James Harden's early-season shooting woes aren't reason for Nets to panic

Through four games, the Nets stand at 2-2. Nothing to sound the alarm about, but short of the dominance many expected. Perhaps the biggest surprise of this start is the team's lackluster scoring, with a bottom-third offensive efficiency and only a 95-point outing against the Charlotte Hornets.

Obviously, the absence of Kyrie Irving is a major factor, but Brooklyn should be fine with only two of their stars. Problem is, they’re only getting strong scoring production out of one of them.

James Harden assured Nets fans he was 100 percent coming into training camp and appeared in three of their four preseason games, but still appears to be getting up to speed. He’s averaging just 17.3 points per game on rough efficiency numbers, and Brooklyn’s scoring 5.5 more points per 100 possessions with him on the pine.

What’s behind this slow start, and is it any cause for concern?

Many are citing the NBA’s officiating changes, namely the new emphasis on not calling some of the unnatural basketball plays that sent Harden to the line countless times in his career. Head coach Steve Nash said “he's unfairly become the poster boy of not calling these fouls.”

It’s true Harden isn’t getting his easy points at the line as much as he used to. He’s attempted 12 free throws in four games after nearly averaging that amount a night in 2020.

However, his free throw rate was already on the decline before these rule changes. He only averaged 7.3 attempts per game as a Net last season, four above his current average, while his scoring has dropped by about seven points.

On top of this, most of his usual means of foul-drawing are still perfectly in effect. When Harden has complained about a no-call thus far, it was usually on a typical attempt and not him throwing his body sideways or backwards in an unorthodox way into a defender. It’s possible the slower-stepped, less explosive Harden finds it harder to sell these calls.

BasketballNews.com’s Nekias Duncan dove into some alternate reasons behind the drop in free throw attempts, such as Harden’s age, penchant for taking more floaters versus at-the-rim takes, and less spacing around him. At best, the free throw shooting is half the story, and the rule changes are half the story behind his drop in attempts.

Look beyond the charity stripe and Harden hasn’t found his shot from anywhere. He’s putting up 32.3 percent from deep and 40 percent from two-point range, both career-lows.

It’s hard to identify why exactly Harden is struggling from the field.

He certainly doesn’t have all his explosion back, both vertically and horizontally. He’s been able to blow by guys, but his floater and layups taken from the dotted line aren’t as efficient as his at-rim bulldozing attempts. As mentioned, he’s favoring the former.

From deep, he had a couple strong outings before these last two games. This included well-contested looks off his dribble separation, and other such deep-in-his-bag tries. The latter games actually saw him missing many easier catch-and-shoot or semi-contested shots.

This should be a cut-and-dry wait-and-see situation. Harden is too talented to struggle for long, and is still contributing with his elite playmaking ability.

Brooklyn fans should expect a bump in his free throw shooting should he look to prioritize at-the-rim attempts, and his jumper and athleticism should work themselves out over time. If we’re still talking about this 20 games in, there’s really something to worry about.