I Do Not like Philly's Roster

[ozgod]

Well Harden is no spring chicken , and already to the age where the energy starts evaporating for defense intensity,  see Lebron , who barely reacts to defense except the last 5-10 minutes of a game if the game is close and he thinks they can win , otherwise he stands and watch’s . 

Maybe he can shoot, but his body type is not the Ray Allen or Reggie Miller , it will be a struggle if he continues to pork out at his age.  He s a fat boy waiting to happen .

So…yeah it’s about a win now situation for a few years while Embiid still has a working back and knees to support that monster frame.

Can't find it right now but saw a graphic the other day about how much James has slowed down.

As in, literal MPH.

And he's bottom 3 in the league right now (along with LeBron lol)

Harden looks right now like Perk did a year after he retired........He's one Philly cheesesteak away from Perk on TV today.

Not good.

Ha.  That cheeze wiz will really pack on the pounds.

Who ate all the cheesesteaks???

[ozgod]

Looking at Harden's stats, he wasn't that great this year.  He's having an inefficient season, with his eFG% the lowest since his rookie season.  His 3PT% is a career low.

Is that because he's declining, or because he's uncommitted and out of shape?  He's still providing a lot of assists -- 10.2 -- so he brings value.  But, does that value exceed what Philly could have gotten in a different trade?

Curry himself was averaging 15 points and 4 assists on excellent efficiency.  So, they're getting an extra 7.5 points and 6.2 assists, at the cost of Simmons, Drummond and two #1s.

I think that slam and I have both asked this question, but why were they hyperfocused on Harden?  Haliburton + Barnes for Simmons + two #1s.  Who says no?

Embiid
Harris
Barnes / Thybulle
Curry
Haliburton / Maxey

Organize the lineup however you want; that's a monster team.

I think the answer is Morey. Harden is Morey's guy.

[seancally]

Looking at Harden's stats, he wasn't that great this year.  He's having an inefficient season, with his eFG% the lowest since his rookie season.  His 3PT% is a career low.

Is that because he's declining, or because he's uncommitted and out of shape?  He's still providing a lot of assists -- 10.2 -- so he brings value.  But, does that value exceed what Philly could have gotten in a different trade?

Curry himself was averaging 15 points and 4 assists on excellent efficiency.  So, they're getting an extra 7.5 points and 6.2 assists, at the cost of Simmons, Drummond and two #1s.

I think that slam and I have both asked this question, but why were they hyperfocused on Harden?  Haliburton + Barnes for Simmons + two #1s.  Who says no?

Embiid
Harris
Barnes / Thybulle
Curry
Haliburton / Maxey

Organize the lineup however you want; that's a monster team.

Because Morey is focused on Harden. He believes Harden is the perfect complement to Embiid. And while I do love Haliburton and think he’s championship material, he’s young and unproven. Embiid is an MVP today, who knows what’s gonna happen next season? Need to bring in proven stars to help push for a title now.

Having said that, we all have our doubts about Harden’s playoff mettle… but apparently Morey does not.

[Phantom255x]

The issue right now is that PHI is pretty thin roster-wise. Like, Harden I think was the only key guy they were missing yesterday and they got spanked. Now I understand, Harden's a star player and obviously he's missed in that regard. But the Sixers no longer have Curry and Drummond who were key pieces for them and I think in a game like yesterday it showed.

With that said,  PHI could still add 1 or 2 guys from the buyout market to help and fix the issue.

Ultimately though, I think Harden is the key. Embiid can play at an MVP level obviously, but if Harden can't get clutch buckets in the playoffs or can't make winning plays then it might not matter.

[Kernewek]

I think if you want to be very charitable to harden you could say he bailed on the Nets because he went there to join two great players in order to get a ring.

He got hurt (we can say) because he came back too early from injury because one of his Great Teammates has made himself unavailable for various reasons and the other one doesn’t seem to care that Kyrie is Kyrie.

In this reading, Harden should be more motivated playing on a team with guys who actually want to be on the floor and are arguably a better fit with his game.

[Roy H.]

Looking at Harden's stats, he wasn't that great this year.  He's having an inefficient season, with his eFG% the lowest since his rookie season.  His 3PT% is a career low.

Is that because he's declining, or because he's uncommitted and out of shape?  He's still providing a lot of assists -- 10.2 -- so he brings value.  But, does that value exceed what Philly could have gotten in a different trade?

Curry himself was averaging 15 points and 4 assists on excellent efficiency.  So, they're getting an extra 7.5 points and 6.2 assists, at the cost of Simmons, Drummond and two #1s.

I think that slam and I have both asked this question, but why were they hyperfocused on Harden?  Haliburton + Barnes for Simmons + two #1s.  Who says no?

Embiid
Harris
Barnes / Thybulle
Curry
Haliburton / Maxey

Organize the lineup however you want; that's a monster team.

Because Morey is focused on Harden. He believes Harden is the perfect complement to Embiid. And while I do love Haliburton and think he’s championship material, he’s young and unproven. Embiid is an MVP today, who knows what’s gonna happen next season? Need to bring in proven stars to help push for a title now.

Having said that, we all have our doubts about Harden’s playoff mettle… but apparently Morey does not.

I don't think Haliburton is unproven.  He's played at a high level for awhile now.  And, it's not just Haliburton.  It's him + Curry + Barnes + Drummond.

[nickagneta]

I said this elsewhere, but historically, teaming Harden up with another MVP level player which could also be a prolific scorer, has never resulted in a championship. His game doesn't mesh well with others and it's not like Harden is some clutch guy come playoff time.

I don't see this ending well for Philly and could see them trying to move Harden within two years. 2024 off-season at the latest.

[tonydelk]

They traded 2 people in their rotation, including a starter, and because Harden hasn't played they didn't replace them.  Take a starter and a rotation player off of any team and don't replace them and it will affect you.  When Harden plays, he will make a lot of this better.  He just changes the whole dynamic of the team because of his not just his scoring, but with his play making as well.  They are far more likely to win the championship this year than Boston is given the talent they have at the top of the roster.

Two starters were taken off our team last night and we beat them by 48. Or would you prefer to ignore that?

Wow.  Surprised by your take.  I feel Boston has the MUCH better roster from top to bottom and their pieces fit so much more then Philly's.  Look at the Bucks.  Outside of Giannis none of the rest are top 20 players but their team fits very well together and they won a championship.  You need talent but you also need chemistry and cohesion.  Philly doesn't have it because their pieces don't fit.  If Boston can get the top 3 seed I like there chances more then Philly's. 

[Goldstar88]

I said this elsewhere, but historically, teaming Harden up with another MVP level player which could also be a prolific scorer, has never resulted in a championship. His game doesn't mesh well with others and it's not like Harden is some clutch guy come playoff time.

I don't see this ending well for Philly and could see them trying to move Harden within two years. 2024 off-season at the latest.

To be fair, the other star players that he had been paired up with prior to Brooklyn were ball dominant guards in Westbrook and CP3. He’s never played with an elite big like Embiid. I think it would have worked in Brooklyn if their big 3 could have stayed on the court together and were not constantly missing time with injury or due to their vaccination status.  KD, Kyrie and Harden only played together in 16 games and they were 13-3.

Well, here’s to hoping it doesn’t work out in Philly.   

[wdleehi]

Way too soon.   We have to see Harden and see if he has a miracle improvement like last year from Houston to Brooklyn   

Not to mention if is probably an attractive place to any outside shooter right now. 

[celticsclay]

They traded 2 people in their rotation, including a starter, and because Harden hasn't played they didn't replace them.  Take a starter and a rotation player off of any team and don't replace them and it will affect you.  When Harden plays, he will make a lot of this better.  He just changes the whole dynamic of the team because of his not just his scoring, but with his play making as well.  They are far more likely to win the championship this year than Boston is given the talent they have at the top of the roster.

How can you say this with a straight face when we didn't have our third best player in Williams and missed our 4th best player (smart) the majority of the game. Doesn't make a lot of sense. That is a lot more loss than curry and drummond.

[wdleehi]

They traded 2 people in their rotation, including a starter, and because Harden hasn't played they didn't replace them.  Take a starter and a rotation player off of any team and don't replace them and it will affect you.  When Harden plays, he will make a lot of this better.  He just changes the whole dynamic of the team because of his not just his scoring, but with his play making as well.  They are far more likely to win the championship this year than Boston is given the talent they have at the top of the roster.

How can you say this with a straight face when we didn't have our third best player in Williams and missed our 4th best player (smart) the majority of the game. Doesn't make a lot of sense. That is a lot more loss than curry and drummond.

Do you really think if they played that game with the same exact people again Philly would play that bad?  (not saying the Celtics wouldn't beat them, but it would be closer)

[LilRip]

Hmm… I think Harden + Embiid will be fine. Talent can play with talent. I think they’ll be a strong duo. That said, Harden’s definitely entering a worse team vs the Nets and it’s not just because there’s no KD

Aside from the big 3, the Nets had hard workers, shooters and high IQ guys for role players. Philly only has Thybulle - who is a hardworking defensive player but is fairly blah on offense, and Maxey - who is decent but plays the same position as Harden and needs the ball too to make things happen.

Also, it’s Tobias Harris who is the awkward fit here because when he isn’t creating for himself, he’s fairly invisible out there. Of course, when he’s on his game, he’s a hard guy to stop. But really, how often will that happen with Harden now controlling most of the action?

[celticsclay]

Maxey, Harden, Thybulle, Harris, Embiid is a pretty solid starting lineup, at least on paper. Will be interesting to see how they gel. Bench isn’t bad either with Green, Milton, Niang.

I expect them to be dangerous in the playoffs.

Milton and Green are pretty poor players, especially in the playoffs against a good team. (Green obviously used to be very solid, but he is ancient at this point and much slower on defense) I don't think you can play Thybulle very long in playoffs either because he makes Marcus Smart look like Steve Kerr (he is shooting 28% on threes, mostly wide open). They need buyout guys bad.

[Moranis]

Looking at Harden's stats, he wasn't that great this year.  He's having an inefficient season, with his eFG% the lowest since his rookie season.  His 3PT% is a career low.

Is that because he's declining, or because he's uncommitted and out of shape?  He's still providing a lot of assists -- 10.2 -- so he brings value.  But, does that value exceed what Philly could have gotten in a different trade?

Curry himself was averaging 15 points and 4 assists on excellent efficiency.  So, they're getting an extra 7.5 points and 6.2 assists, at the cost of Simmons, Drummond and two #1s.

I think that slam and I have both asked this question, but why were they hyperfocused on Harden?  Haliburton + Barnes for Simmons + two #1s.  Who says no?

Embiid
Harris
Barnes / Thybulle
Curry
Haliburton / Maxey

Organize the lineup however you want; that's a monster team.

Harden started off the year pretty slowly and phoned it in the last couple of games, but in the 16 games in between (Christmas through January), he averaged:

38.2 mpg
26.4 ppg (on 18.4 FGA and upped his FTA to 9.3)
10.9 apg
8.3 rpg
1.2 spg
0.8 bpg
4.5 tpg

That is much more inline with MVP James Harden.  Then Irving came back, Durant got hurt, and he got banged up, came back and phoned it in for 2 games, and then sat out for injury until the trade.