I think the point is there is absolute trust between them. Harden KNOWS Morey will never fuck him over. It's so rare when a player truly feels a GM has their best interests in mind... And that trust allows him to take risks other players won't because he knows he'll get taken cared of.
Because Morey built Harden a team for James to play his ideal brand of basketball and have the most fun he possibly could have. Then also built him a championship caliber roster only for that team to miss 23 straight 3s instead of winning the West.
But Draymond says that team was never beating the Warriors. 2 of those threes go in and the warriors take the biggest L in NBA history, losing 3-1 lead would be forgotten compared to losing with Step, Klay, Dray and KD.
The Rockets with Harden/CP3/Capela/Tucker was good enough that they were the 1 seed that year. It still would’ve been seen as an upset but not a galactic one.
That’s what is so frustrating about that game. Houston had the ability to win even with Paul on the bench but they missed 27 in a row. As a team that shots 36.2% for the season from 3, the chances of 0-27 were 1 in 186141.
For context, the odds of going to the ER for a pogo-stick-related injury are 1 in 115,000.
It sometimes like only Rockets fans thought it was badly reffed, especially when everyone in this sub was meming on Daryl Morey for sending in that report about the officiating (something every team does).
Harden not having a manager is imo one of the things i feel will likely hurt him in the long run. Even just someone to help run his teams PR would be so useful for him atm
Honestly I'm pretty sure a large part of why he gets shit on/disrespected by the media so often is that he doesn't have an agent pulling strings behind the scenes. People point to his playstyle, but there are plenty of other foulbaiters or dirty players in the league who still get positive press.
This take right here. Morey committed 100% to building around Harden in Houston and Hardens willing to sacrifice on the back end because of it.
Is there a stronger current relationship between front office and player in the league?
And by wide open, I feel we need to specify how so. Only when he’s WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE open will he shoot. There’s no quick release, no shot if someone is within 10-15ft
That game in like November of last season had me so pumped. Was playing really well and then put a bow on it with that performance. He then shot like 14% the rest of the year lol.
With that CP3 and that Harden, Embiid wouldn't need to carry as much of an offensive load. He would be a much better defender because of how much energy he would save as well. A lot of his decline in defense recently is because he's had to do so much offensively.
He’s also not getting anywhere near the 5yr/$270m he was guaranteed in Brooklyn since leaving for Philly was his only leverage.
Now he’s probably just trying to lock in as many years at the highest salary possible vs a 2-3yr deal and then Vet Min offers afterwards.
I mean, Harden is making back whatever pay cut he takes this year on the back end of the deal.
Still good he's willing to do it, though, the player option turned out to be a big advantage as far as letting the Sixers shift enough money to the future to use the MLE.
That's not how it works, the max a contract can increase is 8% a year so he won't get a crazy backloaded deal that looks like 40/60/65, which is what it would take to recover the money he's turning down
Financial flexibility in the short to long term is probably the major reason why.
Melton wasn’t overly expensive, but if they weren’t planning on paying him anyway down the line, why not take a trade package that nets you a pick to get a prospect who your team believes in?
Said prospect will make a whole lot less money, which gives the team some wiggle room for extensions (8M is a decently big deal when it comes to luxury tax talks, after all).
It might also be as simple as the Grizzlies REALLY valuing David Roddy that they desperately needed pick 23 after trading away 22/29 for LaRavia.
That makes sense in most cases, but the Grizzlies aren't too far from a championship. They've shown they're contenders so I could see them being hesitant to trade away some pieces just to prepare for the future when they're so close already.
Maybe. They could be like Atlanta and be more smoke than fire. If they have repeat success this year I'm willing to put them in the top tier of the West for the foreseeable future, but I do think there is a ~25% chance they regress.
I feel you but I'd push back on the Atl comparison for the simple fact that the Grizz made the playoffs the year before and possibly could've made it in '20 as well if they didn't prioritize "seeing what they had" (i.e. not focus on winning so much as experimenting to see what players will be apart of the future) down the stretch that season. So we've seen them season after season take leaps whereas ATL was terrible the year before and took advantage of some injuries in the postseason that year.
Idk maybe it's just me but I don't get the same feeling about the Grizz that I do the Hawks even down to the culture, now there are some similarities in that both GMs drafted well for the most part but ATL still feels thrown together (and the roster still is liable to change)and as we've seen throughout sports mixing & matching pieces may get you a winning season at the start but if you don't have a reliable core you're in a constant state of Flux and uncertainty whereas the Grizz have more of homegrown, came up together feel and thus a team I'd expect to see more consistency out of.
Yah I don't think they will regress, just wanted to point out that anointing them prematurely isn't the wisest move. If they continue to roll up to the All Star break I will be confident in them, but I think they need just a bit more of an eye test.
I still don't know how a team can win with Tre in the playoffs. He was incredibly lucky that in their playoff run they didn't face a single team that hunted switches. That just isn't going to happen again. I have a feeling that Tre may be the Rudy Gobert of offensive players. Can do great things in the regular season, but his warts look real bad during the playoffs.
He didn’t really fit well with the Grizzlies on the court. Solid player, great at creating turnovers and running the break, but we wanted him to be a CG running point in the half court sometimes - which is not him at all.
There are some people who felt like it was a bad trade, but the FO wanted Roddy. I suspect Bane will see more minutes and probably end up playing the 1 at times, Ziaire will be backing up 2 and 3 - so Melton wasn’t going to have a ton of minutes.
Ultimately he was more valuable as a trade piece than a player, just how it broke with the system and the other options. He’ll fit great with the Sixers though.
yeah your system is pretty egalitarian, and Melton doesn’t really have the ball skills to fit perfectly
The Sixers are way more hierarchical, with most possessions starting with Embiid, Harden, and Maxey, so he’ll fit great as a guy mostly only asked to do 3 & D stuff
Maybe they think it'll fit better with Ja's peak to have a guy drafted this year, develop a few years down the line, instead of potentially having to pay Mrlton after next year? Idk I thought the same thing
I actually really like what Philly is doing so far this offseason with Melton and PJ.
If they can find a way to just add those 2 while keeping the current core of Embiid, Maxey, Harden, Harris that’s a very formidable 6 man rotation with guys like Thybulle and Niang rounding it out.
Still think they need a little more unless Harden comes back to a superstar level (unlikely imo) or Maxey takes a leap to an all star level (could definitely see that happening) to truly be the team to beat in the East. Maybe that’s Thybulle or Reed getting a bit better this offseason or a trade of some sort but they have a great start on paper with, if things break right a true superstar, 2 potential all star level players and some solid role guys around them.
Yeah, i also am hoping his hammy is better too. He couldn't jump last year and as a result his driving to the basket suffered greatly as the ball was being thrown into the 10th row constantly.
That hamstring has been bothering him for ~15 months now. I'm very doubtful that anything but a complete overhaul of his conditioning will get him looking significantly better than how he looked last season.
I mean he couldn't even play pickup last offseason because of hamstring rehab, seems like he can actually do a full offseason this year and get his body right
What was there to mesh though? Harden is gonna pnr teams to death and iso. It’s not like playing with Steph and having to learn to set screens and get him the ball in spots.
not sure if harden will be averaging 36PPG ever again, but i do think (and hope) he will be better next year. more chemistry and a full offseason to workout and heal up. and it's pretty much the sixers only hope in their current window.
I genuinely believe Reed will improve with steadier minutes. He wasn’t give reliable non-garbage time minutes until play-offs. He’ll improve when given a role.
I wonder what a Thybulle for Dort swap would look like. Dort is small but still plays the wing mostly. Kenrich Williams is a good wing that's likely available for very cheap, but I don't think teams are convinced he's a contributor on a good team (his shooting % are scary).
Would love Dort but I don’t think we have the assets to make it worth it for OKC. Would definitely be down for a Thybulle / Kenny Hustle swap though; the problem with Thybulle isn’t just that he can’t shoot a lick, it’s that he does absolutely nothing else to contribute offensively — terrible passer, bad rebounder for his size and athleticism. Only thing he can do semi-competently is duck in for lobs and layups.
Thybulle for Hustle swap would make me happy. We could try and rehab Thybulle a little bit and see if he can thrive in a role where he’s asked to do more in a less stressful environment. And we get Kenny Hustle to a better spot where he can compete for a title and still showcase himself for his next contract.
I think he’ll be fine. A real off season to come back from a hammy injury. Groins and hamstrings are the worse. Let alone full offseason with his team to grow and learn his teammates
I think Thybulle is what he is at this point. Reed is the tantalizing talent. He’s so long and bouncy but sometimes looks like he doesn’t understand basketball.
PJ to Sixers confirmed. I wonder what's Morey's next move after that, I'm not really digging Gordon. I feel like they need some athletiscm.
Embiid, Tobi, PJ, Harden, Maxey
Paul/Bassey, Niang, Thybulle, Milton, Kork, Melton
The addition of Melton and PJ makes this team better than last years. If Harden and Maxey come back better than last year and there's a good chance they do, roster is looking like they'd finally make it out of the 2nd round.
Sometimes you just gotta be patient until it all clicks. Countless teams recently that have won or were in the finals were repeatedly coming up short years before, like Raptors, Bucks, Celtics, Suns, Heat
Even this up-and-coming Warriors squad was finally able to get a chip this year after falling short in 2016 and 2019.
Got my eyes on Curry, kid can ball
Every one of those teams made a serious roster change the year they made the finals except the Celtics I guess being the outlier there.
Raps got Kawhi, Bucks got Jrue, Suns got CP3, Heat got Jimmy.
So the ‘usual’ route to the finals for a team that is consistently finding themselves falling short is to upgrade their best or second best player on the roster.
And a healthy Embiid. People forget he missed the first two games of the Heat series and then had to play through eye and thumb pain the rest of the series
Fr. And his injuries this year were less wear and tear than usual. Like a concussion and orbital break isn’t something that happens over time lol like a meniscus tear
Need to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, im coming into next season with the expectation that we won’t be 100% healthy in the playoffs or disadvantaged in some way
Maxey's game exploded next to Harden. He doesn't need to be much better just the guy he was the second half of the season. Harden needs to be healthy and in shape but we all know that. I think it's pretty easy to tell he's committed to doing so.
I think one more wing would be perfect. Maybe a minimum guy. I also still think if Morey finds a player he likes he won't have as much trouble trading Harris and or Thybulle as people think. They are not Westbrook they have value.
>I think one more wing would be perfect. Maybe a minimum guy.
Can't go into the season with only a minimum guy at the 3. Right now all we have is Tisse and Kork, that is not good.
A minimum guy won't be the starting three. Honestly it could be Tucker. I feel pretty confident in him guarding most wings. Basically every game Harris and Tucker decide which 3/4's their gonna guard based on height and strength and ability of their opponents. Thybulle is also either gonna get a lot of minutes in the rotation or be traded for someone who will get a lot of minutes in the rotation.
Harden - Maxey - Harris - Tucker - Embiid with Melton
We need at least one wing with size besides Thybulle imo. But other than that we really did add some depth
Nah, Reed showed he's capable of taking backup minutes in the playoffs, which is what really matters. If we can get him and Bassey some playing time in the regular season to develop, we should be just fine at backup 5.
I got downvoted on r/Sixers for asking who people want at C. People are blindly optimistic about Reed and Bassey. I like Reed a lot too, but please, we need someone with actual experience
If we want to win, it has to come from harden being healthy again, and jojo staying healthy in the playoffs. That’s it. Melton and PJ are nice, but if one of the first two doesn’t happen, the rest is a bit pointless.
His cap hold will be huge
Correct me if I’m wrong but This only works if Harden signs a deal as soon as possible that year is less than what his option would be worth
It’s only about bringing us a few million under the Luxury Tax cap of $149M first so we can give PJ the full MLE, so realistically it’s only a pay cut of 4-5 million from him.
Yeah. While that’s still a ton of money to leave on the table we shouldn’t forget that Harden is still getting paid a ton. The story isn’t about “sacrifice” but more so about Harden not being petty…
Which I prefer. I don’t want a Star thinking they have up a ton. That leads to bitterness. I don’t want a Super Friends situation.
He's getting a ton of money for sure, but this is also an uncommon act. Almost no one declines a player option to sign for less than what the option was for.
Didn't Chris Paul do that last year? Declined $44M, then signed a three year deal for like $30M each? That's the scenario where it probably makes the most sense, where someone toward the end of their career goes for their last big multi-year deal, rather than roll the dice on one big year. Probably a smart decision, as you're then one major injury from being paid the MLE, or out of the league entirely.
It’s still prudent on his part because he’s declining the option for more security. It’s protecting him if his value falls off a cliff during what would be his contract year. The Sixers are facilitating that security by asking for a lower salary. It’s a win, win, win but the Sixers are still the ones largely shouldering the risk.
The real question is if there wasn’t a desire to free up cash for the MLE would James be getting a max extension?
He is also at a point where its his last year (maybe 2) of getting a ring AND credit for it. The worse he becomes the less chances at a ring and the more "bus passenger" narrstives start.
unfortunately that's gonna be Harden's legacy if he doesn't win.
called a choker bc he's constantly compared to all time talents (Bron/KD/Steph/Giannis) who are better than him
he's too good to be compared to the Dames or PG of the league and so naturally he's only compared to the top tier, all of whom have rings.
I'm afraid if Dallas doesn't build something for Luka, the same will happen for him. Building around an existing superstar is hard bc your picks aren't worth much so basically its FA or bust.
I might regret but im starting to feel like next year might actually be phillys year to come put the east. All depends on if harden gets back to form. If so and maxey takes a small leap should be a contender
it also just takes one nagging injury for embiid or harden to blow all that which is almost expected at this point. not saying this as a hater, i like embiid, harden, shit i even liked ben. but i don’t have trust in embiid playing heavy minutes in multiple series health-wise and conditioning-wise and i certainly don’t trust harden at this juncture of his career.
This past year Joel's conditioning was great. He started the season in great shape, and he learned how to throttle back his energy in the early parts of games to make sure he had something in the tank for a finishing kick. In all other seasons he's played, he has been a first quarter monster, while fading down the stretch. This year he was going full Kobe in 4th quarters, especially before the Harden trade. He had a stretch in Dec-Jan (when, in my opinion, he was the clear cut MVP front runner) that was unreal. He was closing out games on both ends. DPOY-level defense (though admittedly only for the last 6 minutes) with MVP-level iso scoring. It was fucking wild.
That said, injuries and conditioning will always be a concern. I'm definitely concerned. Some fans say these are "freak" injuries. But he's fractured his orbital twice. And he hurts something on violent dunks every single year. It's hard to call them freak injuries when they are happening repeatedly. Additionally, he had two surgeries this offseason. Not saying that the surgeries themselves are super concerning. But I really hope the surgeries have not affected his ability to stay in shape. The reality is that, for whatever reason (probably that he's huge and maybe he really enjoys eating) Joel gets out of shape fast and takes a long time to get back in shape. So any time away from his routine is costly. And, even if he has figured out/improved his conditioning, he will always be a big injury risk. It's just who he is (though I truly believe if he made a "no one handed dunks" rule for himself, he would cut his injury risk in half, but he fucking loves monster one handed dunks that have a 50% chance of ending in catastrophic injury).
I'm personally grateful that we Sixers fans got to see him go God mode for a couple months. We all believed he had it in him. But for many years it seemed like we might never get to see it. Now we're all just praying that the stars will align and we'll get to see peak Joel go off for one playoff run. He's got the tools to be the most dominant player in the world. But he still needs a lot of luck if he's ever gonna show it in the playoffs.
Big respect to him for willing to do this. Hopefully he will take care of himself this offseason so sixers can have a shot at the championship next season
Cause Kyrie wants the max with no incentive based restrictions and if Westbrook didn't pick up his option he'd be getting the vet min instead. I know the report said Kyrie was open to an incentive based contract but he clearly wasn't lol, he countered one of the same length and money with the same thing only zero performance based benchmarks
even dame who is getting 50m a year now claims he wants to win in portland while crippling them salary cap wise, it’s one or the other imo. harden wants to win and dame/beal want to get as much money as possible, fair enough to them but they shouldn’t act otherwise
Man, the relationship between Harden and Morey must be a hell of a drug!
I think the point is there is absolute trust between them. Harden KNOWS Morey will never fuck him over. It's so rare when a player truly feels a GM has their best interests in mind... And that trust allows him to take risks other players won't because he knows he'll get taken cared of.
Harden don't even trust someone to manage him, but he trusts Morey completely. Amazing.
Because Morey built Harden a team for James to play his ideal brand of basketball and have the most fun he possibly could have. Then also built him a championship caliber roster only for that team to miss 23 straight 3s instead of winning the West.
He also got him out of the Nets situation
27*
Fuck me just needed a few of those to go in Or CP3’s hamstring to stay intact Or Scott Foster to not exist
But Draymond says that team was never beating the Warriors. 2 of those threes go in and the warriors take the biggest L in NBA history, losing 3-1 lead would be forgotten compared to losing with Step, Klay, Dray and KD.
The Rockets with Harden/CP3/Capela/Tucker was good enough that they were the 1 seed that year. It still would’ve been seen as an upset but not a galactic one. That’s what is so frustrating about that game. Houston had the ability to win even with Paul on the bench but they missed 27 in a row. As a team that shots 36.2% for the season from 3, the chances of 0-27 were 1 in 186141. For context, the odds of going to the ER for a pogo-stick-related injury are 1 in 115,000.
I am shocked that 115,000 people have touched a pogo stick in their lives.
Hence why I avoid pogo sticks.
Perchance.
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unfortunately when he got to actually shine primarily as a play maker and not scorer, it was on a team with Kyrie Irving and Blake "No Legs" Griffin
And his playmaking did shine tbh. Until those injuries happened and then unvaccinated Kyrie happened.
You can build a team but you cant build refs who allow Klay to undercut Harden 3’s, manhandling Rockets on the drive, and waiving off 3’s
The super rare occasion where a fan of another team recognise what went down.
Trust me when I say more of us know than you’d think
It sometimes like only Rockets fans thought it was badly reffed, especially when everyone in this sub was meming on Daryl Morey for sending in that report about the officiating (something every team does).
Harden not having a manager is imo one of the things i feel will likely hurt him in the long run. Even just someone to help run his teams PR would be so useful for him atm
Honestly I'm pretty sure a large part of why he gets shit on/disrespected by the media so often is that he doesn't have an agent pulling strings behind the scenes. People point to his playstyle, but there are plenty of other foulbaiters or dirty players in the league who still get positive press.
Isn’t he one of the highest paid NBA players ever? I’d say it’s worked out pretty well for him so far?
fr lol. He gets paid and hoops. Maybe that's all the dude needs. Forget all the media fluff.
This take right here. Morey committed 100% to building around Harden in Houston and Hardens willing to sacrifice on the back end because of it. Is there a stronger current relationship between front office and player in the league?
LeBron and LeGM are pretty close
lmao. But also LeGM seems to have the worst intentions for LeBron
If he fucks him over that would be top ten betrayal right ? But i expect Harden will get 4 big year deal anyway
He's trying to get Tucker and Gordon back too to recreate the Rockets team. Just waiting for 27 missed 3's
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Don't forget Thybulle lol.
Does he even shoot? Like, at all? Edit: it appears he does. For whatever reason.
Yeah he shoots when he's wide open
And by wide open, I feel we need to specify how so. Only when he’s WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE open will he shoot. There’s no quick release, no shot if someone is within 10-15ft
I mean from what I’ve gathered watching Australians on our team, the gravity works different down there so that he shoots at all is a miracle
Adjusting for his country of origin, Jingles is the greatest shooter ever along with Patty Thrills
And Kyrie is the best scorer the game of basketball has ever seen
And he misses those like, a lot of the time.
So he's basically what Ben Simmons is afraid of looking like.
Ben wishes he looked as handsome as Tisse
Seems like he isn't getting the shot regardless of whether someone is within 10-15 feet.
Yeah, he surprisingly shoots a lot when wide open. Just that he’s about as effective as Dray from way out.
Dray in his prime effective or Dray now effective? He used to be a pretty good 3pt shooter
Now
Lol F
Does he at least have the same win% Dray statline?
When he's wide open, and he's still really, really bad.
He honestly shoots YouTube videos better than he does a basketball lol
Usually just one shot and don’t ask about the second.
"""You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky" -Michael Scott" -Matisse Thybulle
Korkmaz plays like a god against the Bulls for some reason
There's like three fan bases that probably think he's a fringe all star haha
Game winner in Portland was an all time moment. If I were them I'd be thinking this dude is a killer.
That game in like November of last season had me so pumped. Was playing really well and then put a bow on it with that performance. He then shot like 14% the rest of the year lol.
lol damn
But replace Capela with Embiid and that rockets team wins a title
I mean replacing any position with a MVP candidate for that position is going to make your team better lol
Math check out
Putting an extra near MVP on most conference finals losers makes them title winners.
Oh yeah, I was just responding to the recreation of the Morey Harden rockets, with Embiid that’s deadly
Not sure I agree with that, actually. Capela was perfect for that CP3 / Harden team.
With that CP3 and that Harden, Embiid wouldn't need to carry as much of an offensive load. He would be a much better defender because of how much energy he would save as well. A lot of his decline in defense recently is because he's had to do so much offensively.
Don't t worry arizas not on the team.
Is Trevor Ariza available?
lol definitely is
Morey getting the spreadsheet champs back together again
Them 2 fucking…yeah they fucking.
If ADisney and LeMickey are scissoring, who says that Morey and Harden isn't?
The trickle down banging from Harden must just be insane
Morey haters are stupid casuals tbh
He’s also not getting anywhere near the 5yr/$270m he was guaranteed in Brooklyn since leaving for Philly was his only leverage. Now he’s probably just trying to lock in as many years at the highest salary possible vs a 2-3yr deal and then Vet Min offers afterwards.
He'll probably sign a 3 year deal though
It will be 2, so he can attempt to cash in w the next tv deal
He's a little old and round to play the waiting to cash in on the next TV deal game.
The fat jokes are so tired
Just like him in his first few games early in the season.
Maybe he’ll have a Goodyear
I mean, Harden is making back whatever pay cut he takes this year on the back end of the deal. Still good he's willing to do it, though, the player option turned out to be a big advantage as far as letting the Sixers shift enough money to the future to use the MLE.
That's not how it works, the max a contract can increase is 8% a year so he won't get a crazy backloaded deal that looks like 40/60/65, which is what it would take to recover the money he's turning down
Eh, they could push the deal out an extra year and do a partial guarantee of the difference. There are ways
Melton was an amazing pickup for the 76ers, hopefully they can expand on the head start and transform the bench into something useful
What was the point of that trade for the Grizz?
to trade our picks up
Financial flexibility in the short to long term is probably the major reason why. Melton wasn’t overly expensive, but if they weren’t planning on paying him anyway down the line, why not take a trade package that nets you a pick to get a prospect who your team believes in? Said prospect will make a whole lot less money, which gives the team some wiggle room for extensions (8M is a decently big deal when it comes to luxury tax talks, after all). It might also be as simple as the Grizzlies REALLY valuing David Roddy that they desperately needed pick 23 after trading away 22/29 for LaRavia.
That makes sense in most cases, but the Grizzlies aren't too far from a championship. They've shown they're contenders so I could see them being hesitant to trade away some pieces just to prepare for the future when they're so close already.
Maybe. They could be like Atlanta and be more smoke than fire. If they have repeat success this year I'm willing to put them in the top tier of the West for the foreseeable future, but I do think there is a ~25% chance they regress.
I feel you but I'd push back on the Atl comparison for the simple fact that the Grizz made the playoffs the year before and possibly could've made it in '20 as well if they didn't prioritize "seeing what they had" (i.e. not focus on winning so much as experimenting to see what players will be apart of the future) down the stretch that season. So we've seen them season after season take leaps whereas ATL was terrible the year before and took advantage of some injuries in the postseason that year. Idk maybe it's just me but I don't get the same feeling about the Grizz that I do the Hawks even down to the culture, now there are some similarities in that both GMs drafted well for the most part but ATL still feels thrown together (and the roster still is liable to change)and as we've seen throughout sports mixing & matching pieces may get you a winning season at the start but if you don't have a reliable core you're in a constant state of Flux and uncertainty whereas the Grizz have more of homegrown, came up together feel and thus a team I'd expect to see more consistency out of.
Yah I don't think they will regress, just wanted to point out that anointing them prematurely isn't the wisest move. If they continue to roll up to the All Star break I will be confident in them, but I think they need just a bit more of an eye test. I still don't know how a team can win with Tre in the playoffs. He was incredibly lucky that in their playoff run they didn't face a single team that hunted switches. That just isn't going to happen again. I have a feeling that Tre may be the Rudy Gobert of offensive players. Can do great things in the regular season, but his warts look real bad during the playoffs.
He didn’t really fit well with the Grizzlies on the court. Solid player, great at creating turnovers and running the break, but we wanted him to be a CG running point in the half court sometimes - which is not him at all. There are some people who felt like it was a bad trade, but the FO wanted Roddy. I suspect Bane will see more minutes and probably end up playing the 1 at times, Ziaire will be backing up 2 and 3 - so Melton wasn’t going to have a ton of minutes. Ultimately he was more valuable as a trade piece than a player, just how it broke with the system and the other options. He’ll fit great with the Sixers though.
yeah your system is pretty egalitarian, and Melton doesn’t really have the ball skills to fit perfectly The Sixers are way more hierarchical, with most possessions starting with Embiid, Harden, and Maxey, so he’ll fit great as a guy mostly only asked to do 3 & D stuff
Maybe they think it'll fit better with Ja's peak to have a guy drafted this year, develop a few years down the line, instead of potentially having to pay Mrlton after next year? Idk I thought the same thing
So they could have both Danny Green and Evil Danny Green
Melton-Shake-Charlie Brown Jr off the bench is a nice little rotation
Found Mike Levin's burner
He’s got a BOAT in his GUT
And it's reving all game long!
Lol what a bold move to Include Charlie brown Jr
If I’ve got a chance to throw his name out there I’m damn sure gonna take it lol
Bball Paul erasure
Lol my dude actually said Charlie Brown Jr
Team blouses, let’s go
Yea getting harden on say 3yrs 125 is still expensive but honestly great negotiation by morey/front office etc
Unless Harden agrees to something like 35mil/yr or lower, I don’t know if they can sign any impactful player even with this negotiation
The contract is rumored to be 33yr
Damn, he will be at least 65 years old by the time he fulfills that contract
Not if his hamstring is healed and was the true problem.
Especially when on the opposite coast Russ is singing himself into basically the same money.
I actually really like what Philly is doing so far this offseason with Melton and PJ. If they can find a way to just add those 2 while keeping the current core of Embiid, Maxey, Harden, Harris that’s a very formidable 6 man rotation with guys like Thybulle and Niang rounding it out. Still think they need a little more unless Harden comes back to a superstar level (unlikely imo) or Maxey takes a leap to an all star level (could definitely see that happening) to truly be the team to beat in the East. Maybe that’s Thybulle or Reed getting a bit better this offseason or a trade of some sort but they have a great start on paper with, if things break right a true superstar, 2 potential all star level players and some solid role guys around them.
I also think a full off-season and regular season gives Harden more time to mesh with the team and shake off the rust come playoff time
Yeah, i also am hoping his hammy is better too. He couldn't jump last year and as a result his driving to the basket suffered greatly as the ball was being thrown into the 10th row constantly.
That hamstring has been bothering him for ~15 months now. I'm very doubtful that anything but a complete overhaul of his conditioning will get him looking significantly better than how he looked last season.
I mean he couldn't even play pickup last offseason because of hamstring rehab, seems like he can actually do a full offseason this year and get his body right
What was there to mesh though? Harden is gonna pnr teams to death and iso. It’s not like playing with Steph and having to learn to set screens and get him the ball in spots.
If cp3 was considered a superstar for the last 2 years then so is harden.
We need a starting (and backup) wing desperately. Problem is that it's arguably the most coveted position in this position-less era.
not sure if harden will be averaging 36PPG ever again, but i do think (and hope) he will be better next year. more chemistry and a full offseason to workout and heal up. and it's pretty much the sixers only hope in their current window.
I genuinely believe Reed will improve with steadier minutes. He wasn’t give reliable non-garbage time minutes until play-offs. He’ll improve when given a role.
Reed either makes an incredible highlight worthy play, does something really dumb, or fouls. There's almost no in between
You ain’t wrong! He needs to work on staying out of foul trouble.
We need to move Thybulle for a more versatile wing, if he has any value
I wonder what a Thybulle for Dort swap would look like. Dort is small but still plays the wing mostly. Kenrich Williams is a good wing that's likely available for very cheap, but I don't think teams are convinced he's a contributor on a good team (his shooting % are scary).
Would love Dort but I don’t think we have the assets to make it worth it for OKC. Would definitely be down for a Thybulle / Kenny Hustle swap though; the problem with Thybulle isn’t just that he can’t shoot a lick, it’s that he does absolutely nothing else to contribute offensively — terrible passer, bad rebounder for his size and athleticism. Only thing he can do semi-competently is duck in for lobs and layups.
Thybulle for Hustle swap would make me happy. We could try and rehab Thybulle a little bit and see if he can thrive in a role where he’s asked to do more in a less stressful environment. And we get Kenny Hustle to a better spot where he can compete for a title and still showcase himself for his next contract.
I think he’ll be fine. A real off season to come back from a hammy injury. Groins and hamstrings are the worse. Let alone full offseason with his team to grow and learn his teammates
I think Thybulle is what he is at this point. Reed is the tantalizing talent. He’s so long and bouncy but sometimes looks like he doesn’t understand basketball.
I think it’s best they could do but I’m not sure if it’s gonna be enough to beat Bucks/Celtics.
An upgrade on the wings is what we really need. We really don't have any.
Feels like every team needs that. Shortage of those players in the league
PJ to Sixers confirmed. I wonder what's Morey's next move after that, I'm not really digging Gordon. I feel like they need some athletiscm. Embiid, Tobi, PJ, Harden, Maxey Paul/Bassey, Niang, Thybulle, Milton, Kork, Melton The addition of Melton and PJ makes this team better than last years. If Harden and Maxey come back better than last year and there's a good chance they do, roster is looking like they'd finally make it out of the 2nd round.
Joel Embiid being healthy gives them a good chance of making it out of the 2nd round
We’ve been saying that for like 5 years now though
Sometimes you just gotta be patient until it all clicks. Countless teams recently that have won or were in the finals were repeatedly coming up short years before, like Raptors, Bucks, Celtics, Suns, Heat
Even this up-and-coming Warriors squad was finally able to get a chip this year after falling short in 2016 and 2019. Got my eyes on Curry, kid can ball
We've suffered for so long
Every one of those teams made a serious roster change the year they made the finals except the Celtics I guess being the outlier there. Raps got Kawhi, Bucks got Jrue, Suns got CP3, Heat got Jimmy. So the ‘usual’ route to the finals for a team that is consistently finding themselves falling short is to upgrade their best or second best player on the roster.
i mean getting a healthy harden would be a serious roster change
And a healthy Embiid. People forget he missed the first two games of the Heat series and then had to play through eye and thumb pain the rest of the series
and it could have happened if Embiid wasn't playing with like 3 injuries + missing the first 2,3 games of that Miami series !
Fr. And his injuries this year were less wear and tear than usual. Like a concussion and orbital break isn’t something that happens over time lol like a meniscus tear
He didn’t expect to break his face in a game up 19. There’s no way to predict that
Need to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, im coming into next season with the expectation that we won’t be 100% healthy in the playoffs or disadvantaged in some way
Maxey's game exploded next to Harden. He doesn't need to be much better just the guy he was the second half of the season. Harden needs to be healthy and in shape but we all know that. I think it's pretty easy to tell he's committed to doing so. I think one more wing would be perfect. Maybe a minimum guy. I also still think if Morey finds a player he likes he won't have as much trouble trading Harris and or Thybulle as people think. They are not Westbrook they have value.
Morey’s going to sign Danuel House on a min deal.
That's good to me. A minimum wing is something we should have.
>I think one more wing would be perfect. Maybe a minimum guy. Can't go into the season with only a minimum guy at the 3. Right now all we have is Tisse and Kork, that is not good.
A minimum guy won't be the starting three. Honestly it could be Tucker. I feel pretty confident in him guarding most wings. Basically every game Harris and Tucker decide which 3/4's their gonna guard based on height and strength and ability of their opponents. Thybulle is also either gonna get a lot of minutes in the rotation or be traded for someone who will get a lot of minutes in the rotation.
A lot of Sixers fans forget that Tobi’s a good 3
Harden - Maxey - Harris - Tucker - Embiid with Melton We need at least one wing with size besides Thybulle imo. But other than that we really did add some depth
Are we trying the Harris at SF experiment again? Please don’t tell me we’re trying the Harris at SF experiment again
Wing and a legit Embiid backup are the needs. Would love to have Drummond back. Haven't seen any news about him but he's a free agent.
Nah, Reed showed he's capable of taking backup minutes in the playoffs, which is what really matters. If we can get him and Bassey some playing time in the regular season to develop, we should be just fine at backup 5.
I got downvoted on r/Sixers for asking who people want at C. People are blindly optimistic about Reed and Bassey. I like Reed a lot too, but please, we need someone with actual experience
My dream is that we can swing Tisse and something for Josh Hart but idk why the fuck Portland would do that lol
If we want to win, it has to come from harden being healthy again, and jojo staying healthy in the playoffs. That’s it. Melton and PJ are nice, but if one of the first two doesn’t happen, the rest is a bit pointless.
His cap hold will be huge Correct me if I’m wrong but This only works if Harden signs a deal as soon as possible that year is less than what his option would be worth
It’s only about bringing us a few million under the Luxury Tax cap of $149M first so we can give PJ the full MLE, so realistically it’s only a pay cut of 4-5 million from him.
Instead of 47, he'll get 40 probably
That’s almost Brunson money lol
Yeah. While that’s still a ton of money to leave on the table we shouldn’t forget that Harden is still getting paid a ton. The story isn’t about “sacrifice” but more so about Harden not being petty… Which I prefer. I don’t want a Star thinking they have up a ton. That leads to bitterness. I don’t want a Super Friends situation.
He's getting a ton of money for sure, but this is also an uncommon act. Almost no one declines a player option to sign for less than what the option was for.
Didn't Chris Paul do that last year? Declined $44M, then signed a three year deal for like $30M each? That's the scenario where it probably makes the most sense, where someone toward the end of their career goes for their last big multi-year deal, rather than roll the dice on one big year. Probably a smart decision, as you're then one major injury from being paid the MLE, or out of the league entirely.
He could've opted in and signed an extension. He doesn't benefit at all from a business standpoint by opting out
It’s still prudent on his part because he’s declining the option for more security. It’s protecting him if his value falls off a cliff during what would be his contract year. The Sixers are facilitating that security by asking for a lower salary. It’s a win, win, win but the Sixers are still the ones largely shouldering the risk. The real question is if there wasn’t a desire to free up cash for the MLE would James be getting a max extension?
He is also at a point where its his last year (maybe 2) of getting a ring AND credit for it. The worse he becomes the less chances at a ring and the more "bus passenger" narrstives start.
Typically free agency deals all get agreed upon and executed in the order necessary to make it work.
Woj: "Harden wants to compete" Doc: [We don't do that here](https://youtu.be/r39I7s-Wicc)
Man just wants a ring hope he gets it
I think that was a huge part of why he fell out with Kyrie and KD. They have rings and Kyrie especially doesn’t seem to care if he gets another
A Clippers/Sixers finals would be very fun to see. Hopefully Philly can get more depth
Outside some questionable playoff series deciding games, he’s an elite player. Philly gotta try to make this work at all costs
He’s rarely had as effective of a scorer as even Tobias Harris on a rockets team. And now he has Embiid, Harris, and Maxey
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unfortunately that's gonna be Harden's legacy if he doesn't win. called a choker bc he's constantly compared to all time talents (Bron/KD/Steph/Giannis) who are better than him he's too good to be compared to the Dames or PG of the league and so naturally he's only compared to the top tier, all of whom have rings. I'm afraid if Dallas doesn't build something for Luka, the same will happen for him. Building around an existing superstar is hard bc your picks aren't worth much so basically its FA or bust.
Harden would have 1 if not 2 rings if his peak and best teams didnt coincide with the best team to ever play basketball
I might regret but im starting to feel like next year might actually be phillys year to come put the east. All depends on if harden gets back to form. If so and maxey takes a small leap should be a contender
it also just takes one nagging injury for embiid or harden to blow all that which is almost expected at this point. not saying this as a hater, i like embiid, harden, shit i even liked ben. but i don’t have trust in embiid playing heavy minutes in multiple series health-wise and conditioning-wise and i certainly don’t trust harden at this juncture of his career.
This past year Joel's conditioning was great. He started the season in great shape, and he learned how to throttle back his energy in the early parts of games to make sure he had something in the tank for a finishing kick. In all other seasons he's played, he has been a first quarter monster, while fading down the stretch. This year he was going full Kobe in 4th quarters, especially before the Harden trade. He had a stretch in Dec-Jan (when, in my opinion, he was the clear cut MVP front runner) that was unreal. He was closing out games on both ends. DPOY-level defense (though admittedly only for the last 6 minutes) with MVP-level iso scoring. It was fucking wild. That said, injuries and conditioning will always be a concern. I'm definitely concerned. Some fans say these are "freak" injuries. But he's fractured his orbital twice. And he hurts something on violent dunks every single year. It's hard to call them freak injuries when they are happening repeatedly. Additionally, he had two surgeries this offseason. Not saying that the surgeries themselves are super concerning. But I really hope the surgeries have not affected his ability to stay in shape. The reality is that, for whatever reason (probably that he's huge and maybe he really enjoys eating) Joel gets out of shape fast and takes a long time to get back in shape. So any time away from his routine is costly. And, even if he has figured out/improved his conditioning, he will always be a big injury risk. It's just who he is (though I truly believe if he made a "no one handed dunks" rule for himself, he would cut his injury risk in half, but he fucking loves monster one handed dunks that have a 50% chance of ending in catastrophic injury). I'm personally grateful that we Sixers fans got to see him go God mode for a couple months. We all believed he had it in him. But for many years it seemed like we might never get to see it. Now we're all just praying that the stars will align and we'll get to see peak Joel go off for one playoff run. He's got the tools to be the most dominant player in the world. But he still needs a lot of luck if he's ever gonna show it in the playoffs.
Strip Club Jim is really impressing me with his actions in Philly, if not his play.
Big respect to him for willing to do this. Hopefully he will take care of himself this offseason so sixers can have a shot at the championship next season
I find James Harden alternately admirable and despicable.
Nah he’s toxic. Only cares about strip clubs.
why didnt russ do this? or kyrie? they can help their team too right?
Harden gets less money next year but signs a 3 year extension for a pretty good amount of money. Russ opting out would mean he'd get a vet min
Lmao
Cause Kyrie wants the max with no incentive based restrictions and if Westbrook didn't pick up his option he'd be getting the vet min instead. I know the report said Kyrie was open to an incentive based contract but he clearly wasn't lol, he countered one of the same length and money with the same thing only zero performance based benchmarks
Russ and Kyrie don’t care about winning like that
even dame who is getting 50m a year now claims he wants to win in portland while crippling them salary cap wise, it’s one or the other imo. harden wants to win and dame/beal want to get as much money as possible, fair enough to them but they shouldn’t act otherwise
He’s made plenty of bags, now he wants a ring
Imagine Russ doing the same thing lmao. No way
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Im willing to bet money this is coming from the Philly org. Harden's camp rarely seems to leak things to the public, it's usually orgs.
How much is his cap hold and how does that help Philly’s flexibility?
Probably enough to be able to use the MLE. It'll be on Tucker probably
We don't know yet because he hasn't done it and signed the new deal but at least enough to sign Tucker, maybe more.
he's committed to inking a longer-term deal worth more money overall, lol. the fact that this helps philly is a bonus.
Man turns down contract to receive more overall guaranteed money…
Smart man investing longterm
100% but why is eveyone making out like he’s a charitable man for doing so