Commentary: James Harden gives the Cavaliers just what they need to compete for a championship

Going into their game Tuesday night in Milwaukee, the Cavs' record since Dec. 29 was 20-3. Their record since Jan. 14 was 15-3. Their record since Jan. 19 was 13-2, and their record since Feb. 1 was 8-1. Not bad, huh? Meanwhile, Max "From way downtown" Strus has yet to launch a single game-winning missile. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson loses a coach's challenge about once every Sam Merrill air ball. The immaculately coiffed Jarrett Allen is playing the best basketball of his NBA career. Elsewhere on the good ship Cavspalooza, Jaylon Tyson, a.k.a. "You ain't seen nothing like me," continues to seemingly play two or three positions simultaneously, while the mild-mannered — this guy's a winner — Dean Wade does just enough of everything to encourage his teammates to do the same. And then there is the one, the only, Mr. James Edward Harden Jr., A.K.A. "Saint James," who at various times in his timeless career has been labeled "The Beard," "El Chapo," "Jimbo Slice," "Honey Bun", "Uno," The System," and "Saint James." That's right, it was the original "Jimbo Slice," who, when asked much earlier in his career what kind of offensive system he preferred to run, responded: "I am the system." In the NBA, if you don't want a guy like that on your team, you don't want to win. Certainly Cavs executive Koby Altman had to be enamored at the possibility of acquiring a gamer's gamer such as Harden, because Harden was exactly the kind of player the Cavs not only wanted, but desperately needed. "I am the system" is one of a kind. Let's just say that The Beard is The Beard for a reason, and there was a reason why Altman pursued The Beard. The remainder of this season should be a wildly entertaining ride for everyone involved. Altman's decision to add Harden to a Cavs roster that already has boundless possibilities, not just down the road, but immediately, is an intriguing subplot to this Cavs season. Harden does come with a reputation for being a potential squeaky wheel on any roster. But he also comes with a reputation for being exactly the kind of gamer that teams pursuing a championship don't mind living with. Acquiring Harden in a vacuum would have been an excellent strategic move by itself for the right team. Adding Harden to this specific team opens countless opportunities to improve a team already loaded with quality players. In his short time with the Cavs, Harden has been a model addition, and a winning one at that. If you don't believe it, check the standings. Even the most self-absorbed stars in professional sports tend to acknowledge, when changing teams, especially going to a team with a chance to win a championship, that the team comes first. From a distance, the coupling of Harden and Donovan Mitchell seems to be working. Two like-minded backcourt stars typically acknowledge that there is more at stake when two stars work together for that end, than does one star trying to go it alone. Certainly the coach's role in the wake of such roster maneuvering is important, if for no other reason than to remind everyone what's at stake when pursuing a championship. There is no reason to believe that Mitchell and Harden won't be able to further assume their roles, as the season, and especially the playoff season, arrives. To this point, it appears as though Mitchell and Harden have made it a point to try to bring their fellowship together for the common cause. Indeed, having two star backcourt players leading the way for a chance to win a championship brings its own brand of urgency. The Cavs as a franchise have been down this road before, and it doesn't always go as planned. The Cavs learned that painful lesson in recent playoff dunkings at the hands of the Knicks and Indiana. In the Cavs' playoff series with the Knicks three years ago, it was not a pretty sight for the Cavs, as the eventual ouster of coach J.B. Bickerstaff demonstrated. Last year's Cavs-Pacers playoff series? The less said about that, the better. It will, however, be interesting to see how the Cavs approach and conduct themselves in the first round of this year's playoffs. The point men, obviously, will be Mitchell and Harden. It's good that there are two of them, because, as Mitchell painfully learned in last year's series with the Pacers, one star isn't enough. The postseason tournaments are anything but a gentlemen's competition. To that end, in trading for Harden, Altman got exactly the type of addition to his roster that was necessary, given what's at stake. It says here that this edition of the Cavs will likely face the most physical playoff series they have faced in recent years. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com.