2014 Outlook: James Harden
Shooting guard is a shallow position, and James Harden is at the pinnacle. He finished fifth in the league in scoring at 25.4 points per game and 14th in assists at 6.1 per game. This season he'll take on an even larger playmaking burden with the departures of Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons. Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade are the only players to average 25-plus points and seven assists per game for a whole season over the last 10 years, but Harden seems capable. He'll likely draw more help defense next year, as newcomer Trevor Ariza isn't nearly as much of a threat with the ball as Parsons or Lin. It's asking a lot of Harden to put up MVP-caliber numbers, but when you look at the rest of the Houston roster, it's hard to see where else assists might come from. On a per-game basis, Harden was better than John Wall last season, and it's not a stretch to think he'll come close to matching Steph Curry's production this year. He'll be the first shooting guard off the board on Draft Day.
