3 Key Areas Where James Harden Immediately Improves Sixers' Championship Odds

3 Key Areas Where James Harden Immediately Improves Sixers’ Championship Odds

James Harden is set to make his Philadelphia 76ers debut this Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves and there are a number of ways the former MVP can help make an impact immediately on his new team.

Let’s examine the top three ways Harden will have an immediate impact in Philadelphia:

Scoring

Harden is one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history and is arguably the best one on one isolation player in today’s game. During Harden’s nine seasons with the Houston Rockets, he averaged about 29 points per game, becoming a 3-time scoring champion. Harden is the pioneer of the step-back three and is currently 4th All-Time in three-pointers made sitting at 2,547 trailing the legendary Reggie Miller by 13 3’s to become 3rd All-Time behind Steph Curry and Ray Allen.

Playmaking

Along with his scoring, Harden is one of the most dynamic playmakers in the NBA as well. Harden has averaged over 10 assists per game the past two seasons and in the 2016-17 season, he led the league in assists. Being able to throw lobs to the bigs and finding shooters open for the three, Harden has become a triple-double machine sitting at 8th All-Time with 67.

Leadership

Harden has always been on teams where they were essentially in “Win Now” mode with Houston and Brooklyn. For the first time in his career, he will be all of the above plus a mentor to the young players on the team such as Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Tybulle. Harden brings so many great attributes to the Sixers and they are set to make their first finals run since 2001. The pairing of James Harden and Joel Embiid makes them one of the most dynamic duos and it looks like they are set to wreak havoc on the Eastern Conference.