Seven ways James Harden will help the Cavs this season

The Cleveland Cavaliers mortgaged part of their future for a better chance at winning a title now when they sent out a 26-year-old former All-Star in Darius Garland for 36-year-old James Harden. And even though Harden has his playoff warts, he’s an upgrade over Garland and will address multiple weaknesses with the roster.

Let’s take a look at how exactly he’ll help the Cavs.

Advertisement

Ability to drive to the basket

One of the Cavs’ biggest problems at the beginning of the season was a lack of drives. They didn’t have a guard who could consistently get to and score at the basket. This led to a lot of side-to-side actions and pull-up threes. As a result, Cleveland is 16th in attempts at the rim.

Harden’s presence will solve a lot of those issues.

He is ninth in the league in drives per game this season with 14.8 per game. Harden’s ability to get past his defender and either draw a shooting foul, get all the way to the basket, or find an open teammate is still elite regardless of his age.

Advertisement

Harden has the rare combination of strength, touch around the basket, and straight-line speed. This is coupled with an uncanny ability to stop and start on a whim to create angles for attack. The skills that have made him one of the best offensive combo guards of all time are still there.

View Link

Harden’s rim attempts have gone down as he’s aged. The in-between runner has become much more a part of his game than it was during his peak years with the Houston Rockets. Still, he’s in the 60th percentile in shots at the rim for a point guard and in the 71st percentile for finishing at the rim (66%).

Pick-and-roll master

The Cavs aren’t a heavy pick-and-roll team. That will undoubtedly change with Harden in the fold. And the Cavaliers have two good bigs that Harden can play off.

Advertisement

The pick-and-roll works so well for Harden because of his ability to read the floor and create advantages. If you try not to switch the pick-and-roll, Harden is good enough to keep his defender on his hip and get the easy layup.

View Link

If you don’t switch and have the big drop, Harden is going to take the open…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/seven-ways-james-harden-help-110000370.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-02-05 11:00:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.