HotelVitale wrote:I'm good with homer, but there's no point in the version of homer where you just repeat the best possible outcome for your team and ignore the rest of the context. Every one of these points you made is somewhere between lacking crucial subtlety and obviously unreasonable. I'm a Sixers fan but I'm not going to try to sell you James Harden or try to say how desperate your team is, because I know any actual decision will involve a realistic assessment of Harden's worth right now as well as the teams' various needs/situations now. No point in taking the extreme view on the trade board.
1. yes, WB had 3 good PO games, he's also had 3 full seasons of not being good before that and was awful in some other PO games, and he'll be 35 this season too. Taking those 3 PO games as his permanent Clipper reality isn't a reasonable assessment
2. yes the Sixers want to get the best possible return here, but there's levels to that--and there's no level where they're open now to taking pure expirings who won't help at all. The Clippers have some better players who they might be open to (e.g. Powell and Mann), but right now they don't want to jump at taking those guys at the expense of blowing their one-time max cap space this year. Not hard to get if you put yourself into the Sixers' shoes for a second
3. sure, be cool if that happens for the Clips, but it's a very unlikely outcome now and there's no point planning around it or discussing it as a realistic option. Need to be a perfect storm for that to happen, esp since it's massively against Harden's and the Sixers' interests here
4. yes Philly cares about dysfunction, no they don't care about it to the extent they're going to make a bad move now that greatly decreases their chances to compete with Embiid
5. yes Embiid needs to be factored in, no the answer isn't to dump Harden immediately for whatever junk is available
6. the Clippers only priority is to win now, no they're not the favorites as is and yes Harden would certainly help them
Again, not really agreeing with any of the points you made:
1. Westbrook had some off seasons for him once he got bounced from OKC. He needs the right system and with the Clips, he got it. You rule him out, but he is still a top performer. The season before last, he averaged a triple double in the playoffs. He needs time to gel with his new team and his role to be defined, but he is still an athletic freak and will be fine for a few more years.
2. There are very few expiring stars that both help Philly compete this year and are off the books next year. Philly wants its cake and also wants to eat its cake. You can't have both and no team is offering up what Philly demands. Unless Morey can convince Harden to play (and re-sign) for a team not named the Clippers, then I doubt this is a realistic possibility.
3. I would like to see an alternative option here. Harden is less likely to be traded now and he will expire at the end of the season and will lose his Bird Rights. You say this is a perfect storm situation, yet you offer no other realistic alternative. Its not like Morey has not already been shopping Harden for months, with zero interest from non-Clipper teams.
4. Philly cares about dysfunction but is not willing to do anything to address it? Seems foolish to me. You cant expect a max level free-agent to willingly join an obviously dysfunctional team who just brutally screwed a superstar. Makes no sense.
5. Embiid does not just need to be factored in - he needs to be the #1, #2, and #3 priorities for the team. Philly has the current MVP and is going to throw away both this season and maybe future seasons over not wanting Marcus Morris Sr? Crazy. I guess you do not believe that Harden will sabotage the season to force a trade, but I happen to believe this is the most likely scenario.
6. Clips do not need to win now. They are very content with the direction of the franchise. They are especially excited that top free agents are open to joining the team whenever it gets cap space. I agree they are not favorites, but they will make the playoffs at a bare minimum. Harden would help but is not critical and not worth giving up PG13 for example.
As I have stated many times, in a perfect world, Harden is worth a Kings ransom. In the real world though, he is worth expirings.
