By Joël Pütz | Sports journalist
By force of circumstances, James Harden became the new boss of the Clippers in 2024-25. And while the Californian franchise has surprised since the restart, former French international Fred Weis has been honest about the superstar.
Unfortunately for them, last night’s game was quite terrible as they suffered a 32-point beating against the reigning champion Celtics (126-94). However, there is reason to be pleasantly surprised by this start to the Clippers season. Not sure that many observers had announced them in the Top 6 of the Western Conference after almost 20 matches played (11 wins for eight losses).
With Kawhi Leonard still absent indefinitely and Paul George having set sail for Philadelphia, Tyronn Lue’s squad had to completely reinvent itself and this was done… by James Harden notably. Ironic since if the full-back had packed his bags in his native Los Angeles a little over a year ago, it was above all to no longer have to be the first offensive option within a team.
Fred Weis tackles the James Harden case without filter
This season, he averages more than 20 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists and thus allows the Voiliers to perform in the absence of Kawhi. If The Beard paradoxically suffers from an ugly shooting clumsiness (36% including 31% from distance), his defensive generosity is for once much less glaring… and allows LA to have the fourth defensive rating in the league. Fred Weis spoke about him on NBA extra :
Clearly, it’s not the best attack. So you have to do something and we are surprised, at first, to say that this team is going to defend so well. When you have a team with James Harden you say to yourself: “It’s all one or all the other”, and normally it’s all the other. But he too got in tune. In fact, this boy is a scam.
He’s a good defender, it’s just that sometimes he doesn’t put the ingredients in, he doesn’t want to. Except that he is intelligent, he sees the game, he understands the game, he has long arms (…) When he is in good shape he plays for the team, he plays defensively, he makes efforts and this team shares the ball. I agree, Tyronn Lue did an amazing job.
We know that Harden has the ability to be a good defender and he was more than honest in this area when he started in the NBA. But as he became a superstar, he gradually abandoned this aspect of the game… before returning to it this season, in order to meet the needs of the Clipp’s.
James Harden seems to be having a blast at the Clippers this season and that is translating into a more tangible investment on the court, including on defense. It remains to be seen how long his good mood will last, but the Clippers will be content with it.
