Better offensive player: Michael Jordan or the Rockets’ James Harden?

Anthony Rios

Houston Rockets James Harden (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

Now is the perfect time to talk about who is truly the better offensive player between Michael Jordan and the NBA’s current best shooting guard, James Harden.

With ESPN beginning their 10-part documentary series, “The Last Dance”, on Sunday, there’s no better time to analyze questions about the Houston Rockets and Michael Jordan. Among those questions is this: Who is the better offensive player between Michael Jordan and the NBA’s current best shooting guard, James Harden?

Although Jordan retired after the 2003 NBA season and Harden is still in his prime, I’m going to base this argument on Jordan’s overall career and Harden’s career to this point.

There are a couple of things that need to be taken into consideration. One is the evolution of the overall game. The style of play on both ends of the ball has changed dramatically.

From the 1990s to the early 2000s, NBA teams played tough on both ends of the court and took a variety of different shots. Whereas the league today plays less defense and relies heavily on the 3-ball and layups. All of this will be taken into consideration to make this as fair as possible.

I’m going to compare both players in different aspects of offense, which will be: slashing, mid-range game, 3-point game, ball handling, shot creation and passing.

Next: Slashing

Slashing

Even though James Harden relies on the 3-pointer a little too much, people tend to forget how good he is when driving to the rack. His offensive arsenal is one of the best you’ll see in the entire league today.

The occasional euro-step, floater and sometimes even throwing the hammer down makes Harden’s slashing game a joy to watch. But again, that is when he isn’t deciding to chuck up a contested step back 3-pointer.

In Harden’s earlier years in Houston, his go-to offensive strategy was driving to the paint. Harden’s ability to get to the paint isn’t the concern here. It’s more of the fact that he simply doesn’t utilize it as much as he should.

In Harden’s first year as a Rocket, 63.6 percent of his shots were two-point field goals. 30 percent of those two-point attempts were from zero-to-three feet away from the basket.

In the 2019-20 season, Harden shot only 44.5 percent of his shots from inside the 3-point line. The drastic change in his style of play is quite evident.

As for Michael Jordan, his game relied heavily on his slashing ability and mid-range game, which I will dive more into later. Jordan’s slashing game is what made Jordan most effective on the offensive side of the ball.

Jordan’s ability to finish inside no matter the circumstance is mind-blowing. Jordan also played in an era filled with dominant big men protecting the paint. Names like Dikembe Mutumbo, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal and Patrick Ewing.

Also, let’s not forget about the Bad Boy era Pistons, who were known to rough up Jordan whenever he slashed to the paint. Jordan had to deal with a lot of interior presence when driving and still dominated in a way nobody has ever seen before.

To put it all into perspective, Jordan’s highest-scoring season was in 1986-87 when he averaged 37 points per game. He hit only hit 12 threes out of 66 attempted that season.

Harden’s highest-scoring season was last year when he averaged 36 points per game. Harden hit 378 threes out of 1028 last year. See the difference?

Winner: Michael Jordan

Next: Mid-range & 3-Point Shooting

Mid-range Shooting

Is this even a question? The mid-range shot is no longer apart of Harden’s arsenal. It vanished years ago. But why? Well, that’s the style of play now. Teams are falling in love with the Golden State way of basketball.

Due to that, the mid-range jumper is a rare occurrence in the current state of the NBA. Only DeMar DeRozan, Devin Booker and Chris Paul are keeping it alive, somewhat. Harden shoots strictly threes and lay-ups. This isn’t really news for anyone.

Michael Jordan averaged 30-plus points per game over several seasons without attempting over 100 threes. It’s hard to imagine that happening now with how much the game has changed. MJ was the king of the mid-range and slashing game. This was an easy selection here and I’m pretty sure everyone could agree.

Winner: Michael Jordan

3-point shooting

The same way it was easy to select Jordan as the better mid-range shooter, this one is an easy selection as well. There’s no question that Harden is the far superior 3-point shooter of the two.

From his rookie year in 1984-85 to his first hiatus after the 1992-93 season, Jordan hit a total of 287 shots from downtown. James Harden hit 378 threes just last year alone, which again goes back to the changing style of the game.

Jordan finished his NBA career with 581 made 3-pointers while Harden currently ranks fifth all-time in 3-pointers made with 2296.

The way Jordan dominated the game, it seems like he simply didn’t need the 3-point shot. Still, although Harden takes too many threes, he is the superior 3-point shooter overall.

Winner: James Harden

Next: Ball Handling & Shot Creating

Ball Handling & Shot Creating

Believe it or not, this was also an easy selection. The way MJ created his own shot was obviously amazing. His post, mid-range and slashing game were unstoppable. The way he created his shots was outstanding and the speed and overall fundamentals of Jordan were unique at his time.

But still, it’s no match for Harden’s ball handling and shot-creating ability. These categories fall in favor of The Beard due to Harden’s new ways to get shots off.

Jordan had the mid-range pull up and turnaround fadeaway, but none of those moves are more effective than the Harden step back.

As mentioned, Harden has changed his style of play to favor the 3-point shot but most of them are from his own shot creation. Last season, 61 of his 3-pointers were assisted shots. That means his 317 other 3-pointers came from the brilliant offensive shot-creating of the Beard.

This is no knock on Jordan, but from how Harden’s shot-creating abilities in the past couple of seasons made him nearly impossible to guard, he gets the nod.

Also, Jordan played in the legendary triangle system run by one of the greatest coaches of all-time in Phil Jackson. Because of this, Jordan didn’t really have to rely on his shot-creating abilities.

Meanwhile, Harden’s best years have been under offensive guru Mike D’Antoni, where he has all the freedom in the world to do whatever he pleases.

The better ball handler and shot creator is James, but it is very close. The systems that both played in plays a major factor in this decision.

Winner: James Harden

Next: Passing

Passing

This was also a fairly easy selection. In his first season with the Rockets, Harden averaged just under six assists per game. As each year went on, Harden increased his assists per game.

In the 2016-17 season, Harden would have a season nobody ever expected. In his first season as head coach, Mike D’Antoni moved Harden from shooting guard to point guard. Many people thought it wouldn’t work, but Harden proved the doubters wrong.

Harden went on to have a magical, MVP-caliber season, averaging 29 points, eight rebounds and a league-leading 11 assists per game. Harden finished runner up for MVP to Russell Westbrook that year.

Since that season, Harden had to share a backcourt with Chris Paul for two seasons and is currently sharing the backcourt with Westbrook, so of course, his assists have gone down.

Over the past three seasons, however, Harden has averaged 8.8, 7.5 and 7.4 assists per game. Harden also thrives passing the ball off of pick and rolls, whether it be hitting the roller with an alley-oop or hitting a 3-point shooter in the corner.

Although Harden does have turnover problems, it doesn’t take away from his great passing ability.

Like I previously stated, Jordan played in the triangle offense, which helps players get open off the ball. This takes away from MJ’s assist numbers due to him being the number one option in that system. It’s hard to favor Jordan in this aspect due to the freedom Harden has in D’Antoni’s rapid-fire offense.

The most assists Jordan averaged in a season was eight, which was in the 1988-89 season. Jackson was the assistant coach that season. He would become the head coach the following season, which saw Jordan’s assists numbers drop due to the system and emergence of Scottie Pippen.

Jordan has a career total of 5,633 assists whereas if Harden continues on the pace he is on, he will pass Jordan within the next year. As of right now, Harden has a total of 5,193 career assists. This is worth mentioning but doesn’t play a role in the decision on who is the better passer.

Harden gets the nod here due to him being in a system that gives him the freedom to showcase his great passing ability.

Winner: James Harden

Next: Final Decision

Final Decision

Better Offensive Player: Michael Jordan

Yes, James Harden is the better 3-point shooter, shot creator and passer. He holds the edge when it comes to the criteria I established. Does this mean he is actually the better overall offensive player? Absolutely not.

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Efficiency also plays a role in offense. We can’t totally disregard that, and as we all know, Harden has been an efficiency nightmare as of late. Also, free throw shooting does not help Harden in this case.

In the last six seasons, Harden has averaged double-digit free-throw attempts. Yes, Harden has broken the league due to the way he gets to the line, but standing at the free-throw line uncontested doesn’t require that much skill.

Jordan, on the other hand, has only attempted more than ten free throws per game in a season twice, which means, for the most part, Jordan was getting his points in a much more difficult circumstance.

Throughout his career on the Bulls, Jordan only shot under 45 percent once. Harden, on the other hand, has shot under 45 percent in eight of his 11 NBA seasons.

Yes, Jordan not really shooting 3-pointers gives him an advantage when it pertains to efficiency, but maybe if Harden adds the mid-range to his game, that can help better his.

Michael Jordan is the better offensive player of the two due to his efficiency and pure dominance against tougher defenders. Jordan’s great efficiency in an era with great defense and Harden’s not-so-good efficiency in an era where teams score 100 by the third quarter is hard to ignore.

As you might expect, the correct answer to this question is Michael Jordan, but Harden isn’t that far behind. By the end of his career, I think there’s a good chance James Harden will flip these results.

Anthony Rios