Udoka had coached Harden as an assistant during their time together with the Brooklyn Nets and coached against him for years in San Antonio, Philadelphia and Boston. There was great respect for Harden and his game, but it just wasn’t the right fit. If the plan was to build a defensive juggernaut with a balanced offense — and it was — then adding a ball-dominant, all-time great who never has been known for defense wasn’t the way to go. “My main thing for us was, ‘What fits best with our young guys to continue to grow?’” Udoka said. “But also, out of respect for James, (I told him), ‘You’re at the stage where you want to win, and we’re not there yet.’ And it wasn’t just James. I had five, six veteran guys who went to championship-level teams who wanted to come (that summer), and I said the same thing to all of them.