“Lord, I was born a ramblin’ man, tryin’ to make a livin’ and doin’ the best I can.
And when it’s time for leavin’, I hope you’ll understand, That I was born a ramblin’ man.”
-Allman Brothers, Ramblin’ Man, 1973
Upon hearing that James Harden was traded to Cleveland straight up for Darius Garland, I turned to some friends and asked them how many teams he’d been on, for it sure seemed like a lot.
Coming up with the answer was easier than we’d thought. Starting off his career in Oklahoma City on one of the all-time great “What would have happened had they stayed together” questions, the franchise that began in Seattle featured both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook alongside Harden. Unable to pay all three bound-to-be superstars, Harden moved to Houston where he shined, not only winning a league MVP but finishing top ten in MVP voting all nine years he played there. Unfortunately for him, his time there was remembered more for what his team didn’t do, and their dud of a third quarter against the Warriors, shooting 0-14 from behind the arc, an eventual loss and a late-game reputation that sticks with him to this day. This is the NBA where the star bears the burden.
After that, it was off to Brooklyn and another one of the great, albeit disappointing, what ifs in modern basketball history. Most assuredly, a team featuring three of the most talented basketball players we’d ever seen would contend for a title, which they would have had Kevin Durant’s toe not been on the line when he made that two-not-three-pointer against Milwaukee. Health and bad luck sunk the Nets’ chances and ultimately the team disbanded entirely, an experimental stint short-lived.
After that, there were two relatively forgettable seasons in Philadelphia and then Los Angeles where Harden would team up with the oft-injured, load-managing Kawhi Leonard. Yet again, a team featuring Harden would fall short of expectations. Two first round exits including a hard-fought, seven-game series loss to the Nuggets left Harden wanting again and the rest of us wondering.
Alas, Harden and Kawhi couldn’t co-exist, even with this year’s Clippers fighting for a playoff spot. At the trade deadline, Harden rambled again, this time to Cleveland, a currently underachieving team desperate to make a mark this post-season and prove they can compete and contend for a title without LeBron James.
And so, Harden suits up for this sixth team in seventeen seasons, still somehow putting up numbers. At 36, he’s scoring at or above his career average (25.4 vs. 24.1 ppg), assisting better (8.1 apg vs 7.3) and just off his rebounding mark (4.8 rpg vs. 5.6). The albatross around his neck remains his field goal percentage, which has never been his strong suit. 42% from the floor for a guy that takes as many shots as him might ultimately be Cleveland’s bane.
As with any player on any team, Cleveland’s success will depend on how their stars coexist, particularly with a player like Harden who can be so ball dominant, now on a roster with a player who is equally so. Harden joins Donovan Mitchell (“I thought you said you were alright, Spider”) making two high-profile scorers who have routinely come up short for an NBA title.
The question for these two players, in a wide-open eastern conference is… how bad they want it, and can they shed their reputation of being unable to win the big one? There’s no denying these two can score at will when they want to. The question remains will they be able to in crunch time, potentially in an Eastern Conference Finals against a team like the Knicks with a slew of New Yorkers shouting profanities from the Garden rafters in a crunch time Game Seven? There is no higher stage.
Harden still has plenty of effective, perhaps not efficient basketball left in him. I understand that scoring is up compared to previous eras, but Harden is now a top eleven career NBA scorer and is sniffing Moses Malone for that ten spot. He is undoubtedly a Hall of Famer just like so many other title-less legends unable to get over the hump and willing to trade that Hall pass for a ring.
With Harden though, fair or not, the question about his desire and his priorities has accompanied him at every stop. This new stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers now gives him a final chance to exorcise some of those Don’t Care demons by playing alongside Mitchell and proving his career wasn’t just all about the numbers.
The problem is, like the boy who cried wolf, we’ve seen this act before, in Houston and Brooklyn, in L.A. and elsewhere. We’re once again wondering whether we should fall for the banana in the tailpipe.
Harden’s clock is ticking. An NBA title, or at this point even another Finals appearance, would do wonders for how he is perceived. The question remains how badly he wants it and whether that even matters to him at all.
I cannot count how many times that the word “Harden” can be replaced with the names “Andrei Vasilevsly” or “Nikita Kucherov.” This can be a fitting article about the craziest NHL-hockey-playoff-race in this century.