"James needs to be more selfish" - Tyronn Lue calls out James Harden for being "polite", outlines what he wants from him
Through his first handful of games with the LA Clippers, James Harden has not played at a level people are accustomed to seeing. Following their most recent loss, head coach Ty Lue urged the All-Star guard to be more selfish on the floor.
Given all the star talent on the Clippers now, growing pains were to be expected. James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are all figuring out how to co-exist with one another. That said, Lue recently went off on how Harden has been too "polite" when it comes to his play.
"I think James has to be more selfish," Lue told reporters. "Just running pick-and-rolls, making the plays, not deferring, Because we need his passion...What he brings to this team we need."
Through his first four games with the LA Clippers, James Harden is averaging 13.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists. These are his lowest averages since his second year in the NBA back in 2011.
The James Harden experiment is now going how the Clippers may have hoped
When the LA Clippers set their sights on James Harden, their goal was to overwhelm teams with star power. They already two star-level wings in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. Not to mention Russell Westbrook, who has seen a resurgence with the Clippers following a rough stint with the LA Lakers.
As one of the top facilitators in the NBA, Harden was supposed to fill the void at point guard the Clippers have long missed. They haven't had a playmaker of this caliber in the backcourt since the departure of Chris Paul. That said, this experiment is not off to a great start.
Since Harden has entered the mix, the Clippers have yet to win a game. Their most recent loss came to the Memphis Grizzlies, who had just one win on the year heading into the matchup. Harden also has the worst plus/minus on the Clippers through his first four games.
Ty Lue is urging Harden to be more selfish because they need a drastic increase in production from him. Especailly when it comes to his playmaking. Harden has averaged 10+ assists in each of the last three seasons, but isn't producing half as much now. Harden is still more than capable of running a high-level offense, and is a facilitator who could generate a lot of easy looks for George and Leonard.
Lue and the Clippers still have a lot of time to figure things out, but they need to come up with a solution fast before their season goes into complete disarray.