Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is known for having controversial opinions and making bold statements, and he is going to stir things up with his latest comments.
Morey joined “Selfmade with Nadeshot” for an interview. They talked about several subjects, including James Harden. Morey has long been a huge proponent of Harden and even says that the data shows Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan.
Daryl Morey says it’s ‘literally a fact’ that James Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan
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— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) August 16, 2019
“It’s just factual that James Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan,” Morey said. “You give James Harden the ball, and before you’re giving up the ball, how many points do you generate? Which is how you should measure offense, James Harden is by far No. 1 in NBA history. And he was No. 1 even with the Oklahoma City Thunder, it was just a little more hidden. So you needed good data to suss that out. So we knew he had that amazing skill to be a scorer.
“Now the counter argument is reasonable. They say if you put Michael Jordan on a team now, he would do more than James Harden. That’s possible. But if you’re just saying, NBA history, if you give this guy the ball, how much does this guy score before the other team gets the ball? It’s James Harden.”
The funny thing about numbers is: if you know how to use them, you can make almost any argument you want. Morey is choosing a specific metric for how he measures scoring, and that one indicates Harden is the best. Does that mean Harden is a better or more complete player than MJ? No, but for that particular stat, Harden stands above all others.
As smart as Morey seems to be, even he admits he didn’t think Harden would become as good as he did.
