James Harden: ‘I’m not a system player. I am a system.’
James Harden, the NBA’s reigning assist leader and the primary facilitator behind Joel Embiid ‘s MVP campaign last year, finally got shipped to the Los Angeles Clippers–along with P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrusev –this week for Nic Batum, Robert Covington, K.J. Martin and draft capital.
Though Harden–who will form a three-headed monster alongside Paul George, off to one of the best starts of his career, and superstar wing Kawhi Leonard –didn’t seem too keen with how he was utilized last season as Philadelphia’s primary initiator offensively.
“Philly is just changing my role knowing I can give more, knowing I can do more, but if you want me to be honest, it’s like being on a leash,” he said in his introductory press conference this week. “Like me knowing, in order for us to get where we want to get to, I was gonna have to be playing my best offensively, whether it’s facilitating and scoring the basketball, and Joel as well. I never really had that opportunity as well.
“When I meant a leash, I don’t mean just shooting the basketball every time. I meant, like, I think the game and I’m a creator on the court. If I’ve got a voice to where I can say, ‘Hey, Coach, I see this. Whatchu think about this?’ Then it’s like, ‘Alright, OK.’ Someone that trusts me, that believes in me, that understands me .
“I’m not a system player, I am a system.”
The best basketball of Harden’s career came in Houston, operating in a five-out, heliocentric offense where his usage rate was historically high. For perspective, his usage rate was 36.8 from 2017-20, relative to just 25.0 percent in his year-and-a-half sample in Philadelphia alongside Embiid.
There’s no guarantee that his usage will spike above 30.0 percent with this new squad if everyone’s healthy–which has been Los Angeles’ biggest question since both Leonard and George arrived ahead of 2019-20.
Harden’s still a very effective playmaker and a quality shot-maker, even though a noticeable drop-off of north-south quickness has hindered his rim pressure since departing Houston.
He’s no stranger to playing with other ball-dominant stars, playing with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, Kyrie Irving (with Durant) in Brooklyn, Embiid in Philadelphia and Chris Paul in Houston, among others. But can the Clippers cohesively make this newfound Harden-George-Leonard trio work? Time will tell.
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