The problem with that is that it leaves Houston bereft of talent with OKC in control of their draft, and thus no way to improve without sheer luck. I’m pretty sure they can do better than a tertiary scorer and bacon bits.
NBA 20/21 season thread
- Thread starter DJnVa
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On basketball grounds alone Brooklyn should and would trade Irving for Harden but for political reasons I think they’d avoid it. They blew up that entire organization to pair KD and Kyrie and won’t tear it down before they even play a game together. That’s suicide in terms of dealing with future FA stars and the power agents.
I think that largely depends on what KD thinks. If Durant wants them to trade Kyrie for Harden, they should and likely would make the deal in a heartbeat.
I hope there are plenty of interested teams in Ontario, New York, and Pennsylvania...
Does anyone think Tyler Herro will be a #1 or #2 on a winning team? I didn't realize that was a thing.
KOC and Simmons were talking about NO as a dark horse.
Warm climate party city. Could pair him with Zion. They control their own firsts, and have a ton of LAL/MIL picks and swap rights. Package centered on Ingram and picks. OK the picks are low, but a LeBron or Giannis injury (or Giannis departure, though that looks less likely now) gives them some upside. Or Pels can send their own picks, and use the contender picks to look for role players. Steven Adams is off the books before Zion gets expensive. I think that's similarly interesting to the possible Warrior packages. Ingram isn't good, but will put up enough points on bad teams to stop them being unwatchably terrible.
He was the #2 scoring option on the Heat this year in the playoffs if you go by FGA. By FGA/G, he was 3rd.
But to answer your question, maybe people in Miami or the last name Herro.
This is a really interesting idea. Harden and Zion could be a devastating combo and New Orleans has a ton of picks from the Davis trade and the Holiday trade to throw into that package. I've heard that a lot of NBA front office people differ wildly on Ingram, some of whom think he is a great, franchise player, and others who think he is kind of bad. It will probably depend on how Houston feels about him to get a deal done.
Harden and KAT would be interesting too but I doubt a DLo and Edwards for Harden trade works for either. Plus the Wolves just got Rubio and resigned Beasley. But they will have a glut of guards regardless.
Lowry is about to turn 35; hard to see a rebuilding Rockets wanting any part of that reunion. VanVleet in his stead, maybe...?
If I'm Houston, I'd probably want Siakim instead, disappointing bubble notwithstanding (don't think VanVleet can be traded right away either).
From Houston's perspective I think this is one of their best bets, one of the few with assets with future potential.
Van Vleet can't be traded. Lowry would probably be contingent on a contender having interest and Houston being able to swing him there.
I mean that was literally why I listed Kyrie as a necessity in a Houston deal. The Rockets need to acquire a decent '21 pick in order to make any Harden deal worth their while. Right now there's a roughly 75% chance that their pick is in the 20-27 range. And you can't build a team around bacon bits and a low first. And with Silver having officially shitcanned the '22 high school draft that pool is looking pretty poor with all the reclassifications. So a late lottery pick in '22 doesn't change the calculus any.
Count me in as thinking this makes some sense. I happen to like Ingram a lot, and while it'd be a step back for Houston with the right picks it'd give the basis for a rebuild. And for the Pels it accelerates theirs bigtime.
There are people who still think that Kyle Kuzma is a better player than Jayson Tatum.
Only lingering question I would have if I’m the Pels is does it hurt Zion’s development to play with a ball dominant guy like Harden. We all saw what Tatum did when Kyrie was removed from the equation.
I’m not a big Ingram fan so I would probably pull the trigger, especially given his new contract, but worth considering.
Harden still pushing for a trade, Philly won’t include Simmons or Embiid, and Houston wants Brooklyn to find a third team for a centerpiece player, since Houston won’t do it for a collection of role players/picks and doesn’t want Kyrie, and Brooklyn won’t trade him:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30518107/sources-john-wall-addition-houston-rockets-james-harden-pushing-trade
I don't think the Warriors want in, but Klay or Wiggins and Wiseman/Minny is a little interesting to ponder. I haven't tried the salary math but have read it is workable with spare parts
How about the Clippers? Paul George and Beverley going out, with maybe a third team taking George and sending picks and/or asset to Houston?
LA gets Harden
DEN gets PG13
HOU gets PatBev, Michael Porter JR, Gary Harris, and Will Barton.
Denver adds a third piece to Joker and Murray, and should be able to figure out wing depth at the deadline, if needed. Houston gets young players with upside, especially MPJr. Harden gets to play in LA
LA gets Harden
DEN gets PG13
HOU gets PatBev, Michael Porter JR, Gary Harris, and Will Barton.
Denver adds a third piece to Joker and Murray, and should be able to figure out wing depth at the deadline, if needed. Houston gets young players with upside, especially MPJr. Harden gets to play in LA
I’m confused. The guy on Friday posted 12/8 in 12 minutes. Why wouldn’t the Bulls just wait until he gets cleared? Kind of a weird statement for Vonleh to make unless he knows he wasn’t making the cut, for whatever reason.
I was also 100% wrong on him. Thought he’d be a much better NBA player after seeing him play live at MSG.
I think he's on a non-guaranteed contract that they'd have to guarantee by opening night (which is before he'd be cleared). I'm assuming they told him that they weren't going to guarantee it since he'll miss the rest of camp.
Ah, thanks. Figured that there must be a reason. Teams probably won’t wait for a marginal players like him to clear since they need bodies.
It might have been the high point of his career, but he didn't he light up the C's one night when he was with Portland? (Maybe I dreamed that.)
The OKC thing means that Harden is either going to have to waste one of his few remaining years or convince the teams that want him to pay. You can give away guys like Harden for pennies on the dollar when you're anticipating winning 35 games and getting a decent draft pick. But Houston is almost certainly only getting a pick in the 20s. So they have zero incentive to give him away for nothing.
I think the Pelicans scenario someone posted is a good one, and I'd hope that they'd think about it. Right now they're running everything through Ingram because they have no choice (he's not very good off ball). But come January when they can deal him an Ingram/filler/draft picks package might not be a bad option for the Rockets. Especially if Presti had interest in Ingram and they could spin him into some more picks (including a return of their '21 one). And the Harden/Zion P&R will be death on the NBA.
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I wonder if Jamal Murray for Beal would be something the Nuggets and Wizards were interested in.
LaVal Ball calls the Pistons “raggedy as hell” after they cut the lesser of his three sons, LiAngelo:
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2020/12/14/detroit-pistons-lavar-ball-raggedy-hell-liangelo-ball/3898670001/
Sure, whatever dude.
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2020/12/14/detroit-pistons-lavar-ball-raggedy-hell-liangelo-ball/3898670001/
Sure, whatever dude.
Yeah, he’s trying so hard to make LiAngelo happen. Kid just isn’t good. Every family needs a Cooper Manning. And even Cooper was supposedly a pretty good player before he got hurt.
Some of those are truly inspired. Rice Glen... Rick Barry underpass... Sue Birding area... O’Neal Shack. Barkley’s “Butte” made me LOL. Awesome.
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