Oklahoma City Thunder's Secret to Success in 2010: James Harden's Aggressiveness

The Oklahoma City Thunder are a team on the rise going into the 2010-11 NBA season, and rightfully so. This is a team that returns all of its key contributors from last year. In 2009-10, the Thunder improved their win total from 23 to 50.

Kevin Durant is the engine that makes the Thunder go; he had a stellar year putting up 30.1 PPG 7.6 RPG. He shot 47 percent from the field, 36.5 percent from three and 90 percent from the free-throw line.

But teams have had a whole offseason to try and think of new defensive schemes to throw Durant's way, and with even more attention on Durant, the Thunder will need somebody else to step up if Oklahoma City wants to see its win total continue to go up.

Through six preseason games, there has been one player who has stood out consistently for the Thunder. That player is second-year guard James Harden.

Harden was Oklahoma City's scoring punch off the bench last season as a rookie, and he averaged 9.9 PPG on 40.3 percent FG shooting and 37.5 percent three-point shooting, 1.05 SPG in only 22.9 minutes per game.

In the five preseason games Harden has played in, he has nearly doubled his scoring output with 17.0 PPG and shooting an outstanding 48 percent from the field.

One of the reason for the increase in Harden's production has been minutes, through the preseason Harden is now playing around 30 minutes per game.

The other reason, which is much more critical for the Thunder this season, is that Harden is getting to the free-throw line an amazing 10 times per game. Last season, he only got to the line 3.2 times per game.

Not only is Harden getting to the line, but he is converting at a high rate as well. In the five games he has played in he is: 9-for-10, 8-for-8, 10-for-12, 5-for-5 and 12-for-14. That makes him 44-for-49, which equals to a whopping 92 percent.

Harden has scored 85 total points this preseason, and more than half of them are coming from the free-throw line. If he can keep up this aggressiveness and attack the rim as he's shown in the preseason, Harden could likely average 15 PPG and make the Thunder's offense even more potent than it is. 

The Thunder are still going to rely mostly on Kevin Durant night in and night out (as they should he is one of the top five players in the league), but if Harden can keep up the production he's had in the preseason, then Oklahoma City could be making a deep run in the playoffs this season.

Follow Brandon on Twitter: @jeffeb91 

Follow Brandon on Tumblr: http://i-w-r-i-t-e.tumblr.com/