Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden is the best pick-and-roll player of this generation. He’s developed seemingly instant chemistry with his various pick-and-roll partners throughout his career.
The key to Harden’s success is two-fold. First, he’s incredibly skilled. Harden can make every pass on the court, creates space with his lateral quickness, has excellent touch, and has the strength to initiate and finish through contact. Additionally, he processes the game at an incredibly high level.
That second part is what head coach Kenny Atkinson believes makes him such a good pick-and-roll player.
“The number one thing I’m usually frustrated with coming out of watching game film is decision making,” Atkinson said. “Even the really, really good players, you get frustrated. ‘Man, there’s three choices here, why did you pick the wrong one?’ I’m not sure I’ve had one of those with James yet.”
Despite how well Harden sees the game, there can still be an adjustment period when you’re working with a new pick-and-roll partner.
Jason Kidd, one of the premier point guards of his generation and now head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, said that it would take him up to half a season before he really felt comfortable with playing alongside a new big. “You have to be able to understand and be truthful to your teammates about what their abilities are if you want to have success,” Kidd said.
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Harden is working through that process with Evan Mobley. The duo has been watching film together, trying to figure out how to best make their pick-and-roll game work. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but Tuesday’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks showed that the Cavs can have success with that duo.
It’s important to acknowledge Mobley’s strengths and weaknesses. He’s not a physical screen setter. That isn’t a part of his game and won’t be unless he puts on considerably more muscle.
Mobley’s athleticism is what made him an All-NBA player last season. He has a quick first step and solid ball skills for someone his size. This allows him to be effective as a cutter and attacking one-on-one in space.
That profile has lent itself to him being more comfortable slipping screens (going up and setting a screen like normal, but moving before initiating complete contact) instead of making firm contact. You can still run an effective pick-and-roll with someone who more often slips screens; the process of doing so is just different.
“It’s just a feel, because you have to lead the defense more than anything,” Kidd said when asked what’s most important when playing with a big who likes to slip screens. “If I know that you’re going to slip, then I have to understand who’s guarding you and who’s guarding me to be able to get you the ball.”
Figuring out the correct way to get Mobley the ball in these actions has been an issue for Harden. Plays like the ones below show why.
Mobley needs to either set a hard screen or slip the screen more quickly for the action to work. In this clip, Harden is turning the corner with Mobley behind the play. Because there isn’t solid contact on the screen, the two defenders involved in the action are also on the same level as the ball, even though Mobley’s defender drops. This leaves the paint congested, and there’s no need for help defense to come.
The goal of a pick-and-roll is to create a brief advantage for the offense so that you’re effectively playing with an extra man for a split second because one of the defenders is taken out of a play. Setting a hard screen does that, but so does decisively slipping the screen instead of just floating.
This is a good example of that. Mobley gets downhill before his defender can react. The guard coming down isn’t able to take the pass away due to Mobley’s height advantage and the quality pass from Harden. By the time the opposing center comes to help, it’s too late.
Screens force defenses to make a decision. The Bucks decided to trap the ball handler when the Cavs set a screen. Mobley quickly getting away from that situation created an advantage on the backend.
Moving quickly and decisively is the key for Mobley. In this next clip, he makes more contact with Harden’s defender, but the advantage comes because he’s diving to the basket before the defense can react, not from any of the contact he made with the defender. And if Mobley gets a head of steam, he’s typically going to be able to finish well at the rim.
The goal of these actions is to create advantages for the offense. Mobley created that in this play below. By diving hard and then stopping at the free-throw line to keep a passing lane open, he caused the defense to collapse. This allowed Harden to find Dean Wade for a wide-open three.
It’d be premature to say that Harden and Mobley have figured things out because they both played well — scoring 27 each — in a win over a bad Bucks team that was without its two best defenders in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Myles Turner. However, from a process perspective, this is the most on the same page the duo has been.
Even though it’s looked clunky at times, it’s important to acknowledge that the Cavs have thrived when Harden and Mobley share the floor.
The Cavs have scored 124.2 points per 100 possessions (96th percentile for offensive rating) and have outscored their opponent by 10.3 points per 100 possessions (92nd percentile for net rating) in the 250 minutes both have been on the court.
Mobley isn’t the typical, physical big man who has thrived with Harden in the past. However, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t able to make it work. The duo just needs to be on the same page and understand what the other is trying to do on that end of the floor.
And fortunately for the Cavs, the partnership is heading in the right direction if Tuesday’s game is any indication of things.
“They’re really starting to get some nice synergy in the pick-and-roll,” Atkinson said.
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