Welcome James Harden!

[Ferry Avenue]

https://heavy.com/sports/philadelphia-76ers/james-harden-contract-extension-brian-windhorst/?fbclid=IwAR1BiwojsH1C-MCzjx2ODeX6a6L5y1PS0AM1TnG7ghfbU91tlFh0OysFKuE

[bubonicphoniks]

Harden isn’t going anywhere unless Morey gets fired. The idea of him not being in this team isn’t worth spending time thinking about imo.

I think our best hope is that Maxey develops, Harden’s decline is health related and fixes that this summer, and we make marginal moves to improve our shooting & athleticism.

Nets fan here. We thought it would fix last off season.

Im convinced unless he has a massive mental shift what you see is what you get.

Bricks 3s, only walks the ball up the court, has to be involved in every play or he checks out. He was my favorite player in the league a few years ago, but after watching him daily in BK. I was really diasapointed.

[the_process]

Just your daily reminder that no matter what happens with Harden going forward:

No more Ben Simmons.

Carry on.

As a side note: I'll bet BKN has to flip him again in the summer.

[Ferry Avenue]

This certainly doesn't do any favors for Harden's ability to achieve team unity with the Sixers -- the Sixers' players have no doubt caught wind of this:

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/266346/James-Harden-Reassured-Kevin-Durant-Multiple-Times-Hed-Sign-Extension-With-Nets

[elchengue20]

Hes starting to show hes everyhing i feared he could be.

Unclutch, no leadreship at all, no toughess at all and his atheticism is declining very fast, which is going to have an huge impact on his game.

Also, hes not Chris Paul, he wont be nearly as impactfull when he gets old. Hes not the same kind of player, he doesnt have the IQ and the intangibles.

[Iverson Armband]

I was all for him. But it’s looking like Haliburton might have been the move, especially if that meant keeping Seth and adding picks instead of subtracting. Oh, well.

[Sprewell4Three]

His problem is he never really developed off the ball.


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[Ferry Avenue]

From 2014 through 2020, a total of six seasons, Harden led the NBA in isolation possessions. For three consecutive years, when Harden was at the peak of his powers and the roster was optimized around him, Houston finished in the top two of offensive efficiency. It is not the prettiest basketball in the world to watch, but it was brutally effective, in part because Harden had the ability to roast switches. It’s worth noting that his isolation numbers with the Sixers are still pretty good: 1.13 points per possession, which puts him in the 89th percentile.

But the eye test shows a player who lacks the burst to get by top defenders and also doesn’t have the pop at the rim to finish. Harden is still plenty effective when he gets the right matchup (Killian Hayes or Khris Middleton the other night), but there have been plenty of drives that go nowhere. Perhaps that explains why Harden is capable of scoring an efficient 32 points on Milwaukee, putting up 25 in one half against the Los Angeles Clippers and also shooting 3-for-17 against Brooklyn and 4-for-15 against Detroit. This version of Harden feels like the extreme end of night-to-night volatility.

https://theathletic.com/3223106/2022/04/01/james-harden-sixers-offense-struggle-against-switching-scheme-in-loss-to-pistons/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983

[the_process]

James needs to be the PG going forward. And he needs to get very comfortable with shooting off the catch and in the mid range. That's his old man game evolution. No more ISO James. No more step back threes needed. Distribute, and hit the open shots when they are given to you. That's all.

[shlo]

I was all for him. But it’s looking like Haliburton might have been the move, especially if that meant keeping Seth and adding picks instead of subtracting. Oh, well.

Yep. Haliburton and Hield would have been the better move. Keep Curry and Drummond. Have depth. Have shooting. Have youth.

[therealdawk]

I was all for him. But it’s looking like Haliburton might have been the move, especially if that meant keeping Seth and adding picks instead of subtracting. Oh, well.

Yep. Haliburton and Hield would have been the better move. Keep Curry and Drummond. Have depth. Have shooting. Have youth.

Yeah, I don't know how well that team would do in the playoffs this season since Hali is so young but no doubt that we'd have the 1 seed with our depth. We'd have Joel surrounded by guys like Curry, Niang, Buddy, Hali and Maxey who are all capable of shooting 40% or better from three. Along with Tobias who is very efficient from the field. Then an occasional hot game from Kork, Joe or Shake. Plus Drummond backing up Embiid? That team is a regular season juggernaut.

[shlo]

I was all for him. But it’s looking like Haliburton might have been the move, especially if that meant keeping Seth and adding picks instead of subtracting. Oh, well.

Yep. Haliburton and Hield would have been the better move. Keep Curry and Drummond. Have depth. Have shooting. Have youth.

Yeah, I don't know how well that team would do in the playoffs this season since Hali is so young but no doubt that we'd have the 1 seed with our depth. We'd have Joel surrounded by guys like Curry, Niang, Buddy, Hali and Maxey who are all capable of shooting 40% or better from three. Along with Tobias who is very efficient from the field. Then an occasional hot game from Kork, Joe or Shake. Plus Drummond backing up Embiid? That team is a regular season juggernaut.

I don't see this team doing much damage in the playoffs. That team, to me, has a better chance of going further. And that team has years of productivity, and roster flexibility.

[Ferry Avenue]

I was all for him. But it’s looking like Haliburton might have been the move, especially if that meant keeping Seth and adding picks instead of subtracting. Oh, well.

Yep. Haliburton and Hield would have been the better move. Keep Curry and Drummond. Have depth. Have shooting. Have youth.

Yeah, I don't know how well that team would do in the playoffs this season since Hali is so young but no doubt that we'd have the 1 seed with our depth. We'd have Joel surrounded by guys like Curry, Niang, Buddy, Hali and Maxey who are all capable of shooting 40% or better from three. Along with Tobias who is very efficient from the field. Then an occasional hot game from Kork, Joe or Shake. Plus Drummond backing up Embiid? That team is a regular season juggernaut.

The mistake the organization is making in this regard is in having an Embiid-centric view of the team and catering things to his "window" of opportunity to win a championship. Embiid is a support player in today's NBA. The best one in the league perhaps, but a support player nonetheless. He can't be viewed as the player the team revolves around, or that will place an inherent limit on what the team can achieve.

[FireMorey]

A team with Haliburton wasn't winning anything either. If this is what Harden is for good, would that have been a better move? Maybe. But you just have to hope it's his hamstring bothering him. He looked great the first couple games he got here coming off rest. I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense to just drop off a cliff like that after 4 games unless you're injured.

If the Sixers get the Harden from the first 3 or 4 games next year, then this was the right trade.

[Mik317]

lol

[SixthStreet]

Loving the hot takes here.

[stormi]

I'm not as sky is falling as some of y'all. His burst was evident his first few games he came here after he took nearly a month off after leaving Brooklyn. Esp the first two games, he was blowing past defenders on the perimeter. Think back to the first bucket he scored in a Sixers uni, it was an and-1 off the bounce gliding past Anthony Edwards (???) for the lay.

And then we proceeded to run him into the ground playing him nearly 40 minutes a night, nearly every night since. And even the Houston fans were concerned with the minutes he was logging those first run of games.

He's not going to be a 27 ppg scorer here, but he did show us he and Embiid can dominate offensively together and that he can be elite in that lead playmaking role.

I think you have to re-sign Harden, that isn't even the question at this point. This is the bed that was made.

Morey has to have the summer of his life surrounding Embiid and Harden with competent defenders, coaching and shooters. And we need another playmaker that can share the floor with Harden if need be. He can't be burdening the entire load of perimeter shotcreation in the starting five. Maxey isn't a natural shotcreator, he's more of a downhill opportunistic bucket that relies on momentum and straight line speed. He isn't the type to get the ball at the top of the key and create something off the bounce. Not a problem, but we need another player that can create for themselves and others.

I liked the reference to Chris Paul who looked absolutely cooked a few years ago and then through rest and some dietary changes has hit that second wind.

I don't think James Harden is as dedicated as Paul is, going vegan and everything. But Harden still lives and breathes basketball. He's been suffering through playing on one hamstring for two years now. Chris Paul would look just as finished in Philadelphia playing with no other perimeter creators (like he gets to with Booker) and being forced to play 40 minutes a night and iso and control every single possession.

These guys are 33+, they don't have that unlimited stamina like Luka, Trae and Lamelo who are super young and fresh limbed. The fact that Paul can take plays off and have Booker with him that can get a bucket and create for his team is huge in terms of keeping him fresh over the course of a season.

This offense usually looks geriatric when Maxey or Harris have the ball at the top of the key, and most of the time these guys are scared to even hold the ball longer than 3-5 seconds and they get the ball back to Harden immediately.

It's a house money season. I don't have any real expectations for these playoffs, but I think a lot of viewed this season as so anyways. Even when the trade was announced. It's a precursor to our real 2-ish year window opening next season once hopefully Harris/Thybulle/Rivers/Bench/Doc/Glenn are gone.

This roster is way too fundamentally flawed to be taken seriously, and that's okay. We've sacrificed a lot of depth in consecutive years making marquee trade after another.

[PhillyFan11]

Anybody else just catch Legs on 97.5? Threw a stat out I wasn’t aware was a thing and not sure how to verify but according to Legler…Harden’s prime in Houston = 50% blow by rate. Harden now= 30% blow by rate.

If true this confirms what the eye test has told many. Harden can’t get to past 1 on 1 defense at an elite rate anymore. Obviously that doesn’t mean he can’t still be a very good player, but he needs to adjust his game. Much like a power pitcher in baseball…when the 99 mph heater goes away he needs to adjust to learn how to get hitters out. Harden needs to realize he can’t get to the lane with ease and relying on the foul call isn’t affective. Him being a step slow to the lane also makes his step back 3 less affective.

[FireMorey]

Until the hamstring heals he will struggle one on one. The problem is, he's learning how to adjust on the fly, which isn't easy.

Hopefully he heals up in the summer and it's not an issue next season.

[Bum Adebayo]

He is not struggling, we are losing some games because our bench sucks, what do you want to win when our bench can only score 8 points?