Philadelphia 76ers: James Harden doesn’t look the same. That’s a good thing.

A lot has been said about what’s “wrong” with Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden. He’s lost a step, his athleticism is gone, and his ability to score has gone from all-time great to just above average – which is less than ideal considering his contract situation.

To those who expected to see “The Beard” look like a three-time scoring champ when he traded in his Brooklyn Nets black, white, and greys for Sixers red, white, and blues, watching Daryl Morey’s favorite player finish fourth in scoring over two playoff games is almost certainly a disappointment. Folks fear the thought of giving Harden the super max extension, and some have even started to rumble over whether he should even get an extension, period, or if the Sixers should re-pursue Bradley Beal this summer.

Objectively speaking, folks like Stephen A Smith are right; Harden does, in fact, look different, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

No, after watching the 32-year-old dazzle in his initial run with the team, James Harden has slowly but surely found a new role with the Philadelphia 76ers that should prolong his career by a healthy margin; a role that sees him facilitate buckets for others far more often than he pursues them on his own.

The Philadelphia 76ers are winning because of James Harden’s playmaking.

Through two games of playoff action, James Harden leads the NBA in assists at 20; a mark five assists higher than the next-leading player, Draymond Green.

Now granted, some will call foul on that number, as 15 of those assists came in Game 1, where Harden helped to engineer Tyrese Maxey’s best game as a pro, but even in Game 2, “The Beard” had 12 potential assists according to the NBA’s advanced analytics, which ranked ninth in the association regardless of position, minutes, or situation. He’s led the team in both passes made and passes received over both games, produced a pass-to-assist ratio of 14.5, which nearly doubled the mark of Doc Rivers’ next best regular contributor – Tyrese Maxey – and was able to produce an average of 28 points per game off of assists alone.

Throw that number in with the 18 points per game Harden contributes to the stat sheet, and you’re left with a player who is leading the Sixers in points responsible for per game, which is pretty impressive when you consider that both Joel Embiid and Maxey are averaging over 25 points per game.

But wait, it gets better; not only is Harden putting up great potential and practical assist numbers, but he’s been an active playmaker who seems to relish getting the ball to his teammates in space. In each of the first two games versus Toronto, Harden has passed up decent scoring opportunities on drives in favor of wide open shots from Maxey, Danny Green, and Tobias Harris, and had largely been vindicated for his decision-making with additional points on the board and cheers from the home crowd.

If Harden is willing to accept a floor general role akin to that of his former Houston backcourt-mate, Chris Paul, in Phoenix playing off of a younger, more dynamic offensive player, his game may age just as well as the four-time assist champ out of Wake Forest.

So yeah, James Harden isn’t the same player he was in Houston, or even the player he was in Brooklyn earlier this season. He isn’t taking 19.6 shots per game anymore, let alone 24.5 like his career-high mark during the 2018-19 season, and unless one of his teammates goes down, he probably won’t do so with regularity ever again. What he is, however, is a basketball genius who has taken the Philadelphia 76ers’ offense to new heights and helped to turn his second-year fellow guard into the talk of the NBA world. I don’t know about you, but I really like this new James Harden; I like him a lot.