If you didn’t know who James Harden was by now, you simply weren’t paying attention

Aug 15, 2023

Celtics' Jayson Tatum (0) celebrates three of his 51 points while 76ers' James Harden (1) walks away during Boston's 112-88 demolition of Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon, eliminating the Sixers from the 2023 NBA playoffs.Getty Images/Adam Glanzman

Of all the old chestnut phrases, I’ve found one to be true almost without fail:

"When people show you who they are, believe them."

We want to think that people can change their intrinsic DNA, that they can reroute their neuropathways, train themselves into thinking and then acting differently. And sometimes they can.

But usually, tigers do not change their stripes. That goes double for professional athletes. Quadruple for pro basketball players. Once they’ve enjoyed success with one method, they tend to rely on it.

It's also true with patterns of failure. Once a player has shown his mental and emotional liabilities, not only is he a prisoner to them, but by his second or third year in the NBA, opponents have drilled into that cavity and have found it to be fertile ground for inflicting torment.

That's why, by the time he was 24 or so, it was apparent Russell Westbrook would never play well enough with teammates to win anything. By the same age, anyone with eyes could see Ben Simmons wanted no part of the ball late in a game that was on the line. And I will say right now, also at 24, Luka Doncic is never going to play for an NBA titlist. He needs the ball constantly, he's doughy of physique and doesn't take care of his body terribly well. While an enjoyable solo artist, I don't believe he will ever be a part of a championship group.

It took a little longer for me to figure out James Harden. He was, after all, purveyor of the most lethal one-on-one scoring arsenal in the game for a time in his mid-twenties. The combination of his ballhandling savvy and a very good 3-ball got him league MVP.

But by his late twenties, there was a substantial sample of playoff results that indicated Harden was simply not a clutch player when it mattered. In the NBA, May is not January, especially when the tournament slots distill to 8 or 4 and the opponents consist of stone-cold killers who crave the big moment.

Whenever the going got tough, Harden got lost. He was like an expensive "off-road vehicle" that got stuck in third gear going uphill. It happened in Oklahoma City. It happened in Houston. Because of injury, he was mostly spared further exposure in Brooklyn. But the die was cast.

Anyone who believed 15 months ago that Daryl Morey had pulled off some sort of coup by unloading Simmons, plus Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round draft choices for this chronic clutch-time no-show was either a dewy fanboy or simply choosing to ignore Harden's track record. I tried to warn you all then.

When people show you who they are, believe them.

Ahh, but the title predictions ran rampant. The talk show hosts and 6 out of 7 Sixers fans polled believed this was the trade that would push the team over the top within Joel Embiid's championship window.

It did nothing of the sort. It only further depleted the team's stockpile of assets so now they basically have 2023 NBA MVP Embiid, prodigious young guard Tyrese Maxey and a bunch of guys running around. They have no way to get a lot better in the near future.

Worse, Harden now has an option to either stay or clear out his locker and take another offer. Do you think his agent will be fielding throngs of queries after yet another gag job – 9 points and 5 turnovers in 41 minutes of a 112-88 Game 7 loss in Boston? It's his decision, not the club's. At a decaying 34, he can settle into his cushy role as ersatz facilitator and scorer when it really doesn't matter for another season – and earn $33 million doing it.

In the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Celtics, Harden did what he's always done, tantalize with a couple of splashy performances – 45 points in Game 1, 42 points in Game 4, as the 76ers built a 3-2 series lead – then, run and hide in consecutive clinching opportunities. In Games 6 and 7, he went a combined 7-of-27 from the floor with his usual bare-minimum defensive effort, especially in help situations as the Sixers wasted a chance to advance in an NBA without a great team.

Dressed in Celtic green was Harden's antithesis. Jayson Tatum had three dreadful games in this series and seemed lost after three quarters of Game 6 with the Wells Fargo Center crowd baying. Then, he pulled himself together when it mattered most and made the winning plays in Boston's season-saving comeback. And on Sunday, he was fire for 48 minutes, setting an NBA Game 7 record with 51 points.

Meanwhile, Harden was AWOL, strolling the ball up the floor in his typical too-cool style, then flipping it to Embiid as if to say: Here, you handle this. Or managing to turn the corner on a drive only to turn down one 8-to-12-footer after another and instead flick to the wing so somebody could miss a three.

Many Sixers fans are blaming Embiid and coach Doc Rivers today and I guess that's understandable. But without a competent maestro to organize the offense and get the offense in flow, Embiid was effectively going at it alone out there. And the Celtics’ Al Horford was again his defensive nemesis.

Further, Harden's mere presence in the driver's seat inhibited the young Maxey who has shown himself to be what his elder backcourt mate is not – a winner. Had Rivers told Harden to grab some pine and allowed Maxey to run the offense early in the 3rd quarter when the wheels were falling off, the result might have been different.

Afterward, Harden was asked whether he’ll opt in on the final year with the 76ers or enter free agency. His response: "I haven't even thought about it. ... I just want to have a chance to, obviously, compete. Yeah, compete."

Some deserving NBA players, bearing the misfortune of being drafted into squalor, must endure year upon year with noncompetitive teams. Examine what DéAaron Fox went through his first five seasons in Sacramento until finally getting some help and emerging this season.

Conversely, Harden has been given nothing but opportunities to compete, with some of the game's most gifted players – Westbrook, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Embiid – and has squandered every chance. Compete? He doesn't know the meaning of the word.

Harden was ostensibly brought to Philadelphia to make shots in playoff elimination games, not to lead the league in assists during the meaningless regular season. He wanted no part of clutch time. As has been his record his entire pro career.

Why do people keep believing James Harden is someone he's not? I don't know why. But the Sixers’ best hope is that some sucker GM with a franchise more desperate than this one somehow believes his star power and lazy-eyed gaze and his beard is worth a free-agent acquisition. Simply selling tickets in January is worth it to some organizations.

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