This year it must be Harden’s turn to shine in Summer action as he has reportedly went beserk recently by dropping 51 points in LA’s Drew League, which has seen an influx of top flight NBA talent participating in league play this year like Kevin Durant, Ron Artest, Tyreke Evans, and Micheal Beasley, among others.
James was totally unconscious from behind the arc, reportedly nailing 12 treys on his way to 51 points, including 27 points in the 1st half. I know it’s just Summer league, but hitting for 50 is still an accomplishment in any league.
Check out James Harden dropping 51 Pts in Summer action:
Source: Hoopmixtape
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
