What Can We Make Of James Harden’s Clippers Debut?

Key Highlights:

• • Fifteen of Harden’s 17 points came alongside bench-heavy lineups
  • He had 54 touches, down from 93.5 per game last season
  • The Clippers were minus-13 during the 18 minutes their starting unit played

James Harden’s NBA career has spanned 15 seasons, five teams and more than 1,000 games. There isn’t much space left for inaugural moments. Yet for the first time, the future Hall of Fame point guard lost in his debut on a new team. The Oklahoma City defeated the Sacramento Kings, 102-89, in 2009. The Houston Rockets knocked off the Detroit Pistons, 105-96, in 2012. The Brooklyn Nets outlasted the Orlando Magic, 122-115, in 2021. The Philadelphia 76ers rollicked the Minnesota Timberwolves, 133-102, in 2022.

On Monday night, inside Madison Square Garden, Harden suited up for the Los Angeles Clippers for the first time and eyed a five-peat. Instead, the Clippers crumbled in the final frame and fell to the New York Knicks, 111-97.

For his part, Harden turned in an efficient, effective game with 17 points (6-of-9 shooting), six dimes (two turnovers), three boards and one steal. After missing the first two weeks of the season, he resembled his 2022-23 self: a former MVP superstar who’s weathered physical regression to remain a high-level, albeit somewhat diminished, scorer and playmaker.

But the questions regarding Harden do — or at least should — center on his fit with Los Angeles rather than his own talent. In year five of the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George Era, the Clippers are aiming to harmonize, stay healthy and finally nab that elusive Larry O’Brien Trophy. By bringing in Harden and Russell Westbrook over the past nine months, they’ve drastically reshaped the identity of this roster. Once a wing-heavy group predicated on switchability and spacing, they’re now a guard-heavy rotation built upon a smattering of scoring options. The shift began before Harden, but his arrival completed it.

For the second time, Harden is joined in the starting lineup by Westbrook following their one-year partnership together in Houston. Both are ball-dominant creators. Harden is a much better ball-dominant creator at this point. But Westbrook’s lack of shooting hampers what he can do away from the action, while Harden’s longstanding, perplexing aversion to spot-up triples hamstrings his own off-ball utility. Last week, head coach Ty Lue said Westbrook would run point when the two play together.

Tyronn Lue said today that when Westbrook and Harden are on floor together, Westbrook will be point guard and ball handler in order to keep Westbrook's defender engaged. Harden will start out off ball in that set up

— Law Murray 🐦‍🔥 (@LawMurrayTheNU) November 5, 2023

How Was Harden Used Offensively?

That proved true Monday, though not as absolute as his words indicated. While Harden was deployed as a screener and catch-and-shoot threat for plenty of stretches, he saw his share of on-ball reps alongside Westbrook. However, most of his work came when the two were isolated and his touches per game dipped from 93.5 last season (third league-wide) to 54 (88th).

The Clippers elected to have Harden anchor their bench-heavy lineups, where he attempted six of his nine shots and notched 15 of his 17 points. Only two of his points occurred when Westbrook was on the court, and he didn’t score at all in the 18 minutes the starting quintet of Harden-Westbrook-George-Leonard-Ivica Zubac recorded, taking just two field goals.

His shot diet was what we’ve come to know lately: strength-based creation in the midrange to compensate for his declining burst and the occasional dazzling pull-up triple. He was 4-of-5 from midrange and 2-of-4 beyond the arc. Zubac’s lack of diverse rolling is probably going to be quite the hindrance to Harden’s rim pressure and finishing. He tallied eight drives (13.5 per game last year) and zero shots at the rim.

Despite a significant decrease in volume of touches, his recipe during those moments were typical Harden, averaging 4.85 seconds per touch (17th) after averaging 5.50 seconds (10th) in 2022-23, according to NBA.com. That’s a noticeable, yet substantially smaller, drop than the total number of touches. He was still Harden, merely in a reduced dose.

As is customary Harden, he amplified his ball-screen buddies with slick pocket passes. Among the legitimate starting centers he’s played with the past handful of seasons like Joel Embiid and Clint Capela, Zubac is the least adept as a play-finisher. But Harden will nonetheless ease Zubac’s job, particularly as Los Angeles nails down the weakside spacing during pick-and-rolls.

How Can The Clippers Maximize Harden And The Entire Offense?

The entirety of the Clippers’ guard quartet — Harden, Westbrook, Norman Powell, Bones Hyland — present varying defensive hang-ups. Given the spacing benefits the latter two offer as spot-up options next to Harden’s pick-and-roll-centric-style, it makes most sense to tie their minutes together and let Westbrook be a drive-and-kick menace for Leonard and George.

But Los Angeles seems married to starting both Harden and Westbrook. They will not be separated all the time. Westbrook’s played pretty dang good basketball since joining the Clippers and he’s started every single game over that period. Finding ways to let the superior initiator, Harden, commandeer the offense without entirely marginalizing Westbrook will be critical.

As time goes on, I expect his touches to increase and Westbrook’s to decrease. He’s too good as an engine and too flaky off the ball for bystander duties. And as well as Westbrook’s performed, the sustainability of his scoring feels tenuous. According to Cleaning The Glass, he’s shooting 48.7 percent from midrange and 36.2 percent from deep as a Clipper after converting 37.1 percent and 30.1 percent of those looks the prior three seasons. If the shooting surge subsides, his creation becomes less appealing, especially in contrast to Harden.

The standard wrinkles to counteract poor shooting gravity will be paramount: cutting, diverse positioning, decoy movement, weakside flare screens and pin-in screens. There wasn’t a ton of that Monday, but we did snag a glimpse of how the offense could run smoothly with Harden piloting things and Westbrook off the ball.

Moving forward, if the opposing center is too daunting, Westbrook can also string that out, prompt the switch and force a mismatch inside for Zubac, who holsters a steady hook shot down low. There are choices here. They won’t be available every time. But they will arise. And they must if the Clippers’ preferred starting five is to pan out in a championship-caliber manner — because part of that likely hinges on Harden being their point guard, not Westbrook.

Sometimes, teams will let gifted passers who are shaky scorers be a conduit for their offensive hubs. Scheme the stars into their spots and let ancillary guys feed them the rock. Make defenses account for the limited scorers. Los Angeles intermittently used Harden like this, understanding if the initial action spirals, he’s a viable Plan B for creation unlike many players in that position.

Utilizing Zubac and Westbrook as screeners to mitigate their spacing deficiencies while highlighting the respect Harden commands is simple, shrewd diagramming. If this lineup is the vision, the playbook has to be versatile, savvy and pointed.

There were stretches Monday of Harden’s imprint and how everyone may thrive with him in town: Elbow facilitating, screen-setting, slippery pick-and-roll passing, dynamic pull-up scoring. The outline reared its head.

Too often, though, the Clippers were stagnant and slow to arrange their sets. They schemed Leonard and George toward their rhythm spots, only for cramped spacing and a short shot clock to derail them. They were discombobulated covering the Knicks in transition. The off-ball defense from a handful of culprits — namely Harden, Westbrook and Powell — was shoddy.

This is a talented team. It’s not difficult to spot how they could actualize their title hopes. What is difficult is seeing how they will actualize their title hopes. Spotting is a blip. Seeing is consistent.

Harden gives Los Angeles another level to reach. His debut illuminated shades of that next level. Now, comes the responsibility of precise execution to maximize him and his fellow stars. Even as new opportunities and challenges arise for the Clippers, that overarching theme continues to be their most fleeting quality and paramount task.