Yeah, I think it's only a matter of time before Harden is moved. He has to move. Their window has slammed shut and he is now 31 years-old and has a player option in 2 years. If you wait until the deadline, the acquiring team is only going to be guaranteed 1+ years of him, which will reduce the return.
I get the dynamics, I just don't see how this makes Harden happy long term. The team as currently constituted isn't winning anything. Wall's one redeeming quality used to be his transition scoring, and that was like three years ago pre-injury. Houston doesn't run. Harden might have wanted Russ gone, but ultimately he's going to ask out anyway if Houston isn't a contender. At least with Russ, there's at least an outside shot at assembling a contender around those two guys.
Is this actually true though? My understanding is that Westbrook and Harden are really good friends off the court and got along well during their year in Houston, but the experiment with them on the court clearly didn't work and Houston wanted to get off his contract, so they decided to swap it for the Wall contract and get a pick out of it. I don't think that this was really a move because Harden and Westbrook didn't like playing with each other. I think Harden is going to be on the move pretty soon...
He'll probably still ask out, but given his contract they have a bit of time before they need to trade him, so they're flailing around looking for something.
They may be friendly outside the team, but the word was that it was not a great situation in terms of work environment, and that HOU thought they needed to move Russ.
Seems like the shortened offseason has made it difficult to really do any major deals. The draft was merely a few weeks ago so teams don't really know what they have. I do think we could see a decent amount of activity as the pretenders quickly look to offload contracts for salary cap/profitability purposes.
I think the Lakers and 76ers got a good amount better. The Warriors would have gotten much better if Klay wasn't hurt (Oubre is a really good add for nothing), and while I'm not as high as some on the Blazers' additions (you can't really improve your defense when you play 38 minutes of two bad backcourt defenders) they're clearly better.
I think you answered your own question - the Lakers, Bucks, and Clippers are the only teams that are clearly in GFIN now mode, but they all already have their primary pieces. I guess the other team you could throw in this group is the Nets - and there is still the possibility they swing a trade for Harden.
Boy, what a self-own. PG has gone from a very efficient, soft-spoken player who seemed like the perfect #2 to guys like Kawhi (or LeBron or whomever else) to someone who is clearly cancerous. What a bad situation. That said, I think Lue is really good and might be the perfect dude for managing personalities like Kawhi and PG.
Really fun trio. I'm #1 in seeing Westbrook as overrated, but I can really see that trio as complementary. Bertrans obviously with his shooting from deep, but Beal is also a player who can be efficient in a #. of different roles. And, a bit contrary to what you write here, the Wiz have a few complementary players as well. I think that's a decent team that will likely make the playoffs. And unloading Wall is just a major coup. Westbrook may be overrated, but he has game. Wall had major faults when healthy....and very hard to imagine how he can be effective coming off injury.
I agree on the Lakers, unsure that 76ers got materially better.
I don’t think they’ll run too much Mike Scott at the four. PF depth isn’t a huge concern in today’s game, especially when you have Ben Simmons out there.
I like Richardson, but they needed more shooting than defense and the Curry/Green combo gives them that. As to bigs... I think Dwight works because he's going to play the minutes Embiid can't and give you a similar player type, and I think Tobi is a 4 now and given the size you have in Simmons and the bench wings, you don't need that many Mike Scott minutes.
The Lakers option always required one/two of them to take paycuts, Miami can absolutely make the space if that's where Giannis wants to go, and Dallas is still a very appealing option. I'd personally love if he stayed in Milwaukee because the roster is already aging in a significant way and I wouldn't feel threatened by that team beyond the next couple of years. If Riley/Cuban got him, he's a threat for the next decade.
Yes. Kemba + anyone not named Jaylen, Marcus or Jayson* in a heartbeat for Harden. Houston would say no
I think Wall is much better off the ball than Westbrook is. He's not good, but he shoots better, passes better, and moves better.
I agree, the Lakers definitely have a better roster. A point that has been made by a couple writers/analysts that I agree with is that it's not clear the current roster will play better in a playoff series than what they got last year vs Denver and Miami. Not suggesting that keeping Rondo would have accomplished that either. Schroder to me will certainly help them, but I'm not sure he'll be better than the rebirth of "playoff Rondo"
Marcus Smart sure is loved by Boston fans. I imagine Ainge woudl trade Smart without blinking if it netted him James Harden
Yep. I like me some Smart and his first-team NBA defense more than most.
I agree, I don't think there's really any question they'd move Smart to get a legit star---and I say that being a big believer that Smart's game and intensity has unique value. But as the Lakers just showed very clearly in the finals, the league is about apex-stars.
Westbrook certainly was a great player in his prime. Since he relies on athleticism and his almost maniacal energy level, his decline was always going to be more pronounced than other stars.
Agreed with all of this.
I don't know about PHI. I mean maybe they got players who are a better fit (slightly) but they are not as good basketball players as Al and Richardson. Also, in a league that seems to emphasize wings, PHI has these players to choose from.
| Ryan Broekhoff | G |
30 |
6' 6" |
215 lbs |
| Lamine Diane | F |
-- |
6' 7" |
205 lbs |
| Terrance Ferguson | G |
22 |
6' 6" |
190 lbs |
| Danny Green | G |
33 |
6' 6" |
215 lbs |
| Tobias Harris | F |
28 |
6' 8" |
226 lbs |
| Isaiah Joe | G |
-- |
6' 5" |
180 lbs |
| Furkan Korkmaz | F |
23 |
6' 7" |
202 lbs |
| Theo Maledon | G |
19 |
6' 5" |
174 lbs |
| Dakota Mathias | G |
25 |
6' 4" |
200 lbs |
| Paul Reed | F |
-- |
6' 9" |
220 lbs |
| Mike Scott | F |
32 |
6' 7" |
237 lbs |
| Matisse Thybulle | G |
23 |
6' 5" |
201 lbs |
|
I think the offensive ID issues are Embiid/Simmons issues. However... if your two best players can't shoot, the ideal solution is to put 3 guys on the floor who can, and Curry/Green is a good start towards that.
Makes sense—the team is being strip-mined. He should be taking any excuse to force his way out.
I don't know that he'd be that petty if the offer is Simmons, but Simmons probably won't be the offer. Would more likely be All The Picks plus salary to make it work.
Well, I could see him turning down that package, Morey or no Morey. They desperately needs picks after the Westbrook debacle, but if they're trading Harden to a team that also has Simmons and Embiid, those are going to be pretty late first round picks for the foreseeable future, not quite a Billy King Nets package.
Just a note here that, at the time of the deal, those Brooklyn picks weren't expected to be very good. Deron Williams' career hadn't tanked completely yet, and they were expected to pay the luxury tax and sign free agents for awhile. The deal was primarily bad for Brooklyn in that it gave no out if things went wrong, and created a vicious cycle that trapped the team for a few years.
Do they even have the salary if they don't include one of Harris, Simmons, Embiid?
Sure, I'd bet even Ainge wouldn't have thought those picks had too likely a chance of being top 3 or top overall picks at the time of the deal. But the 76ers are generally a younger team than those Nets were (Simmons is only 24, Deron Williams was 29 at the time of that trade), Harden is younger than Pierce/Garnett were, and if you're banking on the downside of the last few years of the end of the seven year period for your picks, you're losing a good bit of value from the multiple picks from the earlier seasons, when you could be getting better picks those years from a worse team that looks to be less of a contender in the interim. Without offering either Simmons or Embiid, Philly really doesn't have that attractive an offer compared with another team that would be willing to make a similar deal centered on future picks.
I think it’s safe to say that any prospective Harden deal where Tobias Harris is the big get is a complete non-starter for Houston.
I like it. from Houston's perspective, the Warriors will flame out in about 3 seasons. Unprotected picks and swaps past 2024 will be gold. Maybe sooner if Steph gets more fragile with age
I'd be curious to know what Doc thinks of Harden. I'm sure he respects the talent but Harden doesn't really fit the makeup of what Doc looks for in a star. Seems to me like the most realistic option is Golden State. They have a marketable chip in Wiseman, salaries to make it work, and the likely motivation to make a splash given the age of Curry and the timing/uncertainty of Klay's recovery.
That's a fascinating one. GSW may believe they are going to 'bridge' to the next core with Wiseman and that Minny pick next year....but it is awful tough to turn down a chance to go Curry/Green/Harden this year and add Klay to it next year. Plus, you dump the Wiggins contract as part of the value you get in the swap.
I suppose that's possible. But Simmons is a much bigger chip than Wiseman, and I'd wonder a lot more about Harden's fit with Curry and Kerr that with Doc.
I'm operating under the assumption that Philly/Houston can't consummate a deal for a variety of reasons ranging from Philly not being willing to deal Simmons, front office issues between the organizations, etc. (admittedly a big assumption on my part). Agree that Simmons would be preferred but I expect a Philly/Houston standoff so, if Harden gets dealt, I would bet on it being Golden State or some mystery team.
