Before putting James Harden in their rotation, the Clippers were rolling. With Kawhi Leonard and Paul George finally healthy together, they had the best scoring in the league. fourth best offensive rating and the fifth best defensive rating. Only the Celtics and 76ers had a better net rating than their +11.6 points per 100 possessions.
Since Harden entered the rotation four games ago, all that has changed. They are 0-4, in free fall Offense #30THE Defense #25 and the third worst net rating in the league during this four-game stretch.
Harden’s entry into the lineup is certainly one of those issues. Why was he so hesitant and is there a solution in sight for the Clippers?
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Why the Clippers’ James Harden experiment is off to a disastrous start
James Harden adjusts his game too much
There was a lot of skepticism about integrating a ball-dominant player like Harden into a team with three other ball-dominant players, Leonard, George and Russell Westbrook. Perhaps to combat this, Harden has changed his game significantly since joining the Clippers.
One of the biggest complaints against Harden in his last few stops was that he refused to shoot 3-pointers. He’s a great shooter, and that would make him much better as an off-ball threat on the star-filled teams he’s been on.
Harden seems to have taken that to heart this season – he’s making a lot more of these attempts and he’s succeeding on them.
| Year | Team | C&S 3 attempts | Filming % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | Clippers | 2.3 | 44.4% |
| 2022-23 | Sixers | 1.8 | 41.1% |
| 2021-22 | Nets/Sixers | 1.0 | 33.8% |
Off the ball, Harden has actually been pretty good! But ball-wise, he was a bit of a disaster. He seemed extremely passive, as head coach Tyronn Lue said after their loss to the Grizzlies on Sunday.
“He’s too polite,” Lue said Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“I think he’s doing too much to try to fit in. So it’s my fault. Just yesterday we had a discussion within the team and he just has to be James Harden. He led the league in terms of assists the last two or three years, and making plays and what he does in the pick-and-roll, he’s great. So we have to allow him to be himself.
“He doesn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, and I understand that just to have respect for PG, Kawhi, Russ, because they’ve been here. But we need James to be James, and so it’s up to me to make sure of it. I make him the James.”
Harden’s unfamiliarity with his teammates is evident when watching the team try to execute their half-court sets. Their timing on plays is very disjointed.
This Clippers offense is a mess.
What is happening here? Where is the flow? Where is the emergency? pic.twitter.com/ljqu1SoHoN
– Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) November 13, 2023
This was probably partly to be expected given the lack of practice they received. But as of now, none of these players seem comfortable playing with each other.
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James Harden looks slow
Put aside the issue of fitting in with your teammates for a second. The question arises whether Harden is physically capable of reaching last year’s modest level. Its brightness has been steadily diminishing for years.
This year is his worst in terms of conduct – he seems to have no ability to stand out from players. Rather than taking players like Santi Aldama off the dribble, Harden is mostly settle for disappearances Or runners. While in previous years he made between a quarter and a third of his shots at the rim, he incredibly didn’t attempt a single shot inside three feet all season.
This is nothing like old James Harden:
James Harden: “I AM THE SYSTEM”
the system:
-LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) November 12, 2023
It’s unclear if this is a permanent change or the result of missing training camp. But Lue mentioned that Harden needed to “get in better shape.” His lack of conditioning is evident where he is struggled to get back on defense Or leaves her man right next to him.
Despite the ugly possessions and losses, even an out-of-shape Harden is still a pretty good shooter. He’s making 47.2 percent of his looks overall, 36.8 percent of his 3s and has yet to miss a free throw. We still have to hope that the Clippers can make this work.
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The Clippers need a starting lineup change
The problems with Harden aren’t just about him. The Clippers play too many non-shooters alongside him. Ivica Zubac is a very solid starting center, but he has only made one 3-pointer in his entire career. Westbrook makes 32.3 percent of his 3s and his opponents let him shoot whenever he wants.
Westbrook and Harden both function best with four shooters around them. Westbrook is experiencing the same problems as with the Lakers when he was forced to play without the ball. The Clippers were fantastic with him before the Harden trade, outscoring teams by 16.2 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, by PBP statistics. In the minutes he shared the floor with Harden, they were outscored by 21.1 points per 100 possessions.
There are steps Lue can still take to salvage the situation. It would probably make sense to move Harden to a sixth man role until he’s in better playing shape given how the Clippers were rolling without him. More time to get acquainted with teammates will also be helpful.
However, there have been no problems with this team so far. Four games in is still way too early to declare full panic mode, but early feedback has been bad.
