Why James Harden WON'T Win NBA Three-Point Contest

The Houston Rockets have yet another honor to bestow amongst the most talented player it has.

You know his name!

That would be James Harden just in case you’ve been living under a rock as of late.

Yesterday, in addition to his All-Star nomination, the Beard was named to the roster to compete in the Three-Point Contest during the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities to take place Feb. 13-15 at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.

Say what?

The Houston Rockets confirmed the nomination:

Yes, he received the nod for the first time in his career to participate in the contest.

Why?

The NBA has been looking for quite some time to spice up the contests on Saturday night.

I even recall the NBA being oh-so-close to scrapping the dunk contest altogether. But they didn’t and they’ve added contests such as the Shooting Stars — to spice up the NBA’s star power affiliations — and the Skill Challenge — to showcase the skills of the NBA’s most fundamentally sound.

It has been some tough years to watch since Blake Griffin‘s 2011 win where he jumped over the hood of a Kia Optima to which we all were scratching our heads in regard to how a human being could complete such a feat.

He is the pitchman for Kia Motors, a corporation that makes sure NBA fans know with their immense amount of advertising how great their vehicles are.

Anyway, the problem as of late was that our favorite players seemed to be reluctant to participate in those said contests but it now seems that things are going to get interesting for this year.

Dec 26, 2014; Memphis, TN, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) shots over Memphis Grizzlies forward

Tayshaun Prince

(21) during the game at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Especially for the three-point contest.

Along with Harden, the participants will be defending champ Marco Belinelli, Stephen Curry, Kyle Korver, Kyrie Irving, Wesley Matthews, J.J. Redick and Klay Thompson.

Wow! This may be the most exciting three-point contest yet!

Belinelli has only appeared in 30 games this season because of a groin injury but recently made his return to action just this past Wednesday — he had 11 points including shooting 3-for-4 from behind-the-arc for 75 percent in the San Antonio Spurs 110-103 win over the Orlando Magic.

Curry has been sensational — he just hit 10 three-pointers Wednesday in the Golden State Warriors comeback 128-114 win over the Dallas Mavericks. He is the fastest player to reach 1,000 career three-pointers.

Korver is on the way to a groundbreaking year — he currently leads the league in three-point accuracy this season at 53.2 percent — which is on track to greatest three-point shooting extravaganza in NBA history by far. He is certainly a key ingredient to the Atlanta Hawks exponential success with his team boasting a 41-9 record an a eight-game lead on any Eastern Conference team.

So there’s the Beard.

I don’t think he’ll win the contest because a lot of his three-point shooting is out of necessity — when the other Rockets’ players shots aren’t falling, he’s usually relied upon to make something happen.

Korver and Curry are naturals — three-point shooting is embodied in their DNA.

For the Beard, it’s just another part of his repertoire.

It just happened to be over time that he’s gotten really good at it. His behind-the-arc shooting has hovered around 36 percent but has steadily increased over his career closer to the 40 percentile. He is currently at 38.7 percent as of right now.

The bright side is that he has been shooting 47 percent from three-point line for the past 10 games.

Why James Harden WON’T Win NBA Three-Point Contest

By Brian K. Patterson | Feb 6, 2015