The Brooklyn Nets are practically treading water through the first five games of the season as they navigate through life without Kyrie Irving.
Irving is currently looking at sitting out the entire season over his vaccine hesitancy, so James Harden has had to slide over to point guard to help pick up the slack.
His playmaking has not been an issue, but his scoring has seen a notable hit, and a lot of that might come down to him not getting to the foul line as much.
Just last year, Harden averaged 7.3 free throw attempts per game, which was down from his peak with the Rockets where he averaged over 10 for six straight seasons.
Through five games this season, he’s only averaging three attempts, which would be his career low if it keeps up. Since this is such a small sample size, there shouldn’t be too much cause for concern, but his shooting numbers are down across the board.
Again, through just five games, he’s shooting under 40 percent from the floor and under 40 percent from beyond the arc, which is far below what fans are used to seeing from him. If it keeps up, then there might be cause for concern.
Harden Off to a Slow Start
His lack of free throws date back to his time with the Thunder, which is something that he doesn’t want to match.
This is the first time he’s gone five straight games shooting fewer than five free throws since 2011, as pointed out by Tom Haberstroh.
There’s not much a reason to suspect Harden will continue down this inefficient path, and it’s important to remember that he’s still working his way into game shape. Some fans will point to the rule change that cut back on some of the more exotic foul calls players got in years past, and will think it directly correlates to Harden’s lack of free throw attempts.
He spoke a few days ago about his struggles, and he attributed them to his lack of confidence.
“I’m just getting my confidence back,” Harden said via the New York Post. “I’m a little hesitant. You guys can see it. Just going through a lot of ups and downs last year and then coming into training camp healthy and making sure my conditioning is where it needed to be.”
There’s no telling how long that will take him, but the Nets are currently sitting under .500 through five games, so the team will likely want him to find his mojo soon.
Others Must Step Up
GettyPatty Mills (L) high-fives Bruce Brown (R).
A big bright spot so far this season has been Patty Mills. He came over in the offseason on a two-year deal and it’s already paying dividends for the team.
His scorching hot start has helped offset some of the damage Harden’s slow start has caused, but each of them will likely trend more toward their averages as the season goes on.
Expectations for the team without Kyrie Irving are still high, so there’s currently no reason to not suspect the Nets will get things figured out and find out how to compete for a title.
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