Swanson: James Harden sacrificing a starting role could figure promisingly for Clippers

LOS ANGELES – You really do get only one chance to make a first impression, and James Harden’s introduction to Clippers fans has been atrocious.

He’s fortunate the Crypto.com Arena crowd’s response to meeting him for the first time as one of the starters before the Clippers’ 105-101 loss to last-place Memphis on Sunday was tepid and not outright hostile.

Because so far, the Harden era – including the Clippers’ fifth consecutive loss and fourth with Harden on the floor – has felt like a gut punch for the team’s fans who got suckered into thinking this season might actually go OK.

What’s up with these awfully comfortable growing pains? Why has it been so hard for the Harden Clippers to find a rhythm?

Said Harden: “It’s something we’re trying to figure out.”

He’s right. They are, in fact, still figuring it out.

They’re figuring out that Harden in a lineup with Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard and Paul George isn’t going to work.

That doesn’t mean Harden can’t possibly work.

It’s just that if he is going to work, The Beard is going to have to be deployed differently – perhaps differently than he has been since he was a kid, coming off the bench (and earning 2011-12 Sixth Man of the Year honors) in Oklahoma City early in his career.

Kendrick Perkins went on ESPN and said it a dozen days ago, soon after the trade went down: “Ty Lue, if I’m you, I bring James Harden in off the bench.”

Maybe you heard that? If so, you probably giggled.

How silly, you thought. The Clippers didn’t trade away all of their wing depth and a 2028 unprotected first-round pick, two second-round picks, a 2029 pick swap and an additional first-round pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder for a former league MVP and 10-time All-Star making $35.6 million this season to masquerade as a sixth man.

No, they made that trade to raise their ceiling in the postseason, and to guard against the potential injuries that have plagued the Clippers since the arrival of George and Leonard – neither of whom is keen to do any more ball-handling than absolutely necessary.

And by making the move, the Clippers cranked up the spotlight, trained the basketball world’s high beams on their new seemingly ill-fitting lineup of four future Hall of Famers, knowing this collection of Southern California-bred talent would garner loads of attention – and scrutiny – ahead of the move into Intuit Dome next season.

But the Harden play won’t drive much good will if the Clippers aren’t winning, and they’re not going to be doing much of that unless they figure out how to fit these four distinct talents into a team together.

The answer: By separating them.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue already knows this, of course. Before the game, he told us so: “​Both of those guys (Westbrook and Harden) with the ball in their hands have proven that they can get things done as far as making plays or scoring the basketball. And so just trying to split those guys up as much as possible and let those guys have their own unit.”

Harden and Westbrook both started Sunday and played 11 minutes together. Westbrook, who played 30 minutes, was plus-10 in the box score. Harden finished as a team-worst minus-28 in 28 minutes.

Worth noting: Harden finished the game, checking in with 1:55 left to play for Westbrook, whose hustle – and 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals – had helped resurrect the Clippers’ chances against the struggling but spirited Grizzlies (2-8).

It was for spacing’s sake, Lue said postgame. But also, it was likely a harbinger: The Clippers should feel more confident with the ball in Harden’s hands late than in Westbrook’s. Because for all of Westbrook’s valuable, infectious, frenetic tone-setting energy, his decision-making in the final seconds has also proved fallible.

So the Clippers can have Harden out there in those moments, and they can make good use of him as a change-of-pace point guard throughout. He would pick apart second units alongside the Clippers’ superstars, after Westbrook gets everyone’s engines revved at tip-off.

They just can’t have Harden and Westbrook out there together all too often. Watching the two together Sunday was listening to a podcast at both 1.5 and half speed – warbly and warped. Like oil and water, but worse, more like peanut butter and mayo. Yucky.

But either can work with Leonard and George, if Harden – who looks still to be getting his season legs under him – is willing to sacrifice.

That’s been the buzzword around the team since the trade was announced, and Harden, the new guy, the guy who wanted so badly to come aboard, might have to sacrifice starting if his L.A. homecoming isn’t going to end atrociously too.