NBA Season Preview: 5 best off-the-dribble creators

4. James Harden, Houston Rockets SG

Love him or hate him, the Houston Rockets have the most versatile offensive shooting guard — the game in the enigmatic James Harden. Harden is an aloof genius out and the 2016-17 Rockets are going to run Mike D’Antoni’s Seven Seconds or Less offense. If Harden returns anywhere near his 2014-15 form, look out Western Conference!

Harden is so good with the ball in his hands for the Rockets, we forget that he’s not actually Houston’s starting point guard. That would be the underrated Patrick Beverley. The Harden/Beverley tandem is eerily reminiscent to what the early 2000s Philadelphia 76ers had with Allen Iverson and Eric Snow. The Houston backcourt pairing ideally complements each other.

Harden has been labeled as a ball hog at varying times of his NBA career. The criticism is understandable, but a lot of times it has been out of necessity in an otherwise stagnant Rockets offense. Harden has averaged 27.0 points per game, 6.6 assists per game, and 5.4 rebounds per game in his four seasons with the Rockets. He also plays an absurd number of minutes per game in Houston at 37.8 per contest.

He is a 44.3 percent shooter from the field, a 36.8 percent shooter from distance, and an 85.5 percent shooter from the line in his seven-year NBA career. What separates Harden from almost everybody in the NBA is his innate ability to draw contact and get to the free throw line. Harden has averaged 9.9 free throws per game in his four years with the Rockets.

Now that he has solid jump shooters from the outside in free agent acquisitions Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon, Harden’s assists numbers should go up and he’ll be a more dynamic off-the-dribble creator in 2016-17. Though he is non-committal on the defensive end of the floor, Harden is an absolute delight to watch do work on offense with the ball in his hands.