Is this a Morey Burner?
this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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Deja vu....
Harden won’t be on the Sixers next season regardless.
At that point it’s better to take the 1st vs nothing especially since the Sixers currently only have their 2030 1st as Draft Capital to use in a Trade outside of a Draft Day Trade this year since they have their 2024 1st but can’t Trade it because OKC has 2025/26 and Nets have 2027/28 Protected.
It's not best to take 1 FRP + scraps right now. They can get that at the deadline too.
No one is giving up a 1st at the deadline for two months of Harden
Lol a lot of the takes people have on reddit are dumb. "They should just keep him on the team to spite him. Who cares if they throw away the season, let him walk for nothing, and risk losing Embiid. They should also keep him on a cap hold. Who cares if it screws up their free agency plans?". It's very /r/TopMindsOfReddit thinking right there. This is why you people are not GMs.
If Harden was smart he would stay on the 76ers and not go to a team like the clippers, you know the team where their best players don't play. But yeah Harden isn't a very smart person
Neither of those teams are legit contenders so it doesn't matter
One is different than the other. At least the 76ers have a small chance
If they can get expirings + some small amount of assets vs just letting him walk for nothing next year, that's already a win.
Harden opting in made the best option for Philly be trading him if they have any interest in competing beyond this year.
I'd love for them to play hardball and make him sit in the bench all year. But it would be way way way too much of a distraction. Unfortunately they're pretty much gonna have to dump his ass. Kinda reminds when the Warriors had to take Tom Gugliotta in exchange for Webber.
There's been speculation that that's exactly what Morey has been doing all summer. He doesn't want to trade Harden and would love for him to just play out the year.
The problem is that it's not up to the Sixers at this point.
I think it’s pretty clear that Harden has no intentions of playing an honest season. Even if he shows up eventually, Morey can’t be dumb enough to expect him to give 100% effort.
The Sixers at this point don't have a choice to begin with. There's no real suitors and that includes the Clippers. The Clippers only really want Harden on their terms. Harden is going to be a Sixer. And it's going to be up to him to digest that in the days ahead, have perspective, and recognize his value around the league is not to a level he may have believed it would and believes it should be and prove people wrong this season.
Sixers could use the draft capital to make other moves. They have little. The Morey Master Plan is gonna be hard to execute next offseason.
Prove people wrong? If last season didn't prove to teams that Harden is valuable then why the fuck would this season be any different? He led the league in assists and was one of the top players in the league by most metrics. Do you expect him to play even better than last year despite being forced to play on a team he wants no part of? Harden would have exactly the same value around the league whether he sits out all year or plays 82 games for the Sixers.
I think the playoff collapse against the Celtics really hurt his value, but I also agree his value is dampened by things that don't have to do with his on-the-court ability, which is why it behooves him to go out there and play and show he can go through a full season and not create dissention and wreck a locker room, whether it be fair or not that his rep basically has come to that.
Harden did the best thing for both parties by opting in. People keep saying oh if he wanted to leave he shouldn't have opted in. If he does this the sixers essentially spent multiple 1st rounders and depth for a rental and Harden makes less money, it's a lose lose situation. But in opting in to his contract he gets more money this year and the 6ers will recoup at least 1 of their 1st round picks and maybe get lucky with the personnel they get in return.
I think he's gonna go to the heat anyway, they failed to get Dame but if they can send Lowry and a pick or 2 and get back a guy who is at least top 50 and lets be honest, probably already loves Miami, why not? Harden wants to win a chip and the heat were close last year with random dudes from the Y's slow break league next to Jimmy and Bam. He's been liked wherever he goes by his teammates and puts the work in, I think the heat culture turns him into a beast and they're back in the ecf vs the Celtics again if he goes to Miami.
Harden is the one that doesn’t want to play. Between shoe deals and other endorsements and his prior league earnings, James doesn’t really need this year’s paycheck if he doesn’t want to play.
Honestly, who care about a washed up James Harden. He’s not a winner and would not waste anything on him.