Miami Heat: Pros and cons of trading for James Harden

Cons of trading for James Harden

Mileage & Age

Recently turned 31, Harden is no spring chicken, having just completed his 11th season in the league. In addition to logging over 28,000 regular season minutes, Harden has also played a further 4,522 playoff minutes, having featured in the postseason each year since being chosen No. 3 overall in 2009. In fact, since arriving in Houston for the 2012-13 season, Harden has led the league with 22,716 minutes, averaging an incredible 37.1 minutes per game.

Iso-ball/Playoff Performance

Undoubtedly the greatest criticism of Harden throughout his recent tenure as one of the absolute elite players in the league has been the manner in which he has controlled the Rockets. While his overall numbers have been jaw-dropping, it has yet to result in achieving the absolute ultimate, an NBA championship.

Considering his high volume of 3-point shooting, Harden’s poor returns in this department come the postseason have been a notable downfall. In 85 playoff games with the Rockets, Harden has converted at a 32.4 percent clip on 9.4 attempts per game from long range. And over the past four playoff campaigns, this has dropped to 31.5 percent on a whopping 10.6 attempts per game. With such a clear reliance on the long ball combined with a subpar return, Harden’s overall efficiency has come into serious question for these recent outputs in a playoff setting.

Off-court behavior

While Harden was always known to fancy the high life while still maintaining his overall elite standards on the court, his recent antics simply could not be overlooked. On the eve of the Rockets’ training camp for the upcoming season, Harden was off partying in Atlanta and Las Vegas. The below clip outlines his response when queried on the matter:

Given the Heat’s notoriously strict standards on discipline and preparation, it certainly gives the Heat front office some food for thought.

Conclusion

Granted, Harden has a number of red flags on his resume, whether it’s his overall style of play on the court, or his propensity to enjoy himself off the court.

However, the chance to land a generational offensive talent such as Harden simply does not happen every day of the week. Of course, the cost of doing business in this particular case can be gut wrenching when dealing with the possibility of parting ways with a selection of the Heat’s young core of Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Precious Achiuwa and KZ Okpala, not to mention the multiple future draft picks that would also be changing hands.

But if the Heat front office led by team president Pat Riley can land a talent such as Harden without giving up its two best players in Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, it’s an opportunity that has to be grabbed with both hands.

So while James Harden has proven to be a highly polarising player, the Miami Heat possess the history, the culture and the surroundings to make this the ideal landing spot.