James Harden: "I Got a Little Bit of Nash in Me"

Bold claims all over the place in the past 24 hours.

James Harden: ‘I Got a Little Bit of [Steve] Nash in Me’

“I got a little bit of Nash in me,” Harden said later of the Rockets’ sales pitch. “He had his own pace to the game; that’s what I took out of that. You could never speed him up, you could never make him do anything he didn’t want to do, that’s what separated him from any other point guard at the time, which led to two MVPs.”

Harden's playmaking abilities probably are a bit underappreciated these days - he's demonstrated them in the past, even if he hasn't necessarily excelled in that role in Houston - and there's nothing wrong with being confident. It's a big claim to make though, even if he's qualifying it with the words "little bit".

His kickout passes are pretty good and accurate. He seems to excel on those.

He may make good passes, but he has 0 control of the game speed. He sometimes forces things because defense makes him force the issue.He may have a good passing skill, but he's as close to Nash's game control as I am of Marjanovic's height.

Take Dwight off the floor Harden's game control improves.