{"id":1869786,"date":"2026-04-07T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1869786"},"modified":"2026-04-07T10:00:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:00:28","slug":"how-james-harden-has-made-the-cavaliers-a-better-team-on-and-off-the-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1869786","title":{"rendered":"How James Harden has made the Cavaliers a \u2018better team,\u2019 on and off the court"},"content":{"rendered":"
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James Harden made one request upon joining the Cleveland Cavaliers after the big trade in February.<\/p>\n

It was something off the court, a practice he\u2019d engaged in for most of his 17 storied NBA seasons, where tape ends up on the floor. The kind of thing a few of his new, younger Cavaliers teammates had never done before, while even some veterans had only dabbled in it here or there, but certainly not in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

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When Harden\u2019s new coach, Kenny Atkinson, heard Harden make the request, he scrunched his eyes and shook his head. \u201cI\u2019m like, eh, this isn\u2019t my thing,\u201d Atkinson recalled as his initial response.<\/p>\n

There are other teams in the NBA that would simply refuse to partake in such behavior. But Harden was coming from L.A., where this sort of thing was common.<\/p>\n

Harden, 36, with his famous, protruding beard and those dark, piercing eyes, was determined to use his star power to get his way, to bring with him a slice of comfort to a new city.<\/p>\n

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Harden asked the Cavs if they would mind\u2026staging walk-throughs in hotel ballrooms on game days with no shootarounds on the road.<\/p>\n

What? What did you think he was going to ask for, sickos?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just preparation, detail, you get ready for the game,\u201d Harden explained to The Athletic<\/em>. \u201cPhysically you get out and move around, and mentally you have to be prepared. It\u2019s just preparation man, especially going into this run that we are about to go into. I think the focus is making sure we know who we\u2019re playing against and individual guys and what they like to do with their tendencies. Just going to give us an advantage and hopefully we can play better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cavs acquired Harden from the LA Clippers<\/a> for Darius Garland in one of the biggest deadline deals of the season, won their first five games with him in uniform, and are 18-6 with him on the court. Cleveland\u2019s offense is the best in the NBA since he played his first game Feb. 7.<\/p>\n

Harden is one of the league\u2019s greatest playmakers, especially in isolation offense, which he has run with mastery for most of his career. But that\u2019s not really the Cavs\u2019 offense under Atkinson \u2014 they\u2019re more of a passing and cutting unit. Which is why, when Atkinson was asked over the last two weeks about acclimating Harden into the team, he marveled at how few changes they had to make to accommodate his game. The walkthrough thing was, Atkinson said, Harden\u2019s only request for change.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s completely adapted to our style of play, which is pretty, I would assume, rare,\u201d Atkinson said.<\/p>\n

Harden is an 11-time All-Star who was arguably snubbed from the NBA\u2019s exhibition classic this season after playing so well for the Clippers. He\u2019s never missed the playoffs, ever, a streak that was extended with the Cavs\u2019 win over Golden State last week that clinched them a spot in the tournament.<\/p>\n

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Stars wield power in professional sports, and that power can lead to some strange requests of their employers. Michael Jordan, No. 3 pick of the 1984 draft who turned out to be pretty good, insisted on a clause in his first contract with the Chicago Bulls that allowed him to play pick-up basketball<\/a>. It was called a \u201cLove of the Game\u201d clause. By comparison to some of the other crazy requests in pro sports history, Jordan\u2019s was tame.<\/p>\n

Former Major League pitcher Roy Oswalt negotiated a bulldozer<\/a> from the Houston Astros for winning playoff games. After his storied Major League career was finished, Manny Ramirez went to Japan and asked for (and received) unlimited free sushi<\/a>, a Mercedes and a driver, and language in his contract stating that, for him, practices were \u201coptional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Players can also make requests, but these are more like demands, to leave a team before their contracts are up, via trade. This happens from time to time in the NBA. What are some examples? Hmmm, let\u2019s see\u2026 oh, yes, Kawhi Leonard famously did this once, pushing his way out of San Antonio. Jimmy Butler has pulled it off a couple of times. Anthony Davis forced New Orleans to trade him to the Lakers, Kyrie Irving pushed the Cavs to trade him in the summer of 2017, and so on.<\/p>\n

In other sports, John Elway, a Hall-of-Fame quarterback, threatened to play baseball for the Yankees<\/a> instead of joining the Baltimore Colts, who drafted him in 1983, and they ultimately traded him to Denver. Two decades later, in 2004, Eli Manning succeeded in getting San Diego to trade him immediately after drafting him No. 1.<\/p>\n

Again, what!? Harden would ne\u2026OK, fine, but his singular request of Cleveland was nothing like that.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cI was like, a little skeptical. I think film (is enough),\u201d Atkinson explained of Harden\u2019s ballroom request. \u201cAnd then we did it, and we went through it. So we\u2019re like communicating through it and talking through coverages and I\u2019m like, hey, this could be a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Most NBA teams at least occasionally hold something on the morning of their games called a \u201cshootaround.\u201d It\u2019s a partial practice, on the court, usually at the arena (for the road team), in which coaches go over the opponent\u2019s tendencies, game plans are discussed and players finish with shooting drills.<\/p>\n

But those shootarounds can be canceled for any number of reasons, including if the game is the second in consecutive nights, or if the team is in the middle of a tough stretch of travel or practiced the day before. In those situations for the Cavs, under Atkinson, they have used individual and team film sessions to prepare for that night\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

When Harden arrived via trade, a trade he requested from the Clippers, as he has done from time-to-time during his career, he was leaving behind a coach in Tyronn Lue who often uses ballroom walk-throughs instead of holding shootarounds on the road. (Irony: Lue did these walk-throughs when he coached the Cavs, a while back.)<\/p>\n

Low-level assistants use athletic tape to re-create on the ballroom floor the boundaries on a basketball court (like a regulation paint, 3-point line, etc.). Players schlep downstairs, wearing slippers or sandals, and walk through the game plan and what to expect from their opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball, they do it all the time,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cThere are definitely coaches in this league that do it. I\u2019ve been with teams that have done it, I have been with teams that haven\u2019t done it. I haven\u2019t done it personally, I\u2019ve done it in the playoffs. I think we\u2019ve done (three) with him, and it\u2019s like, man, I like this. Because they have to talk through their coverage, even if they\u2019re in their slippers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donovan Mitchell, the Cavs\u2019 resident superstar, said he used to do ballroom walkthroughs with the Utah Jazz under then-coach Quin Snyder. He called it a \u201cmore old-school\u201d approach, and said committing a game plan to muscle memory carries huge benefits for the game that night.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou don\u2019t gotta go full speed, and you can be in your socks for all we care,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cBeing able to be in certain positions in the morning so that way your brain remembers it at night, I think, that\u2019s something I\u2019ve done my whole career. And every coach is different, right, everybody\u2019s different. But I think (Harden) bringing that, I think is special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have other things \u201cchanged\u201d for the Cavs since Harden\u2019s arrival? Sure.<\/p>\n

Atkinson says all the time that Cleveland is a \u201cbetter team\u201d now. Harden wasn\u2019t the only trade acquisition (Dennis Schr\u00f6der and Keon Ellis also came to the Cavs<\/a> from Sacramento), but it\u2019s clear the Cavs view Harden\u2019s size, experience and \u201cIQ\u201d as upgrades.<\/p>\n

Mitchell said the Cavs\u2019 offense has changed, a little, to incorporate Harden\u2019s isolation dominance, but also said Harden has fit into their original schemes. He called playing alongside Harden \u201ccalming,\u201d and Utah coach Will Hardy said the combination of Harden and Mitchell on the floor together is \u201cnightmare fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not gonna completely flip, right?\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI think that\u2019s a testament to him. We\u2019ve also adjusted, and we knew that when we were gonna make the trade, we\u2019re going to have to adjust, for sure. And for him, you see how easy it is for him to make these plays, right? So (the change for the Cavs is) kind of being able to stay in our spots, not as much movement. And then when I\u2019m in the second unit, it\u2019s like, all right, we\u2019re going (to run).\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Harden said \u201cI\u2019m comfortable\u201d with the Cavs, as in, their schemes and with his new teammates. And, it appears, their practice habits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why you listen to your players, too,\u201d Atkinson said, circling back to the walk-throughs. \u201cAt first I was like eh, I wasn\u2019t a big fan. Let\u2019s talk in two months and see if I still like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just tape on a ballroom floor. Players in slippers.<\/p>\n

For James Harden, that\u2019s a pretty modest request.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Harden made one request upon joining the Cleveland Cavaliers after the big trade in February. It was something off the court, a practice he\u2019d engaged in for most of his 17 storied NBA seasons, where tape ends up on the floor. The kind of thing a few of his new, younger Cavaliers teammates had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1869786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1869786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1869786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1869786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1869786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1869786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1869786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}