James Harden admits his shooting has been iffy, but he’s not going to stop

“I had a lot of opportunities,” Harden said per ESPN. “The 3-ball hasn’t been going for me but I’m just going to continue to shoot. I was here yesterday, this morning was here shooting so I’m not worried about it. Those are good shots. Those are shots that I’ve been taking the last couple of years, so even if teams are trying to take the 3-ball away, I’m going to still shoot them.”

Shooters gonna shoot. Harden obviously hasn’t met a shot he didn’t like.

The 2018 MVP is shooting at a horrid 36.5 percent clip from the field and a absolutely atrocious 20.0 percent from three (14-of-70 overall).

Nonetheless, despite his shooting struggles, The Beard is still averaging 36.6 points per game for the Rockets. This is thanks in part to his absurd 95 percent freethrow rate so far this season, as he is making around 15-of-16 from the line per contest.

It seems like Russell Westbrook’s arrival hasn’t impacted Harden’s playing style at all this season. Harden is still jacking up over 25 shots per game, with 14 of those coming from beyond the arc.

It’s hard to see Harden shooting this horribly for the rest of the season. Obviously, those shots will start to fall again for the back-to-back scoring champion.

Even with those disastrous percentages, Harden’s shooting numbers and volume to start the season are just absolutely nuts. As insane as it may sound, at the rate he is on right now, Harden may just one up his historic 2018-19 campaign with an even better one this season.