Charge the playoffs! Coach Lu looks forward to lifting Harden s heavy losses in the new season

The Los Angeles Speedboats won 50 victories last season. The main reason why Leonard can achieve such a record is James Harden's outstanding performance.

Harden took over the team, averaging 22.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game. During Leonard's absence, the Clippers achieved a record of 24 wins and 21 losses. This may not sound like nothing, but it is of great significance to maintain a winning rate of more than 50% when the best player of a team is unable to play.

Of course, Harden is not alone; players such as Ivica Zubac and Norman Powell have also made great progress, helping him. This year, they will receive more support with John Collins, Bradley Bill and Brooke Lopez. This means Harden no longer has to bear such a heavy burden, and head coach Tyron Lue has already made plans for it.

Lu talked about the need for heavy use of Harden last season, and pointed out that this is a situation that the Clippers hope to reduce and avoid in the new season. He also admits that for players like Harden, sometimes high usage rates are inevitable. "He may still need to do that in some games, but I think in the last 25 games after Leonard's comeback last season, we ranked second in the league in offensive efficiency and first in defensive efficiency." Lu said.

"We are able to solve the scoring problem when everyone is healthy and everything is running smoothly. So we don't want Harden to play every night, repeating everything he did for us last season. " According to the data, Harden had a usage rate of 28.6% last season, ranking 10th out of all players who played at least 60 games. But among the top 10, only Harden and LeBron James are players aged 35 or older.

"We don't want that. Yes, we don't want that. I think it was a last resort to do it. In order to win and to remain competitive when Leonard was absent, he did too much for us. So we don't want James to work so hard all season. "

"There will definitely be some games that require him to stand up, but I think in the last 25 regular season games after Kawhi returned to the team, our offensive efficiency ranked second in the league and the defense was the top. When all the players are healthy and the system is running smoothly, we don't need to score points every night like last season. "

Coach Lu definitely wants to reduce Harden's usage rate, especially considering the configuration the team has this season. Compared to last season, the current lineup options are much richer, which is undoubtedly a good thing. This will give Harden more rest and accumulate strength for the goal of the Speedboat Championship.