Don MacLean is Wrong, James Harden is Not Ruining the Game of Basketball
By Liam McKeone
Another day, another former NBA player disparaging James Harden, MVP candidate and the central villain of the new NBA. Don MacLean, Los Angeles Clippers announcer and former Detroit Pistons forward, said on Wednesday that what James Harden is doing isn’t basketball, and that he’s “manipulating” the game, implying that Harden is ruining basketball.
Listen, I’m all for biased home announcers (paging Tommy Heinsohn) but this is tough to hear from MacLean, a guy who played in the late 90s and early 2000s, a.k.a. when isolation basketball was the centerpiece of every offense with zero exceptions. What Harden is doing seems extreme in today’s age of movement basketball, but he would’ve been right at home as MacLean’s teammate. Also, “I don’t have a single thought beyond this” should sum up the strength of MacLean’s argument, but let’s continue.
Is Harden manipulating the rules of the game to rack up his free throw count? Absolutely. Can’t disagree with MacLean there, and it can be frustrating to watch when it happens against your team. But Harden does so much more, and at such a high level, that it’s ridiculous to claim what he’s doing isn’t basketball. The weaponization of the stepback three over the course of the season has been something special to watch; no one has ever, EVER utilized that move with the kind of efficiency Harden has. He’s still one of the better passers in the game, and his footwork once he gets to the paint is textbook enough that high schoolers should be taking notes.
The argument can even be made that what Harden is doing is the purest form of basketball that exists. The ability to beat anyone in a one-on-one situation, break down the defense, and either make the right pass or score is how basketball, at its core, works. Yes, the free throw count can be ridiculous at times, but it’s part of the game. That’s really what it comes down to; watching Harden dribble more times in a possession than Klay Thompson does in a season and have it end with a tacky foul and two free throws might not be pretty, but it’s how basketball works today.
If everyone could have the level of ball movement and efficiency the Warriors put on, they would’ve done it already, and there wouldn’t be a parity issue. But no one is the Warriors, and there is no one like James Harden. We should appreciate that while we can.