Brooklyn walks away winners while Philly walks away BIG gamblers
The 76ers may have gotten the swap they always wanted, but the Nets might have a reason to feel better in the aftermath
I just want to start by saying how much I love the NBA. It can be tough to follow a sport day in and day out, but on days like this, when the seemingly unthinkable happens, I love it, and I want to talk about it.
First, let’s start with the Nets.
It’s not a great look when the superstar you traded all those players and draft picks for less than 13 months ago not-so-subtly wants out. The absence of leverage in such situations typically dooms the team trying to make the best of the bad situation. You essentially have to trade the player or risk losing him for nothing, which doesn’t leave much room to negotiate and likely results in pennies on the dollar.
Fortunately for Brooklyn, the team that wanted James Harden the most was also one facing a similar issue. Which is why even with Harden wanting to go to Philly, the 76ers needed him much more than the Nets were willing to trade him. The Ben Simmons situation has been an albatross that’s clouded the entire Sixers season. They couldn’t waste a year of Joel Embiid’s prime, especially with the East wide open. They couldn’t risk the chance of a potential Nets title run forging a bond Harden wouldn’t have wanted to break.
Thus, the package of Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two 1st-round picks heads to Brooklyn.
Simmons for Harden straight up would’ve been enough for me if I’m the Nets. Plug him into a small-ball lineup alongside Kyrie Irving, Patty Mills, Joe Harris, and Kevin Durant and you maximize his strengths as a playmaker and versatile defender while minimizing his weaknesses as a poor outside shooter and an unwilling one as well.
Then you throw in Curry, who’s about as good a replacement at the 2-spot as you’re going to find. He can shoot the lights out from everywhere and handle the ball a little bit. He’ll close games for the Nets.
Brooklyn has lacked traditional size on the interior. I’m not saying Drummond will occupy the starting center position and average 30+ minutes a night. But his presence affords the Nets an option to go big that they haven’t really had since trading Jarrett Allen. It’s been a lot of Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge while also running with Nic Claxton and experimenting with Day'Ron Sharpe. Drummond is a luxury Steve Nash will love having in his back pocket.
And as for the two 1st-round picks? Well, that’s just refilling the asset cupboard that was emptied out to acquire Harden last January.
To recap, for a player who was probably going to find a way to leave this summer, the Nets got back an All-Star caliber player who I think will be in an environment that will do him right. One of the best complimentary players in the NBA. A rotation piece at a position of desperate need. And pieces to potentially make other moves.
That’s. A. Win.
As for Philly, this all comes down to one thing: What version of James Harden are they getting?
Because if James Harden suddenly morphs back into James Harden, the guy who can put up 30 points in his sleep, then everything they gave up to acquire him becomes irrelevant. Because now they have two of the 10 best players in the NBA. That makes them as legitimate a contender as there currently is. None of the other stuff matters. And, it will make paying Harden the max extension a lot easier to stomach even as he ages deeper into his 30s.
But, if James Harden continues to play like this James Harden, the one who’s currently averaging the fewest points since becoming a perennial All-Star with some of the worst efficiency of his career, then Philly has a problem on its hands.
Simmons might not have been willing to ever play another game for the 76ers again, but his value as a trade chip was Philly’s best shot at acquiring the pieces to elevate themselves to championship status. It was their one golden chance. If Harden isn’t it, I can’t picture another route from there that is. And at that point, Daryl Morey either has to fork over a max extension to a player who’s not worth it (decimating Philly’s salary cap in the process) or restart the process of building a title contender with a depleted roster and limited assets.
I believe Harden will right himself because I believe in the power of a fresh start and how it can revitalize you when going from a place you don’t want to be to one you do. His role will be far more consistent than it was in Brooklyn without any part-time players. He has friends within the organization (namely, of course, Morey).
That seems to be what Philly’s banking on as well.
Then again, it’s also worth noting that Harden turns 33 in August with the most regular-season minutes under his belt of any NBA player since 2012-13. Maybe his body is simply at the point of significant deterioration and his game will never be the same because of it.
The Nets will be just fine either way. They’re still gunning for a championship. They might even be in a better spot now than they were yesterday.
The Sixers, on the other hand, can hardly calm their nerves just yet. The future looks bright with the Simmons saga behind us all and James Harden in town. But if Brooklyn’s situation to get to this point taught as anything, it doesn’t have to take long for things to deteriorate.