Some people are saying he’s washed, I don’t think that’s the case at all, he just is what he is at this point. Mediocre on-ball defender, awful off-ball defender, great when given the keys to run the offense. I honestly don’t think anyone had to go to the bench, it’s not like Russ and Harden are gonna play 24 minutes each, so they’ll have to play with each other anyway. Harden’s style of play raises the floor for the second unit. Imo they should’ve just started all 4 and then stagger them in a way that Harden gets basically all the minutes with the bench. Regardless, I think he’s getting unnecessary hate, he’s still a pretty good offensive player.
We didn’t need offense, we needed and still need defense and rebounding.
Harden forcing Russ to the bench is the death knell for this team.