Clippers' James Harden ready to dominate the basketball again

On the Clippers media day, Harden compared himself to Luka Doncic, who took the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals last season, his fifth straight season as first-team All-NBA guard. They do have similarities as big guards who pass the ball and love taking step-back threes, but there's some big differences between the two. Namely, Doncic is 10 years younger, two inches taller and shoots far better from two-point range.

Harden suggested that the Clippers will thrive with him dominating the ball more than he did last season, when he had the lowest usage rate of his career since his second season in the league. Both George and Kawhi Leonard had the ball in their hands more than Harden last season, but that approach resulted in the NBA's fourth-best offense by offensive rating.

Now, Harden thinks the team will thrive by putting its offense in the hands of a 35-year-old guard whose game increasingly relies on three-pointers (nearly 60% of his shot attempts were behind the arc last season) and rarely driving to the hoop (14.4% of his attempts were within three feet of the hoop, a career low).

There's evidence that Harden's athleticism has greatly diminished. Since he forced a trade from the Brooklyn Nets, he has dunked just three times in 151 games. Harden may be willing to take over the offense, but can his body still handle that workload?

Comparing himself to Doncic ignores a huge factor in the Mavericks' recent success: Kyrie Irving. The Mavericks adjusted their offense to no longer revolve so heavily around Doncic by adding a second ball-handler and scorer in Irving, which is the opposite of what Harden is suggesting the Clippers are doing.

Harden should know, since he played with Irving in Brooklyn. Reportedly his disenchantment with Irving was a big factor in Harden engineering an exit from the Nets. While Irving clearly deferred to Doncic in Dallas, he also did that in Brooklyn for Harden. 

Harden's teams haven't made it past the second round of the playoffs in six years and the Clippers are opening a new arena this year, the Intuit Dome. As futuristic as the building may be, if Harden's assertions are correct, their offense will be decidedly retro.