Welcome James Harden!

[elchengue20]

I was very happy we got him but also a little concerned about his recent play, injury concerns, leadrship and age.

For now he has played like Houston Harden, if thats the case, this an absolute STEAL for us.

He and Embiid are just too good. Embiid is probably the best player in the league right now and you are putting one of the best scorers/creators of all time next to him. You just cant guard both. It really reminds me of a 2020's version of Shaq and Kobe.

Im starting to believe we have a great shot at the campionship, the only way we can lose is if we beat ourselves. None of Biid and Harden are proven leaders and clutch performes in the Playoffs, also we have two young kids playing major roles in Maxey and Thybulle. Those are my only concerns right now. If chemistry and health are on spot, its going to veeeery difficult to stop us.


Doc is going to be key because we need leadership, that also concerning lol.

[76ciology]

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[76ciology]

Spoiler:

Harden-KD
2020-2021: 122Ortg 110DRtg (11 games)
2021-2022: 111ORtg 109DRtg (32 games)

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Harden-Embiid
After 2 games: 134ORtg 91DRtg (2 games)

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Which duo do you think fits better?

As of two games, I’d say Harden-Embiid duo is much better.

I find Harden-KD to have some redundancy with both guys being perimeter playmakers. More redundancy if you add Kyrie to the mix.

I find Harden-Embiid to be a better fit, with one big and one perimeter player. Harden empowers Embiid with Harden’s ability to run PnR. Then Maxey is just a much better fit as a third option, compared to Kyrie, whereas he’s OK playing offball as a pressure release valve on halfcourt offense while showing great chemistry with Harden on transition.

Just two games in and there’s a lot of games that needs to play for us to come up with an accurate projection.

But is the Harden-Embiid duo going to be more lethal than the Harden-KD duo?

I think the Harden-Embiid duo has more integration while the Harden-KD duo has more your turn- my turn dynamics.

[mjkvol]

Im starting to believe we have a great shot at the championship, the only way we can lose is if we beat ourselves. None of Biid and Harden are proven leaders and clutch performes in the Playoffs, also we have two young kids playing major roles in Maxey and Thybulle. Those are my only concerns right now. If chemistry and health are on spot, its going to veeeery difficult to stop us.


Doc is going to be key because we need leadership, that also concerning lol.

I'm concerned about Doc and I'm concerned about our depth. I'd feel much better about going deep if guys like Korkmaz and Milton could find a little something and if the backup C spot can be solidified. I'd so love it if Doc went out of character for once and gave Joe and Bassey legit shots to win rotation spots.

[76ciology]

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[elchengue20]

Im starting to believe we have a great shot at the championship, the only way we can lose is if we beat ourselves. None of Biid and Harden are proven leaders and clutch performes in the Playoffs, also we have two young kids playing major roles in Maxey and Thybulle. Those are my only concerns right now. If chemistry and health are on spot, its going to veeeery difficult to stop us.


Doc is going to be key because we need leadership, that also concerning lol.

I'm concerned about Doc and I'm concerned about our depth. I'd feel much better about going deep if guys like Korkmaz and Milton could find a little something and if the backup C spot can be solidified. I'd so love it if Doc went out of character for once and gave Joe and Bassey legit shots to win rotation spots.

More depth would be nice but it dont think its a major concern.

When it matters the most, teams play a 7 or 8 man rotation.

I think the biggest issue right now related to depth is we dont have a reliable backup C when Embiid leaves the floor.

[mjkvol]

Im starting to believe we have a great shot at the championship, the only way we can lose is if we beat ourselves. None of Biid and Harden are proven leaders and clutch performes in the Playoffs, also we have two young kids playing major roles in Maxey and Thybulle. Those are my only concerns right now. If chemistry and health are on spot, its going to veeeery difficult to stop us.


Doc is going to be key because we need leadership, that also concerning lol.

I'm concerned about Doc and I'm concerned about our depth. I'd feel much better about going deep if guys like Korkmaz and Milton could find a little something and if the backup C spot can be solidified. I'd so love it if Doc went out of character for once and gave Joe and Bassey legit shots to win rotation spots.

More depth would be nice but it dont think its a major concern.

When it matters the most, teams play a 7 or 8 man rotation.

I think the biggest issue right now related to depth is we dont have a reliable backup C when Embiid leaves the floor.

In the playoffs it goes 8 deep, but there are still 20+ games left and running Harden for 37-39 minutes will fry him by playoff time.

And we are essentially 7 deep right now, with Niang and an old and getting older Green as the only reliable bench pieces. It's imperative that Kork and/or Shake pick it up, and a reliable backup big be established.

[Arsenal]

I would rest Harden on B2B's for the rest of the regular season.

E.g. @MIA on Mar 5th, @ORL Mar 13th, vs TOR Mar 20th, vs CHA Apr 2nd and vs DET Apr 10th. Should be able to win 3 or 4 of those 5 without him.

It's all about the playoffs, and getting the #2 seed could be better than #1 anyway.

[Jailblazers7]

I’ll be interested to see the rotations for the Fri/Sat back to back against Cleveland and Miami. I can understand why he played the starters big minutes in the first 2 games because it was post AS break with rest days between games. Getting them as many minutes together as possible in those games makes some sense.

But now we’ll be back into the heart of the schedule so limiting their minutes will need to happen. I’m begging Doc to play a backup big other than Millsap at this point.

[HardenGoat]

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They were all fouls, as Embiid said - unstoppable

[phillynative]

I would rest Harden on B2B's for the rest of the regular season.

E.g. @MIA on Mar 5th, @ORL Mar 13th, vs TOR Mar 20th, vs CHA Apr 2nd and vs DET Apr 10th. Should be able to win 3 or 4 of those 5 without him.

It's all about the playoffs, and getting the #2 seed could be better than #1 anyway.

Nah don't sit him against the heat . I want to see how Harden vs Butler /Bam vs Embiid look. They are deeper with better role players but our duo is more dynamic.

[phillynative]

I'm concerned about Doc and I'm concerned about our depth. I'd feel much better about going deep if guys like Korkmaz and Milton could find a little something and if the backup C spot can be solidified. I'd so love it if Doc went out of character for once and gave Joe and Bassey legit shots to win rotation spots.

More depth would be nice but it dont think its a major concern.

When it matters the most, teams play a 7 or 8 man rotation.

I think the biggest issue right now related to depth is we dont have a reliable backup C when Embiid leaves the floor.

In the playoffs it goes 8 deep, but there are still 20+ games left and running Harden for 37-39 minutes will fry him by playoff time.

And we are essentially 7 deep right now, with Niang and an old and getting older Green as the only reliable bench pieces. It's imperative that Kork and/or Shake pick it up, and a reliable backup big be established.

Tbh,
I'm looking at other east teams 8 man units and they have deeper, more reliable player than ours.

[Arsenal]

I would rest Harden on B2B's for the rest of the regular season.

E.g. @MIA on Mar 5th, @ORL Mar 13th, vs TOR Mar 20th, vs CHA Apr 2nd and vs DET Apr 10th. Should be able to win 3 or 4 of those 5 without him.

It's all about the playoffs, and getting the #2 seed could be better than #1 anyway.

Nah don't sit him against the heat . I want to see how Harden vs Butler /Bam vs Embiid look. They are deeper with better role players but our duo is more dynamic.

Rather sit him @MIA instead of the night before. Bank the sure win vs. CLE.

There's another game against MIA later anyway.

[sodmoraes]

I would rest Harden on B2B's for the rest of the regular season.

E.g. @MIA on Mar 5th, @ORL Mar 13th, vs TOR Mar 20th, vs CHA Apr 2nd and vs DET Apr 10th. Should be able to win 3 or 4 of those 5 without him.

It's all about the playoffs, and getting the #2 seed could be better than #1 anyway.

Nah don't sit him against the heat . I want to see how Harden vs Butler /Bam vs Embiid look. They are deeper with better role players but our duo is more dynamic.

Rather sit him @MIA instead of the night before. Bank the sure win vs. CLE.

There's another game against MIA later anyway.

Agreed. Our main goal should be to secure the 2nd seed, which i think will be better that 1st, since first seed will probably play the nets on the first round. And i think it would be really dificult to catch Miami in the standings anyway.

We should aim to keep Harden healthy in the playoffs, avoiding B2B's. If Harden didnt injure his hammy last season they probably would have won the championship and we wouldnt have Harden now .

[mjkvol]

I would rest Harden on B2B's for the rest of the regular season.

E.g. @MIA on Mar 5th, @ORL Mar 13th, vs TOR Mar 20th, vs CHA Apr 2nd and vs DET Apr 10th. Should be able to win 3 or 4 of those 5 without him.

It's all about the playoffs, and getting the #2 seed could be better than #1 anyway.

Agreed, and although he wouldn't like it, I'd like to see Embiid sat a few games as we..

[Arsenal]

I would rest Harden on B2B's for the rest of the regular season.

E.g. @MIA on Mar 5th, @ORL Mar 13th, vs TOR Mar 20th, vs CHA Apr 2nd and vs DET Apr 10th. Should be able to win 3 or 4 of those 5 without him.

It's all about the playoffs, and getting the #2 seed could be better than #1 anyway.

Agreed, and although he wouldn't like it, I'd like to see Embiid sat a few games as we..

I'd like to sit Embiid, but I don't see it. It would hurt his MVP campaign and he really wants it this year.

In the future we should load manage him after he has an MVP (and a chip) on the mantle.

[mjkvol]

More depth would be nice but it dont think its a major concern.

When it matters the most, teams play a 7 or 8 man rotation.

I think the biggest issue right now related to depth is we dont have a reliable backup C when Embiid leaves the floor.

In the playoffs it goes 8 deep, but there are still 20+ games left and running Harden for 37-39 minutes will fry him by playoff time.

And we are essentially 7 deep right now, with Niang and an old and getting older Green as the only reliable bench pieces. It's imperative that Kork and/or Shake pick it up, and a reliable backup big be established.

Tbh,
I'm looking at other east teams 8 man units and they have deeper, more reliable player than ours.

One if the reasons I think it will be tough to make a legit title run this year. Too many question marks in the roster that only a full off season and next year's trade deadline will be able to fix.

We have the best duo and a dynamic 3rd guy, but beyond that there are more questions than answers right now.

[Arsenal]

In the playoffs it goes 8 deep, but there are still 20+ games left and running Harden for 37-39 minutes will fry him by playoff time.

And we are essentially 7 deep right now, with Niang and an old and getting older Green as the only reliable bench pieces. It's imperative that Kork and/or Shake pick it up, and a reliable backup big be established.

Tbh,
I'm looking at other east teams 8 man units and they have deeper, more reliable player than ours.

One if the reasons I think it will be tough to make a legit title run this year. Too many question marks in the roster that only a full off season and next year's trade deadline will be able to fix.

We have the best duo and a dynamic 3rd guy, but beyond that there are more questions than answers right now.

I think depth concerns are overblown. The starters will play 40+ mpg when it counts.

We just need 3 bench guys to hold the fort for 8-10 mins.

And there are no dominant teams in our way in the East. None of these teams is even on the level of TOR or MIL 2019.

[M2J]

I would rest Harden on B2B's for the rest of the regular season.

E.g. @MIA on Mar 5th, @ORL Mar 13th, vs TOR Mar 20th, vs CHA Apr 2nd and vs DET Apr 10th. Should be able to win 3 or 4 of those 5 without him.

It's all about the playoffs, and getting the #2 seed could be better than #1 anyway.

Agreed, and although he wouldn't like it, I'd like to see Embiid sat a few games as we..

I'd like to sit Embiid, but I don't see it. It would hurt his MVP campaign and he really wants it this year.

In the future we should load manage him after he has an MVP (and a chip) on the mantle.

I definitely agree with that.

But, with only 20 games left I still think it's very important for this team to get chemistry especially against the good teams right now. I would rather Harden sit out versus the Knicks on Wednesday and play both games over the weekend....
See how two good defenses actually attack them and possibly figure out what this team truly needs going down the stretch. Furthermore there will be plenty of opportunities for them to sit later on in the season. They should also be resting them during practice.

This team clearly does have a chance of winning a championship this year, but there are some things that will need to be clearly ironed out. They should be selective with their rest this season, but they should find some. Even for Joel.

And as a caveat, even against these good teams this weekend the minutes should be limited. I don't really care about the win so much as I care about seeing how they look when they actually are on the court

But this will be a tough post season

[Arsenal]

Agreed, and although he wouldn't like it, I'd like to see Embiid sat a few games as we..

I'd like to sit Embiid, but I don't see it. It would hurt his MVP campaign and he really wants it this year.

In the future we should load manage him after he has an MVP (and a chip) on the mantle.

I definitely agree with that.

But, with only 20 games left I still think it's very important for this team to get chemistry especially against the good teams right now. I would rather Harden sit out versus the Knicks on Wednesday and play both games over the weekend....
See how two good defenses actually attack them and possibly figure out what this team truly needs going down the stretch. Furthermore there will be plenty of opportunities for them to sit later on in the season. They should also be resting them during practice.

This team clearly does have a chance of winning a championship this year, but there are some things that will need to be clearly ironed out. They should be selective with their rest this season, but they should find some. Even for Joel

It's more important to avoid injury. Harden's splits on the back end of B2B's are atrocious this year. We'd be foolish to play him in those games. Besides, there are plenty of good teams in the other games aside from the 5 I suggested.