James Harden Traded to Clippers

[Goldstar88]

Wrong thread

[SparzWizard]

Are LAC the most talented team in the league now?

Top to bottom. Combo of elite talent & depth.

Officially the NBA Champs of 2017.

They'll oust the Lakers but probably fall short to Phoenix or Denver

[Ed Monix]

The continuing strategy of the L.A Clippers front office.

[SHAQATTACK]

With Harden gone , I wonder how long Embiid will hang around with no serious star help.  I suspect he ‘ll jump to Heat eventually if he remains stranded on a go no where team.

[Roy H.]

With Harden gone , I wonder how long Embiid will hang around with no serious star help.  I suspect he ‘ll jump to Heat eventually if he remains stranded on a go no where team.

I think that Maxey is a star, better than Harden currently is.  If the 76ers can add another star in free agency or via trade, they'll be well-positioned.

[johnnygreen]

Did anyone see the locker room reaction when Harden arrived? Only Westbrook bothered to get up and shack his hand, and he almost seemed reluctant to do that. Needless to say, Charles Barkley had a nice reaction to the video.

[Celtics2021]

Did anyone see the locker room reaction when Harden arrived? Only Westbrook bothered to get up and shack his hand, and he almost seemed reluctant to do that. Needless to say, Charles Barkley had a nice reaction to the video.

I think Westbrook was just joking with Harden when watching that video. But whoever was sitting next to him looked thoroughly unexcited to see Harden walk in.

[celticsclay]

With Harden gone , I wonder how long Embiid will hang around with no serious star help.  I suspect he ‘ll jump to Heat eventually if he remains stranded on a go no where team.

I think that Maxey is a star, better than Harden currently is.  If the 76ers can add another star in free agency or via trade, they'll be well-positioned.

Maxey very well could be a star already, but his timeline is different than Embid who will probably start to have slight decline in the coming years. I do think they need a third star or very high quality player, the question is who is available? Lavine? Siakam? Not sure there is anyone out there that moves the needle for them to get to the tier of a healthy Celtics, bucks or
Nuggets team.

[michigan adam]

From the Clippers perspective, a Harden/Westbrook starting combo doesn't seem like a good fit.

Houston had to use that micro-ball gimmick to make those two work alongside one another. A 5 out offense to give Westbrook enough spacing to operate. Zubac and Plumlee cannot do that.

There is only one ball.  How are those 4 ball dominant players going to co-exist.  1 plays while the other 3 watch?  Maybe the 2 forwards are not quite that bad, but those 2 guards are near useless without the ball.

[blink]

With Harden gone , I wonder how long Embiid will hang around with no serious star help.  I suspect he ‘ll jump to Heat eventually if he remains stranded on a go no where team.

I think that Maxey is a star, better than Harden currently is.  If the 76ers can add another star in free agency or via trade, they'll be well-positioned.

Maxey very well could be a star already, but his timeline is different than Embid who will probably start to have slight decline in the coming years. I do think they need a third star or very high quality player, the question is who is available? Lavine? Siakam? Not sure there is anyone out there that moves the needle for them to get to the tier of a healthy Celtics, bucks or
Nuggets team.

I also think Maxey is there already.  He has been borderline unstoppable in the two 76ers games that I watched.   Plus they are getting good production from Oubre Jr now off the bench.   I think that Philly loosing PJ Tucker hurts almost as much as loosing Harden.  Not sure if Lavine is the 3rd star they need?  His toolkit seems to overlap with Maxey a lot. 

The toughness, defense that PJ Tucker brought might be harder to replace than Hardens points/ assists.

[celticsclay]

With Harden gone , I wonder how long Embiid will hang around with no serious star help.  I suspect he ‘ll jump to Heat eventually if he remains stranded on a go no where team.

I think that Maxey is a star, better than Harden currently is.  If the 76ers can add another star in free agency or via trade, they'll be well-positioned.

Maxey very well could be a star already, but his timeline is different than Embid who will probably start to have slight decline in the coming years. I do think they need a third star or very high quality player, the question is who is available? Lavine? Siakam? Not sure there is anyone out there that moves the needle for them to get to the tier of a healthy Celtics, bucks or
Nuggets team.

I also think Maxey is there already.  He has been borderline unstoppable in the two 76ers games that I watched.   Plus they are getting good production from Oubre Jr now off the bench.   I think that Philly loosing PJ Tucker hurts almost as much as loosing Harden.  Not sure if Lavine is the 3rd star they need?  His toolkit seems to overlap with Maxey a lot. 

The toughness, defense that PJ Tucker brought might be harder to replace than Hardens points/ assists.

I don’t say this as a positive, if oubre is the key to your season you are in a bad spot (and I do actually think he is a key for them, they need some scoring with ok defense badly). That being said he is on his fifth team and signed for the minimum for a Reason.

[green_bballers13]

Bad decision by Philly. They should have tried harder to repair the relationship. They gave up on it too easily and settled for a terrible trade return instead.

How could Philly repair the relationship? I don't think that is feasible.

How could Philly have confidence going forward that he would play up to his contract? He already wasn't ready to go to work. Simple analysis. Harden had to go immediately, as he was willing to sit and poison the team's chance at success.

The Clippers were already heading down a dark path with aging, injured vets. Now they have one of the worst competitors in the NBA. Balmer must realize that they have made several mistakes.

[BringToughnessBack]

Harden is a poison

[tazzmaniac]

Bad decision by Philly. They should have tried harder to repair the relationship. They gave up on it too easily and settled for a terrible trade return instead.

How could Philly repair the relationship? I don't think that is feasible.

How could Philly have confidence going forward that he would play up to his contract? He already wasn't ready to go to work. Simple analysis. Harden had to go immediately, as he was willing to sit and poison the team's chance at success.

The Clippers were already heading down a dark path with aging, injured vets. Now they have one of the worst competitors in the NBA. Balmer must realize that they have made several mistakes.

Who is wrong on two counts.  The relationship was not going to be repaired.  They'd held onto Harden longer than many thought they should and were able to get a better deal from the Clips.  The only reason to hold on to him even longer was to get an even better deal; however that was extremely unlikely.  Another team wasn't all of a sudden going to show interest in him and the Clips wouldn't have a reason to improve their offer further again. 

As for the return, it was better than expected getting 2 firsts, a first pick swap and 2 2nds.  The players received are all on very tradeable 1-year contracts and will most likely provide more productivity than Tucker who was a 2-year contract that they wanted to dump.  That trade compares quite well to the trade where they got Harden and dumped Simmons.  Nets get: Simmons, Curry, Drummond, 2022 first-round pick (unprotected), 2027 first-round pick (protected); Sixer get: Harden and Millsap. 

[liam]

Bad decision by Philly. They should have tried harder to repair the relationship. They gave up on it too easily and settled for a terrible trade return instead.

How could Philly repair the relationship? I don't think that is feasible.

How could Philly have confidence going forward that he would play up to his contract? He already wasn't ready to go to work. Simple analysis. Harden had to go immediately, as he was willing to sit and poison the team's chance at success.

The Clippers were already heading down a dark path with aging, injured vets. Now they have one of the worst competitors in the NBA. Balmer must realize that they have made several mistakes.

Who is wrong on two counts.  The relationship was not going to be repaired.  They'd held onto Harden longer than many thought they should and were able to get a better deal from the Clips.  The only reason to hold on to him even longer was to get an even better deal; however that was extremely unlikely.  Another team wasn't all of a sudden going to show interest in him and the Clips wouldn't have a reason to improve their offer further again. 

As for the return, it was better than expected getting 2 firsts, a first pick swap and 2 2nds.  The players received are all on very tradeable 1-year contracts and will most likely provide more productivity than Tucker who was a 2-year contract that they wanted to dump.  That trade compares quite well to the trade where they got Harden and dumped Simmons.  Nets get: Simmons, Curry, Drummond, 2022 first-round pick (unprotected), 2027 first-round pick (protected); Sixer get: Harden and Millsap.

The Sixers are constantly going after guys and then dumping them.