Why James Harden To The Clippers Has Been A Total Failure
The LA Clippers have now dropped 5 straight and their blockbuster trade for James Harden has fallen completely flat on its face so far. Here today I bring you a comprehensive explanation to why their struggles have been so extreme and if any hope remains in regards to this team.
Offensive Woes
What I am sure myself and many others had reservations about after this trade was made was how the offensive responsibility would be split between the 4 primary ball handlers on the roster and these reservations have certainly been reaffirmed in these 4 games with Harden. Previous to the trade this was a team with a clear offensive identity, they had an elite isolation scorer in Kawhi, an excellent no.2 option in Paul George who could take the responsibility as both on on-ball creator and on off-ball threat depending upon what was asked of him, a change of pace guard in Russell Westbrook who always brings maximum energy, and the rest of the roster were strong role players who did what was asked of them. Now after the acquisition of Harden this team has completely lost the identity they once had. With the roster how it is currently constructed the only player who is truly an elite off the ball threat is now Paul George. While Harden and Kawhi are obviously talented enough to be effective without the ball, it is something that with their playstyle they clearly feel uncomfortable with. There are so often moments of hesitations on good looks from players like Harden and Kawhi where they will look to create off the bounce instead of seeing the shot that’s right in front of them. This offense was always one that was over reliant on tough shots but now it has become shockingly bland. Outside of the occasional pindown for George or Leonard the movement off-ball is so limited as there are even frequent moments of two players finding themselves in the same corner. With how poor the spacing is as well as the clear decline in Harden’s athletic abilities the Clippers have struggled majorly to put pressure on the rim and generate good looks.
The Big Man Problem
Another major issue with how the roster is now constructed is the very thin big rotation that forces LA into playing small ball lineups. While the smaller lineups that the Clippers put out have been effective offensively they have been shockingly bad defensively, as they are allowing 155.3 Pts/Poss with Harden on the floor without a true big man (does not include the Memphis game). While the simple answer may be to play Zubac more, the offense falls off a cliff with him and the defense is still one of the worst in the league. Zubac is a solid rotational big but is nowhere near a strong enough presence on the interior to be the only reliable guy they have at that position. With how abysmal Harden has been as a perimeter defender this team has a simple yet very detrimental issue of allowing the most efficient shots at some of the highest rates of any team in the league, when allowing as many shots at the rim and from the corner as they do it will take purely luck for the defense to ever be effective in its current state. The team’s lack of size and interior presence has also been a major issue on the glass where they are one of the worst rebounding teams in the league, being outrebounded on the offensive end by 13 so far in the James Harden era. Losing Robert Covington has been a far larger issue than the team could have ever expected as just having a guy in Roco who was active as a help defender and rebounder with his size is now something they are desperately in need of. Especially with the small ball lineups they will run out there they are forced to overcompensate for their lack of rim protection with aggressive rotations that leaves players in terrible positions, scrambling to find the open man and before they know it they are letting up another night of 40% shooting from 3.
Embarrassing Loss To Memphis
Digging more into specifically this most recent loss this game was nothing short of embarrassing. Outside of Xs and Os or any of the tactics in the game, losing to a previously 1–8 Memphis team who is as banged up as they are when you are labeled as a team that should be is extremely alarming. James Harden played a truly terrible game that was very telling to how this experiment has conducted itself thus far. This was a game for Harden that was highlighted by lazy play on both ends of the ball that led to very ugly shots for himself and some very easy looks for their opposition. Norman Powell played more than Harden today and that was for the very simple reason that they played significantly better with him on the court. I very well understand that Ty Lue may be receiving external pressure from the organization to play Harden at the end of games considering that they basically pushed all their chips in while making the Harden move but I wish Lue would stick with the lineups that are clearly playing well instead of playing guys based on their status and power on the team. The reason they played so well with Powell opposed to Harden is because Norman is accustomed to playing off-ball and does that role extremely well when compared to Harden, shown in Harden being a -28 while Powell was a +8 on the night. The issues with off-ball play was apparent as not only was there a lack of movement but a lack of respect from the Grizzlies when PJ Tucker and Russell Westbrook were spotting up. With the defense having no reason to pay attention to players on the floor who are in spots that should be providing spacing, it continues to be extremely hard for Kawhi Leonard to get his rhythm. Kawhi is averaging just 18.8 with Harden playing and that is a far cry from what we know Leonard has the ability to do. Paul George had a very impressive night but what is concerning is that his best moments of scoring was on that run with Powell that brought them back in the game. PG was playing MVP caliber basketball before Harden’s arrival as he was averaging 28.8 on 56/51/93 splits but as his personality has always been that of a co-star who is comfortable allowing others takeover, he has fallen into averaging just 17 points with Harden.
Is There Any Hope?
Ever since the major trade that the Clippers have made they have played some of the worst basketball of anyone in the association. The losing habits of tackling poor shots, having a lack of effort on the glass, and being careless with the ball have all come together to them being 4–0 in this new era, highlighted by a loss to a Grizzlies team that had the worst record in basketball. James Harden is not the only problem with this team but he is certainly not the solution. This roster has been constructed in such a poor way that it is hard to have any hope about this team. This was the last chance for LA and it seemed as if they had constructed the best team since Kawhi and PG had been on the team, but with the trade for Harden they now find themselves outside the play-in picture, having to show a level of resilience we have not seen out of them to this point. I will conclude this by echoing the sentiments of the now infamous rant from the Mavericks announcer about Harden, James is not the system, he is the problem among many problems with this Clippers team.
