James Harden was always going to make the Cleveland Cavaliers better right now. Even at 36 years old, he's a dynamic offensive force who drastically raises the ceiling of whatever team he currently isn't mad at. Right now, that's the Cavs, and Harden posted 23 points and 8 assists in his debut.
This is never the problem with Harden, and Sixers fans know that as well as anyone. In his two seasons with the Sixers, Harden was a near-All Star level player during the regular season, then dominated, like, one playoff game every two weeks while turning into a pumpkin every game between them.
In other words, the Cavaliers should be excited about what Harden will provide for the next three months — and still hesitant to fully buy in on the Harden era before they see him in the postseason.
When the Sixers acquired Harden, they were in a similar situation the Cavs are in now. It felt like he was the final piece, the guy who would finally push the Sixers past the second round of the playoffs in the East.
Sound familiar? (It's exactly what happened with the Sixers, if not).
The biggest challenge is yet to come for Harden
Harden is such an odd player because, on the surface, the Cavs would probably choose him over Garland any day of the week (they did, I suppose). But when the postseason gets rolling, Harden often becomes more of a detriment to his team than a hero.
It's bizarre — it's not as though Harden just plays worse, it's like he turns into a different player entirely. Everything that makes him special is absent when the stakes are highest, and his regular-season success feels pointless because of how rough he often looks in the playoffs.
There's a real chance the Sixers and Cavs meet up in the playoffs in a few months. If that happens, Sixers fans will hope they see the same Harden they did when he was a member of the Sixers. If these teams meet in the postseason, there will be an incredibly ironic outcome no matter who wins. Either the Sixers finally break through against a guy who they thought was going to help them do that, or Harden finally breaks through against one of the 18 teams he forced himself off of.
In the meantime, things are going well in Cleveland. But we've seen this movie before. It's a horror.