James Harden Coming Back To Arizona State

I'm going to be doing some NBA Draft stuff on here (hopefully) when the season ends, the NBA Draft is inexplicably my favorite single sports event of the year, so I figured I'd get a head start. It'll be similar to my Unsubstantiated Speculation column for CHN last year, with important links and snide remarks.

Anyway, so Harden is coming back, which is a good idea. He would have been a top 20 pick for sure this year because of his polished offensive game, mid-range jumper, toughness and scoring efficiency, but coming back and working on his defense and ballhandling, plus getting to an NBA-type athleticism, will make him a likely top 10 guy in 2009. NBADraft.net has him compared to Manu Ginobilli, and for once, I agree with their comparison. Jeff Pendergraph is coming back too, which should have been a no-brainer after his slight regression this year.

It amounts to Arizona State, a Bubble team this year, being a potential top three Pac-10 team next year and given the likely defections of Brook Lopez, OJ Mayo, Kevin Love (gasping for air), Jerryd Bayless, Chase Budinger and Russell Westbrook to the NBA, Harden should be a POY candidate.