Fat Harden to Brooklyn

Good afternoon fellow humans, I am back once again to bring you some hard hitting analysis of the James Harden trade to Brooklyn. This is my first, but shouldn't be my last breakdown of this trade. Let's hop right in.

First off, congrats to James Harden for getting what he wanted. That is a great accomplishment. Plus, he is going from one of the most obese cities in America to a place where pizza is KING. If he can maintain this size, he will 1000% rival Escalade (RIP) and be the biggest guard ever. Next though, how does he fit in? The doors should be big enough, but what about the other players on his brand new team? Whackadoo personalities like KD and Kyrie will be an adventure for head man Steve Nash to handle with Harden in the mix for sure. I am honestly rooting for a crash and burn scenario, because that is easily the most entertaining.

But what about stats and numbers and shit like that? You got it. In 2019-2020, James Harden isolated on 45% of his possessions, 20% higher than the next player who was Russell Westbrook. That is just an ABSURD amount of time to play 1 on 1. Might as well join some YMCA league or something if that's what you prefer. Harden was scoring on 44.8% of those iso plays at least, so that is a plus.

His star teammates also have a fairly high % of iso plays, just nothing close to 40%. The last season they were both healthy for a majority of games was 18-19. Kyrie was in iso 13.2% of the time, scoring on 45.7% of his iso plays. This place him in the 74.4 percentile which is almost top 25% in the league. KD was in iso on 15.6% of his plays, scoring on 48.8% of them and being placed in the 85.5 percentile which is top 15% in the league.

So we have learned that we have added the most iso-dominant player in the entire NBA to a team that already has two iso heavy players. This will work out right? They can just throw another ball or two on the floor for these guys I am sure. Defense though? That is an entire other conversation, but surely they will rely a TON on Joe Harris to defend Giannis and Co. from now on. Good luck in your new venture James, eat well.