Cavaliers Have New Dynamic Duo After James Harden Trade

There were certainly some understandable concerns about how James Harden would fit with the Cleveland Cavaliers after the team traded for the star guard ahead of the deadline. 

However, one area where there were never any questions about was how Harden would work with Cleveland’s two big men. 

A new dynamic duo is emerging in Cleveland, and that’s the pairing between Harden and James Allen. 

The early returns from the Allen and Harden partnership should have everyone in Cleveland excited, and everyone outside of the city nervous about what the duo will look like when they have more time to get on the same page and figure out each other’s strengths.

Since the Cavaliers traded for Harden, Allen is averaging 22.6 points while shooting 73 percent from the floor. There definitely is a correlation in Allen’s elevated play and Harden's arrival in Cleveland. 

So far, Allen and Harden have shared the floor for 147 minutes; the Cavaliers have an offensive rating of 132.8 and a defensive rating of 118.9, for a net rating of 13.9. Cleveland is 5-0 in those contests. 

Harden has the reputation of elevating the game of the bigs he plays with, and we’re seeing that firsthand with how he’s meshing with Allen in such a small sample size. 

After Cleveland’s victory over the Brooklyn Nets last week, Harden admitted that Allen is much better than he initially thought.

“I can say he's better than I thought he was,” admitted Harden. In the sense of he's able to catch the ball, finish around the room with both hands. He has so much touch around the rim, and that's, I think, probably one of the most underrated parts of his game.” 

Harden shared that his goal is to “just trying to find a way, find ways, you know, to give him the ball in positions to where he can be successful, and the same thing with Evan, and all our bigs.”

The Cavaliers still have a lot of work to do to get everybody on the same page over the next few weeks. However, the fact that Allen and Harden are clearly meshing well in such a short period should give Cleveland plenty of hope about what this team will look like once it reaches its ceiling. 

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