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'''James Edward Harden, Jr.''' (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional [[basketball]] player who plays for the [[Oklahoma City Thunder]] of the [[National Basketball Association]] (NBA). He played [[college basketball]] for the [[Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball|Arizona State Sun Devils]], where he was named a consensus [[NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans|All-American]] and [[Pacific-12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year|Pac-10 Player of the Year]] in 2009. Harden was selected third overall by the Thunder in the [[2009 NBA Draft]], and was named [[NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award|NBA Sixth Man of the Year]] with the team in 2012.<ref>Bradley, Bill.&nbsp;– "Leading Off".&nbsp;– ''[[The Sacramento Bee]]''.&nbsp;– January 21, 2009.</ref>
'''James Edward Harden, Jr.''' (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional [[basketball]] player who plays for the [[Oklahoma City Thunder]] of the [[National Basketball Association]] (NBA). He played [[college basketball]] for the [[Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball|Arizona State Sun Devils]], where he was named a consensus [[NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans|All-American]] and [[Pacific-12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year|Pac-10 Player of the Year]] in 2009. Harden, nicknamed "The Beard," was selected third overall by the Thunder in the [[2009 NBA Draft]], and was named [[NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award|NBA Sixth Man of the Year]] with the team in 2012.<ref>Bradley, Bill.&nbsp;– "Leading Off".&nbsp;– ''[[The Sacramento Bee]]''.&nbsp;– January 21, 2009.</ref>
==Early years==
==Early years==
===High school===
===High school===

Revision as of 02:21, 15 June 2012

James Harden
Harden in 2011
No. 13 – Oklahoma City Thunder
PositionShooting guard
Personal information
Born (1989-08-26) August 26, 1989 (age 35)
Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High schoolArtesia HS (Lakewood, California)
CollegeArizona State (2007–2009)
NBA draft2009: 1st round, 3rd overall pick
Selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder
Playing career2009–present
Career history
2009–presentOklahoma City Thunder
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

James Edward Harden, Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Arizona State Sun Devils, where he was named a consensus All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2009. Harden, nicknamed "The Beard," was selected third overall by the Thunder in the 2009 NBA Draft, and was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year with the team in 2012.[1]

Early years

High school

Harden attended Artesia High School in Lakewood, California. In his sophomore year, he averaged 13.2 points as Artesia went 28–5. He improved his stats to 18.8 points, 7.7 boards and 3.5 assists in his junior season and led Artesia to the California state title and a 33–1 record. Artesia won the state title in Harden's final year too by going 33–2. Harden had similar stats as during the previous season: 18.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists. He was named a Parade and McDonald's All-American.

He also helped his AAU team, Pump-N-Run Elite, to the 2006 Las Vegas Adidas Super 64 championship.[2] Harden had 34 points in the victory over a DC Assault team which included Michael Beasley, Nolan Smith and Austin Freeman. In the game against Houston Hoops, played on the same day, Harden had 33 points. In the final, Pump-N-Run Elite beat Kevin Love's Southern California All-Stars.

College career

Left: Harden makes contact with Alfred Aboya inside; Right: Harden on defense

Arizona State was picked to finish 9th in the Pac-10 Conference.[3] Due to the help of Harden's average of 17.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists, the Sun Devils went 21–13 (9–9) and finished tied for 5th in the Pac-10. They were considered a bubble team for the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Left out of the NCAA tournament, they were selected to the 2008 NIT field and defeated Alabama State and Southern Illinois before falling to defending national champion Florida.

After his freshman year, Harden was named first team All-Pac-10 and was named to the conference all-freshman team.[4] Harden was also named first team All-District by the NABC and the USBWA.

Entering his sophomore year, Harden appeared on many pre-season All-American lists and appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated college basketball preview issue. He was named to the Wooden Award preseason watch list.[5] On November 30, 2008, Harden scored a career-high 40 points in an 88–58 victory over UTEP.[6] On the Tempe campus, a popular t-shirt emerged for his fans. It read, "Die Harden Fan".[7]

Harden was named to the 2009 All-Pac 10 Tournament Team following Arizona State's defeat by USC at the Staples Center.[8]

Following the conference season, Harden was named the Pacific-10 Conference's Player of the Year.[9] He was also named a consensus All-American. After the conclusion of the season (a second-round NCAA tournament loss to Syracuse), Harden declared his eligibility for the NBA Draft.[10] He employed Rob Pelinka as his agent.[11]

College statistics

Season Averages
Season Team G PTS REB AST STL BLK FG% 3P% FT% MIN TO
2007–08 Arizona State Sun Devils 34 17.8 5.3 3.2 2.1 0.6 .527 .407 .754 34.1 2.6
2008–09 Arizona State Sun Devils 35 20.1 5.6 4.2 1.7 0.3 .489 .356 .756 35.8 3.4
Totals: 69 19.0 5.4 3.7 1.9 0.4 .506 .376 .755 35.0 3.0

NBA career

Oklahoma City Thunder (2009–present)

Harden with the Oklahoma City Thunder

Harden was drafted 3rd overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder. This made him the first player to be drafted by the franchise as the Oklahoma City Thunder. The franchise last entered the 2008 NBA Draft as the Seattle SuperSonics.

In his first NBA season, Harden saw more than 22 minutes on the court per game, averaging 9.9 points per game. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. In his second year, he played all 82 games of the regular season, averaging 12.2 points per game. In the playoffs, he averaged 13 points per game, shooting over 47% from the field.

On April 18, 2012, Harden scored a career-high 40 points in a 109–97 victory over the Phoenix Suns. He had the best season in his NBA career in 2012, averaging 16.8 points in 31.4 minutes per game, even though he played only 2 of 62 games as a starter. On April 22 against the Los Angeles Lakers, Harden suffered a concussion after being elbowed by the Lakers' Metta World Peace, who was celebrating a dunk. World Peace was ejected, and was later suspended for seven games.[12][13] Harden returned for the first game of the playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks.[14] Harden was named the 2012 NBA Sixth Man of the Year, becoming the second youngest player ever to do so. He led all NBA reserves with 16.8 points per game.[15]

NBA statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009–10 Oklahoma City 76 0 22.9 .403 .375 .808 3.2 1.8 1.0 .3 9.9
2010–11 Oklahoma City 82 5 26.7 .436 .349 .843 3.1 2.1 1.1 .3 12.2
2011–12 Oklahoma City 62 2 31.4 .491 .390 .846 4.1 3.7 1.0 .2 16.8
Career 220 7 26.7 .444 .370 .835 3.4 2.5 1.1 .3 12.7

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010 Oklahoma City 6 0 20.0 .387 .375 .842 2.5 1.8 1.0 .2 7.7
2011 Oklahoma City 17 0 31.6 .475 .303 .825 5.4 3.6 1.2 .8 13.0
Career 23 0 28.5 .459 .315 .828 4.6 3.1 1.2 .6 11.6

References

  1. ^ Bradley, Bill. – "Leading Off". – The Sacramento Bee. – January 21, 2009.
  2. ^ Sorting Out A Zillion Players In Vegas
  3. ^ UCLA Picked To Defend Pac-10 Title in 2007–08
  4. ^ 2007–08 Men's Basketball All-Conference Honors Announced
  5. ^ John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 List
  6. ^ Boxscore – Arizona State vs. UTEP 11/20/08
  7. ^ http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=jn-asu021909&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
  8. ^ Pac-10 All-Tournament Team
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ James Harden Declares Entry to NBA Draft
  11. ^ "James Harden". DraftExpress LLC. Retrieved 2009-05-12.
  12. ^ "Lakers rally for 2OT win after Metta World Peace ejected for vicious elbow". ESPN.com. April 22, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  13. ^ "Metta World Peace suspended for 7". ESPN.com. April 24, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  14. ^ Jeff Latzke (April 30, 2012). "Durant's winner lifts Thunder past Mavs, 99–98". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved May 5, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  15. ^ "Thunder's James Harden wins Kia Sixth Man Award" (Press release). NBA. May 10, 2012. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012.
External image
image icon Harden on November 21, 2008 Sports Illustrated cover

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