Chicago Bulls: James Harden worrying too much about drawing fouls

I get it, I do, Chicago Bulls fans aren’t going to be surprised at all about the news that the Brooklyn Nets superstar guard James Harden was frustrated about only getting to shoot three free throws in a high-usage game for him. Harden usually leads the NBA in free-throw attempts year in and year out, as that became a critical part of his game in about the past half-decade.

The Bulls were able to hold Harden in check in a big win over the Nets at home at the United Center on the night of Nov. 8. Second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls got the win over head coach Steve Nash and the Nets on Nov. 8 by the convincing final score of 118-95. This was a very convincing win for the Bulls as part of a huge fourth-quarter run.

In this win for the Bulls, Harden was held to nearly a season-low 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists, one steal, one block, and four turnovers. And he shot 4-of-11 from the field, 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, and was perfect on three attempts from the free-throw line.

One aspect of Harden’s stat line that is definitely unusual in this game was the lack of free-throw attempts. Harden hasn’t really got his usual number of free-throw attempts per game this season, though.

James Harden reportedly frustrated with the refs vs. Chicago Bulls

This is one of four games on the season so far where Harden got just three free-throw attempts. He’s also got two games under his belt where he had just one free-throw attempt a piece.

So far this season, Harden has averaged just 4.6 free-throw attempts per game, the lowest number of his career since his sophomore campaign in the NBA. His free-throw attempt rate is also down to a career-low .333.

According to a report from Brian Lewis of the New York Post on Nov. 9, Harden is getting very frustrated with the lack of free-throw attempts coming his way this season. And it’s pretty comical to hear this from a player that has lived off playing this game of just constantly drawing fouls and getting to the free-throw line.

But does Harden have a point?

This New York Post piece mentions that some of the new rules in place this season in the NBA that change the way that refs call shooting fouls are a primary factor to the decline in free-throw attempts for Harden. You would imagine that this is starting to get to Harden’s head in a very noticeable way. He has yet to really adapt his game to these new rules it appears.

But in this win for the Bulls over Harden and the Nets, it was hard to see that many missed calls on Harden. He wasn’t involved in plays with contact when he was driving the lane all that often, so it’s difficult to see his gripe in this regard.

It will be interesting to see where Harden’s number of free-throw attempts per game and his free-throw attempt rate start trending in the near future. Maybe he will effectively adapt his game to the new rules soon. It seems like his teammate and superstar forward Kevin Durant has adapted fine to the new rules, as he’s averaging just shy of his career number of free-throw attempts per game around 6.5.