James Harden and Doc Rivers were called into question by Stephen A. Smith and Jalen Rose after the 76ers playoff exit. 1:45. In early March, Morey sat on-stage inside Boston's Hynes Convention Center for the start of the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, wearing a blue blazer over a red shirt with a cartoon of James Harden's face on it. Morey, the Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations who co-founded the stats symposium nearly 20 years ago, said the theme of the conference is Seize The Data. I was lucky enough to have my basketball Jesus back. He has come to be defined by two things on the court: helping popularize the use of analytics across the NBA, and his eight-year partnership with Harden and the Houston Rockets. A month earlier, Morey had completed his year-long odyssey to return to his former teammate, a journey that included a picture from the tarmac next to a private jet. The caption has a single trophy in it. The whole reason that everyone on the team is really here is because of the mission that has been given to us, Morey said at Harden's introductory news conference a few days later. Doc Rivers wants to win a title. It is unfinished business for all of us. If we were going to do a trade, it had to be for a player we thought could allow us to compete at a high level. The way this league works, you have to get players of the caliber of James Harden to pair with a Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris. You cannot win without it. Morey assumed that Harden was still the level of player that finished first or second in the Most Valuable Player voting four out of five times during their time together in Houston. It has become clear that the Harden version is gone. He didn't show up for the biggest game of Philadelphia's season. Harden was not a factor in the Eastern Conference semifinal against the Miami Heat. He had 11 points, 9 assists and 4 turnovers. Harden and his teammates were booed by the sellout crowd at Wells Fargo Center when he gave the ball away in the fourth quarter. The 76ers were eliminated from the second round of the playoffs with a 99-90 loss to Miami. The franchise is going into another off-season full of uncertainty with a big question. Is there a future for Harden and the 76ers? The Western Conference executive said that the bed was theirs. It should make sense. Harden has been an elite NBA offense for the past decade. Harden recorded more isolation plays than any other player through the first two seasons of Second Spectrum's tracking data. He averaged 1.10 points on those plays. He made more step-back 3-pointers than any other player. The plan was to put Harden with Embiid, arguably the league's most dominant physical force, another of its elite foul-drawers and a finalist for the NBA's Most Valuable Player award for a second straight season. The returns were good early on. In his first four games as a 76er, Harden had at least 25 points on at least 50% shooting. The big man offered up a simple review after the duo defeated the Knicks in their second game together. "Unstoppable" is what he said with a smile. The early performances were outliers. Harden hit those benchmark four times in his final 29 games of the season, and only had one game, against Milwaukee, where he hit them both on the same night. Harden was able to get to the basket at will and turn his stepback jumper into one of the most unguardable shots in NBA history because of his burst, a combination that allowed him to both get to the basket at will. Over the past two seasons, the burst has been zapped by recurring injuries. Harden blew by his defender on 44.1% of his drives. Last season the percentage was 30.3% and this season it was 29.1%. Harden's offensive efficiency has taken a dive. His field goal percentage dropped for the first time since his freshman year. Only two of the 71 players who attempted at least 300 layups and dunks this season shot less than 50%. The issues came up during the playoffs. Harden had a series of pedestrian performances against two long, athletic defenses, the Toronto Raptors in the first round and the Miami Heat in the conference semifinals. Harden shot 44.2% in the paint in the playoffs, his lowest number in any playoffs in which he has played multiple rounds. He made 32 field goals and committed 29 turnovers against Miami, and his 0.88 points per chance on drives against the Heat was his lowest number since 2014, according to Second Spectrum. Harden scored over 30 points once in the playoffs, in Philadelphia's Game 4 home victory over Miami, but struggled to finish inside. His 40.4% shooting overall and 43.8% on 2-point shots were his lowest marks in the playoffs in eight years. He had the highest turnover rate of his career, but his usage rate was much lower than in any of his previous Houston seasons. Thursday, May 12
Heat at 76ers, Game 6 (7 p.m.)
Suns at Mavs, Game 6 (9:30 p.m.)
Friday, May 13
Celtics at Bucks, Game 6
Grizzlies at Warriors, Game 6*
All times Eastern if necessary.
As the playoffs went on, Doc Rivers and his teammates tried to change their expectations. Harden is the only pure point guard on the roster.
Harden has talked about his game changing from being a one-man show to more of a facilitating role.
Harden said after Game 3 that he has always been the one trying to get guys in the right positions.
Harden has been a driving force when Philadelphia has played well. The 76ers offense averages 114.7 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court, which would place them in the top five in the league.
Philadelphia's offensive rating plummets to 101.5 when he goes to the bench, which would be the NBA's lowest.
In the first and second games against Miami, the 76ers were without Embiid, but they were still winnable. Harden was 3-for-12 from the 3-point range.
76ers coach Doc Rivers said after the game that it was not about James. We have to play better as a team.
The reason for trading for Harden was to have that.
Harden's potential free agency will be complicated for all sides.
Morey and the 76ers were expecting their season to end in a different place than it did last year. It delivered the same result with different problems along the way.
In the closing moments of the Eastern Conference semifinals last year, Philadelphia's All-Star point guard passed up an open dunk and the team was eliminated.
Philadelphia lost in Game 6 on its home court to a Miami team missing Kyle Lowry for the fourth time in six games of the series.
There are some circumstances that are not ideal. The loss is about Harden. Morey admitted that he was the final piece to the puzzle, the move that had to work.
Morey said in a radio interview two weeks before acquiring Harden that they would pair him with Simmons and another impact player to give themselves a chance to win.
If we just do a marginal trade that is mostly sideways, we will all feel better that there are names playing on the court, that will hurt the 76ers, that will hurt our whole roster in the long run.
Philadelphia is at risk of getting hurt again this summer.
Why? Harden has an uncertain contract situation.
Harden was expected to opt-in to the final year of his contract, giving Philadelphia a level of protection, when the Harden-Simmons swap was completed. Harden gave some circumspect answers when asked why.
Harden said that everything happened so fast that he just wanted to focus on the end game.
Harden expected to get a new max contract this summer. In recent years, veteran point guards like Chris Paul and Mike Conley have extended for somewhere between $25 and $30 million a season, far below the $47 million option year of Harden, and well below the $270 million he could command over five years if he turns down that option.
Harden is seen by executives as more of a steadying presence than a player worthy of max money.
Harden said after Game 6 that he would be here.
There are only a few teams with cap space this summer and Harden could try to find that money elsewhere. The idea of paying Harden a full max contract should give the 76ers pause.
Would he go along with less? The answer to giving him a max deal would be no, according to an Eastern Conference scout.
Compete for $40,000 in the NBA playoffs. Pick your favorites.
Harden has had his share of failures in the playoffs. In the Western Conference semifinals, he went 2-for-11 as the Houston Rockets were routed by the San Antonio Spurs. Harden and the rest of the Houston team missed 27 straight 3-pointers in the West finals against the Golden State Warriors, then went on to lose.
He clashed with several of his teammates, from Chris Paul to Kevin Durant.
His arrival in Philadelphia was a chance to change the narrative. Being able to have Harden on the court was enough to earn him a lot of goodwill in the city.
This franchise had another failed playoff run, one that ended with Harden disappearing in an elimination game. In the second half of the game, Harden took and missed two shots, but still finished with nine.
Harden said after the game that they ran their offense.
The clock ran out on the 76ers' season and Rivers called a timeout to pull his starters with 68 seconds remaining, as fans still scattered around the bowl of the arena offered a final round of boos.
Harden said at his introductory press conference that he was in a place where he could be the best James Harden.
The problem for both Harden and the 76ers is that his best is not what it used to be. Three months after they were brought together, the future for both sides couldn't be simpler.
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