Thinking About James Harden Staying in Cleveland

The great Rocky Balboa once made this iconic quote after winning a championship. “If I can change … and you can change … Everybody can change.” It’s a line that many still use today, such as me in this article. If you don’t know who that is, ask your dad and watch that movie with him ASAP for some great bonding time.

Shifting towards the Cleveland Cavaliers and specifically James Harden, the rumors are now that the team is planning to keep him with a two-year, $60 million dollar contract instead of just letting him go in free agency.

Harden is currently 36 years old and has played 16 years in the NBA amongst six different teams, now with the Cavs.

We all witnessed it.

This past playoff run by the Cavs just showed how absolutely terrible Harden’s defense is and it’s a big reason why the team was unable to beat the New York Knicks, getting swept in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The optimist, like my brother Matthew, will say that he has an entire offseason to improve his defense starting next season and beyond. The true NBA fan, as a whole, like my other brother Benny, will cite how well he played in past years and can revert to that moving forward.

Me?

My biggest concern is his age. The man is getting closer to 40 and I don’t think he can change any of his ways on the basketball floor with the Cavs in the future. Thus, in another playoff run, what is going to happen?

Is Harden magically going to learn how to play elite defense with some of the best opponents there are in the league?

Would the Cavs be missing out on an available free agent that could help the team immensely?

Is Harden going to be able to help the Cavs get over the Eastern Conference Finals hump and actually make The Finals and potentially win a championship?

Frankly, I don’t believe so and that is the reason I am so against this idea of bringing him back to the team moving forward when that money could be spent on others, including a LeBron James.

We’ll see if the Cavs actually follow through on this or change their mind and make the right decision to build on a great season that simply fell short in the playoffs with a few new pieces that can actually play stellar defense against the best of the best.