Welcome James Harden!

[Ferry Avenue]

Since the Harden acquisition and in the games Harden has played, the Sixers are 6-6 against playoff teams.

That suggests there should be no surprise if they lose their first-round series 4-3.

[marcush]

Would be an embarrassment if he couldn’t make it out of the first round with Embiid.

Even Simmons could get to the 2nd round and he was too scared to take a shot in the final qtr.

[ProcessDoctor]

I think moving forward our team will be best served as him being a 20/10 PG on greater efficiency than what he's been giving us.

He can receive up to $270 mil/5 years from us or $182 mil/4 years from anyone else. If he's insistent on a 5-year deal, hopefully we could settle on somewhere between $200-220 mi over that span.

If he and Jo are hellbent on bringing Beal in, he has to make that financial sacrifice. I see the ceiling of a Harden/Beal/Embiid trio winning multiple championships over the next 3 seasons with the right coach.

Lastly, something that could be contributing to all of this is fatigue. He can't be playing 38 mpg and should be down around 32-33 pmg tops IMO.

[NYSixersFan]

Unless he shocks me in the playoffs; then he needs to pick up his one year option and then we need to trade him.

[elchengue20]

We cant resign his washed up ass for 200+ mil for 5 years. It would be a death sentence to Embiids contending window.

I rather let him go or try to trade him for something.

Its better realize we made a mistake than letting it to keep getting worse.

[sodmoraes]

Harden could do us a solid and opt in next year, so we have one more year of data before we need to max him out....

If he thinks he still can recover from this hammy injury he probably will opt in, since if he comes back full force next year he will get a max contract after. If he doesnt think he will get back 100% from the injury he will try to force a new contract now.

I would be reallyyy worried to give Harden a max contract with his level of play. He has no burst, cant get past anyone and is shooting badly. Besides hes a reluctant cs shooter. But hes one of the greats so i think he will dedicate himself this offseason to prove people wrong, atleast thats what i hope for, so we arent doomed..

[sixers4real]

While everybody is focused on James Harden weakness, there is one man that is focused on James Harden strength. It’s Daryl Morey.

I’ve been following a lot of people here (or maybe GB, sorry if I’m wrong) trying to make a point that outside of the first 3-5 games, Harden has been bad.

Morey is focused on why James was good. He was excellent. He was rested. I’m quite sure Morey is analyzing that James is better of playing 60 games in RS (as is Embiid) and being excellent.

But and we fail badly this season and Doc not does not agree with Morey on a plan of playing James and Embiid 60 games in RS (because Doc thinks he’s Pop), Doc is gone.

Brett Brown contract is up this summer, so Sixers can afford to pay two coaches again (Docs remaining salary and new coach).

My point is : Morey knows Harden is good, and if Doc fails to use him right, Doc is gone.

[Ferry Avenue]

While everybody is focused on James Harden weakness, there is one man that is focused on James Harden strength. It’s Daryl Morey.

I’ve been following a lot of people here (or maybe GB, sorry if I’m wrong) trying to make a point that outside of the first 3-5 games, Harden has been bad.

Morey is focused on why James was good. He was excellent. He was rested. I’m quite sure Morey is analyzing that James is better of playing 60 games in RS (as is Embiid) and being excellent.

But and we fail badly this season and Doc not does not agree with Morey on a plan of playing James and Embiid 60 games in RS (because Doc thinks he’s Pop), Doc is gone.

Brett Brown contract is up this summer, so Sixers can afford to pay two coaches again (Docs remaining salary and new coach).

My point is : Morey knows Harden is good, and if Doc fails to use him right, Doc is gone.

The problem is that 1) we don't know whether Harden's initial performance with the Sixers was a function of rest -- it could easily have been due to a host of other variables, and 2) if it was due to rest, we don't know whether he needs that amount of rest (the previous three weeks) to function in that manner -- if so, obviously providing him regular three-week intervals of complete rest will be impossible, and so he'll rarely if ever function in the manner he did initially with the Sixers.

In the end we really don't know what makes Harden tick. You have to base his future with the team (salary, etc.) on what he does in the playoffs. If he wants the contract, he'll show up and play.

[elchengue20]

Also, as he gets more older, more rest will be needed, so yeah, hes just washed up. If this is an issue at 32, i dont want to know at 35+.

Hes not even that old to be this washed up, but he has the perfect combination of bodytype/lifestyle/playstyle to decline very fast.

[mjkvol]

If Harden can't cook in ISO for whatever reason (wear and tear, age, hamstring) this season is done, irrespective of Embiid's brilliance. This team isn't constructed so that Harden can be content to rack up assists. The $200 million question is this who Harden is now? The guy he was in his first few games after the trade indicate to me this is a usage/hamstring issue that rest, rehab, conditioning, nutrition and load management can prevent. But Harden really hasn't shown a willingness to sacrifice lifestyle for the game. Conditioning and nutrition include sleep which based on his reported habits doesn't seem to be a priority to him. I also thought the Sixers might be able to keep him in the 32-34 minute range but that's been an abject failure and has exacerbated the issues, IMO.

All that said, the Sixers didn't make the deal to try and flip him for other assets in the offseason. This is a marriage and both parties need to sacrifice and make uncomfortable decisions to make it work. It's not all roses.

Nails it. It still stuns me (although I don't know why) that Glenn, knowing that Nash had run Harden into the ground this year, has been consistently running him upwards to 40 minutes a game. Whatever happens this post season, if it doesn't result in a coaching change I honestly don't believe we can win a chip regardless of any Morey magic.

[mjkvol]

While everybody is focused on James Harden weakness, there is one man that is focused on James Harden strength. It’s Daryl Morey.

I’ve been following a lot of people here (or maybe GB, sorry if I’m wrong) trying to make a point that outside of the first 3-5 games, Harden has been bad.

Morey is focused on why James was good. He was excellent. He was rested. I’m quite sure Morey is analyzing that James is better of playing 60 games in RS (as is Embiid) and being excellent.

But and we fail badly this season and Doc not does not agree with Morey on a plan of playing James and Embiid 60 games in RS (because Doc thinks he’s Pop), Doc is gone.

Brett Brown contract is up this summer, so Sixers can afford to pay two coaches again (Docs remaining salary and new coach).

My point is : Morey knows Harden is good, and if Doc fails to use him right, Doc is gone.

Glenn is too arrogant to cede to anyone else's ideas. The bottom line is if Glenn returns, we aren't winning a chip. Period.

[zimpy27]

A benefit of getting Harden this season was that sixers get the rest of the season to evaluate if it's worth paying Harden the supermax.

Well, he doesn't look like he will be a supermax player for 5 more years. So maybe Philly should offer less or cut ties?

[the_process]

While everybody is focused on James Harden weakness, there is one man that is focused on James Harden strength. It’s Daryl Morey.

I’ve been following a lot of people here (or maybe GB, sorry if I’m wrong) trying to make a point that outside of the first 3-5 games, Harden has been bad.

Morey is focused on why James was good. He was excellent. He was rested. I’m quite sure Morey is analyzing that James is better of playing 60 games in RS (as is Embiid) and being excellent.

But and we fail badly this season and Doc not does not agree with Morey on a plan of playing James and Embiid 60 games in RS (because Doc thinks he’s Pop), Doc is gone.

Brett Brown contract is up this summer, so Sixers can afford to pay two coaches again (Docs remaining salary and new coach).

My point is : Morey knows Harden is good, and if Doc fails to use him right, Doc is gone.

Glenn is too arrogant to cede to anyone else's ideas. The bottom line is if Glenn returns, we aren't winning a chip. Period.

Here's to hoping the Lakers want Glenn!

[Jailblazers7]

It’s interesting looking at lineup data because our starting 5 has the 2nd best Net Rating of any 5 man unit that’s played at least 300 mins. Obviously doesn’t tell the full story but clearly a signal to Morey that we have something to build on. If Harden gets his **** together or Morey can finagle the roster I’m hopeful we’ll be very good.

I think solving our wing problem will be really hard but getting a quality backup C should be easy. We have two promising young guys that might win the spot and there are guys like McGee, Whiteside, Hartenstein who are all UFA.

As for Doc, Morey is smarter than all of us so if we can see he’s a bad coach then Morey certainly knows it. I’d expect that he puts forth a compelling argument to ownership and Doc is gone. We do have hedge fund billionaire owners who are well aware of the sunk cost fallacy and have been willing to open up their pocket books for a title shot. I don’t see why they’d cheap out now and insist on keep Doc just because of his contract.

[mjkvol]

It’s interesting looking at lineup data because our starting 5 has the 2nd best Net Rating of any 5 man unit that’s played at least 300 mins. Obviously doesn’t tell the full story but clearly a signal to Morey that we have something to build on. If Harden gets his **** together or Morey can finagle the roster I’m hopeful we’ll be very good.

I think solving our wing problem will be really hard but getting a quality backup C should be easy. We have two promising young guys that might win the spot and there are guys like McGee, Whiteside, Hartenstein who are all UFA.

As for Doc, Morey is smarter than all of us so if we can see he’s a bad coach then Morey certainly knows it. I’d expect that he puts forth a compelling argument to ownership and Doc is gone. We do have hedge fund billionaire owners who are well aware of the sunk cost fallacy and have been willing to open up their pocket books for a title shot. I don’t see why they’d cheap out now and insist on keep Doc just because of his contract.

Forgive me for saying this, but that is almost a reason to hope the Sixers don't make a deep playoff run. I could see beating Toronto and Miami and losing a tough 7 game series to the Bucks getting Glenn a freaking extension.

[Jailblazers7]

Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about that scenario lol. And even if we do, Doc will probably **** up whatever series we lose to the point that it doesn’t really matter what happened for us to get there.

[Zumramania]

It’s interesting looking at lineup data because our starting 5 has the 2nd best Net Rating of any 5 man unit that’s played at least 300 mins. Obviously doesn’t tell the full story but clearly a signal to Morey that we have something to build on. If Harden gets his **** together or Morey can finagle the roster I’m hopeful we’ll be very good.

I think solving our wing problem will be really hard but getting a quality backup C should be easy. We have two promising young guys that might win the spot and there are guys like McGee, Whiteside, Hartenstein who are all UFA.

As for Doc, Morey is smarter than all of us so if we can see he’s a bad coach then Morey certainly knows it. I’d expect that he puts forth a compelling argument to ownership and Doc is gone. We do have hedge fund billionaire owners who are well aware of the sunk cost fallacy and have been willing to open up their pocket books for a title shot. I don’t see why they’d cheap out now and insist on keep Doc just because of his contract.

Yes, I think many are overreacting. Harden needs to be rested beyond the bare minimum that the medical staff is requiring and we need to get rid of Tobias and get better side pieces and I think we are good. I mean, even if just Furk didn't mysteriously turn to **** this regular season, I believe we would have gotten a higher seed - not that it would matter because he was never of much use in the playoffs, but I'm betting people would be far more optimistic then. In any case, next season is key.

[Revived]

Read on Twitter

Can this narrative that Harden is injured end now? He plays great against trash teams and his hamstring injury is no where to be found but plays like trash against good teams and suddenly it’s the hamstring’s fault.

What a unique hamstring injury that only shows up depending on the opposing team’s record.

The man is 33 in 4 months, didn't always have the best conditioning and people find it hard to believe this is the start of his decline. Incredible.

[FireMorey]

It’s not a “narrative” lol. It came directly from the coach”s mouth a couple weeks ago. He’s clearly trying to stick up for the player and not throw him under the bus right now.

https://www.inquirer.com/sports/sixers-james-harden-hamstring-injury-brooklyn-nets-doc-rivers-deandre-jordan-clippers-20220325.html

[Bum Adebayo]

Read on Twitter

Can this narrative that Harden is injured end now? He plays great against trash teams and his hamstring injury is no where to be found but plays like trash against good teams and suddenly it’s the hamstring’s fault.

What a unique hamstring injury that only shows up depending on the opposing team’s record.

The man is 33 in 4 months, didn't always have the best conditioning and people find it hard to believe this is the start of his decline. Incredible.

Yes it's a narrative so that fans don't have to admit James Soften is much worse than they expected, with another 1st or 2nd round exit looming they need some story to feel good.