James Harden’s side of the story isn’t the same as Joel Embiid’s.
That doesn’t mean the 10-time All-Star guard and reigning MVP center split acrimoniously. As Harden made quite clear, he requested a trade from Philadelphia and landed with the Los Angeles Clippers mainly because of his dispute with Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey.
But the way Harden described his on-court experience with the Sixers on Thursday doesn’t match Embiid’s recollections.
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Harden told reporters the following at his introductory Clippers press conference:
“Philly, it’s changing my role, knowing I can give more, knowing I can do more. But, if you want to be honest, like being on a leash. And me knowing, in order for us to get where we wanted to get to, I was going to have to be playing my best offensively, whether it’s facilitating and scoring the basketball — and Joel as well — and I never really had that opportunity.
“So I think all that plays into where I am today, where whatever (Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue) and the coaching staff needs me to do, I’ve been prepared and been in both situations, whether it’s me scoring 15, 16 points or me scoring 30. As long as we win the game and everybody’s feeling confident and good about themselves, that’s all that matters.”
He was asked to elaborate on the feeling of being “on a leash” with the Sixers.
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“I don’t mean just shooting the basketball every time,” he said. “I think the game and I’m a creator on the court. So if I’ve got a voice where I can say, ‘Hey, Coach, I see this, what do you think about this?’ … then it’s like, all right, OK. Someone that trusts me, that believes in me, that understands me.
“I’m not a system player, I am a system. You know what I mean? Someone that can have that dialogue with me and understand, and move forward, figure it out, make adjustments on the fly throughout the course of games, that’s all I really care about. It’s not about me scoring the basketball, scoring 34 points — I’ve done that already. That’s what I meant by that.”
Harden averaged 21.0 points and a league-best 10.7 assists last season, which was his one full year as a Sixer.
He then fluctuated between world-class and decidedly subpar in the Sixers’ seven-game playoff series loss to the Celtics. The 34-year-old scored 45 points in a thrilling, Embiid-less Game 1 win and 42 in an overtime Game 4 victory. Across the two Sixers losses between those performances, Harden went 5 for 28 from the floor. And he shot 7 for 27 over defeats in Games 6 and 7.
After the Sixers’ abysmal second half of Game 7 in Boston, Harden said his relationship with head coach Doc Rivers was “OK” and left it at that.
Embiid suggested the Rivers-Harden dynamic was a central aspect of Harden’s comments Thursday.
“I think he did a lot of great things for us,” Embiid said. “But the notion of misuse, maybe that might have been coming from the way he felt with the coaching staff and what was said. But in my opinion, I just feel like we allowed him to just be himself. We gave him the ball every single possession, because he’s really good. He’s an amazing player.
“Obviously, being that great of a passer, we gave him the ball. If you watch the games, we gave him the ball every single possession to just go out and do his thing. And from there, he had to make decisions as far as getting guys open or looking out for himself.
“But I thought he did a pretty good job of getting us into our offense and just passing the ball, getting guys open. … So I think maybe that might’ve been a discussion between Coach and him. But, from my point of view, I think we allowed him to have the ball every single possession.”
In terms of how Morey fared, Embiid declined to offer opinions on the Sixers' return for sending Harden and PJ Tucker to Los Angeles.
However, it certainly doesn’t sound like he minds having four new teammates in Robert Covington (who’s also an old teammate), Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris Sr. and KJ Martin.
“My job is to come in and basketball,” Embiid said. “I’m excited for the new guys, to get them rolling. We’ve got some good players. Obviously I played with Cov. Marcus, we’ve got some connections from Kansas and I’ve known him for a while. And then obviously KJ, I told him I’m just going to throw it up there and he’s got to go get it. And then Nic, we’ve been friends for a long time and had a connection.
“So I’m excited with the guys that we got. But as far as the return, my job is just to play basketball.”