James Harden caught fire earlier this month soon after the completion of his move to the Los Angeles Clippers. As the 2018 MVP claimed himself to be the ‘system’ of his offense, several raised their eyebrows to express doubts. Following the disagreements, JJ Redick backed the point guard for his remarks and even defended him on several matters in the latest episode of The Old Man and the Three podcast.
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“When I saw the comment, I was like, ‘He’s right and I would probably say that about a number of players,'” he stated. JJ added context by comparing Harden with a few other talismanic figures, mentioning, “Jokic is a system, Steph Curry is a system”. “You are the second or third guy of the offensive option on your team and you get to run with the second unit at the start of the second quarter. Guess what? You’re the system for those six minutes,” he revealed.
Thus, the 39-year-old could not wrap his head around the criticism of James because of his comments. “The reaction to it, to me, was just out of pocket. Like it was just out of this anti-James Harden hatred,” Redick highlighted. The Beard’s initial bad form only worsened the situation, indirectly justifying the hatred, as the 34-year-old struggled on the Clippers.
Yet, the sports analyst defended the 10x All-Star for displaying self-belief early into the season. Later, he even discussed how the 6’5 star was right to request a trade on his previous three occasions. “If you look at each of the departures, for him asking out, there was a valid reason,” JJ mentioned.
As a reason behind Harden’s exit from the Houston Rockets, Redick stated, “The Rockets were not going to win. He recognized that. He wanted to get to a place where he could win”. As for the departure from the Brooklyn Nets, he highlighted, “Brooklyn, seemed from the outside, to be a little toxic”. He also shed light on the Philadelphia 76ers scenario, saying, “This disagreement he had with (Daryl) Morey, it seemed to be a really divisive point that neither side was gonna recover from”.
“This happens in pro-sport. It happened to happen to James Harden in three straight stops. I’m not justifying it but they are legitimate reasons that we see in sports all the time,” the former NBA star continued. So, James might well have sensible reasons to eventually land in the City of Angels.
The rocky start of James Harden’s new journey
Since acquiring Harden, the LA side failed to win their next six back-to-back matches. The franchise eventually recovered from that with a 4-1 run in the last five matches. Still, the roster looked far from its best in the opening month of the regular season.
James has struggled to adjust to his new team without a proper pre-season with his teammates. Despite a game-winner against the Rockets, he has averaged only 14.4-4.9-6.4 in this campaign. It added to the frustration of the fans as the organization’s chemistry was affected. Russell Westbrook had been dropped to the bench to fit Harden into the starting five. Their superstars, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, had to take up more defensive responsibilities to bring balance to the playing style.
All in all, there is now immense pressure on James’ shoulders to make it work. After representing three franchises in the last two years, it’s the start of the make-or-break era of 3x scoring champion.
