The James Harden era in Philadelphia will officially begin on Friday. Harden will make his Sixers debut at Minnesota, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Philadelphia announced on February 14th that Harden wouldn’t play until after the All-Star break. Harden apparently feels he’s ready to go after rehabbing a minor left hamstring injury, receiving treatment and participating in on-court training.
Harden hasn’t played since February 2nd. He averaged 22.5 PPG, 10.2 APG and 8.0 RPG before the Nets moved him in the year’s biggest blockbuster.
The primary player that went to Brooklyn, Ben Simmons, has yet to make his Nets debut.
Doc Rivers recently said he doesn’t anticipate a big transition period. “Listen, putting James Harden into an offense is not that hard. It really isn’t,” the Sixers coach said. “I mean, he’s just a terrific basketball player, so you don’t need to overcomplicate it.”
Putting Harden into an offense may not be that hard, but keeping the child within him happy so he doesn’t try to force a trade is a different matter. I wonder if Rivers is up to that challenge. He also needs to find a way to keep Harden from choking in the playoffs. The whole project may prove to be significantly more difficult than Rivers seems to be anticipating. After all, it didn’t work out too well with the immature “star” the Sixers shipped out to obtain Harden.
I guess the good news is no trade can be made again until the summer, and it won’t do him any good to pout in the meantime.
While no trade can happen harden can either a) put on another 30 lbs and be unplayable b) fake yet another injury c) go the strip club in (insert city where masks are still needed) get caught on camera and get suspended. All very likely but which will happen first??
He’s not gonna ask for a trade again,he’s where he wanted to be when he wanted out of Houston.He’s even gotten himself back into shape.So talk your junk while ya can,because it’s not gonna last.
That’s not true. He says that now but it already came out he told the rockets he wants to go to the nets.
Yeah, he got what he wanted when he was traded to the Nets and it didn’t take him long to want to switch teams again. There is no reason to believe his time with the Sixers will be any different after forcing his way off of two teams in consecutive years. My guess is that the Harden drama queen will surface again at some point before or during next season.
@rgreen Like your post while you can because nobody else will. He’s asked for 2 trades in 15 months that’s a pretty unintelligent guess that he’s going to just be happy all of a sudden. Embiid has the highest usage in the league harden will whine about it real quickly
Like I said,talk your junk while ya can
Who’s “talking junk” I’m just stating the fact that a grown man’s personally doesn’t change over night. The rockets bent over backwards to accommodate everything harden wanted he still wanted to leave. He joined one of the top players in Kevin Durant with the nets (something he wanted to do) and that didn’t even last 2 years. Yet you think Philly is some kind of magic land that will make harden realize how good he has it. Enjoy harden while it lasts he’s amazing to watch just don’t expect rings or the happiness to last
“The Rockets bent over backwards for him”….the Rockets were also in transition.Darryl Morey was the gm of those Rockets that bent over backwards.He was gone,and now they’re reunited.Do you think Morey don’t know what he’s getting,after years of being together?
And it’s not necessarily that I’m expecting championships,I’m just expecting a more consistent and competitive team,specifically in the playoffs.And the chances of going deep in the playoffs definitely improve with Harden.We replaced a guy who refused to shoot,for a guy who definitely has no problem with taking a shot.
Friend doc has coached multiple stars some wanted to be coached, others not so much. One named jojo has dominated, reached stratospheric new heights under this coach, so your bashing of him is bulldodo. As far as the BEARD, hes elite friend, no matter the noise around him and pairing him with jojo is gulp! For the NBA. Add to that what he will do to elevate the games of mad max and every other sixer.
I put your comment into Google translator but there was nothing they could do.
I am a great fan of both Harden & Embiid… but really afraid Harden is gonna get the ball out of Embiid’s hand, & that will affect negatively his performance, as of now Embiid has the highest usage of the league, that will go down, together with his production, which it is a real shame!
Oh em gee I am so excited.
Go Sixers. Exciting times
I declare this Friday to be Healthy Hamstring Day. Give’em an extra stretch.
Over/under 10 days before he whines and wants to go to yet another team and claims he has a “hamstring” injury
I assume that as soon as things don’t go exactly his way he will start planting seeds about wanting to play for another team next season.
How come when Lebron does this stuff, it’s OK?
Lebron has never come into camp out of shape or forced a trade. The two are not comparable in the least. Lebron simply plays out his contract, (with maximum effort on the court), then leaves via free agency. Harden is much different. For one thing, Harden has a history of quitting on his team in order to force a trade when he is unhappy. Lebron would never do that. Even mentioning Harden in the same breath with Lebron, when it comes to commitment and work ethic, is laughable. Lebron also has the foresight to only sign contracts he will honor, which he has always done. Harden signs the longest contract he can, then whines like a toddler when things don’t go his way in order to force a trade. There are reasons that Lebron has many rings and Harden doesn’t have any.
The ring argument doesn’t hold any weight. What if Ray Allen didn’t hit that 3 in game 6 when he was in Miami they don’t win a championship that year. Just look at the stats link to landofbasketball.com
Harden shoots better 3s, fts and was a scoring champ 3 times compared to Lebron only once. Otherwise Lebron is better in every single stat
Harden is just not as good as people make him out to be… he doesnt shoot well and very weak defensively. Sixers will also miss Curry and Drummond. Poor Sixers fans as they will be doomed with $270m contract for next 5 yrs.
This is a pretty bad take. Yes harden in the open court is horrible defensively but he’s proven he can guard the post really well as long as it isn’t Embiid or a top center. While his shooting could use a little work harden is still a top 5 offensive player today no question about it. He’s also 2nd in assists per game at 10.2 on the year so that shows he has incredible vision and can find open teammates with ease. Yes harden acts like a clown, showed up out of shape, and probably faked an injury to get his way but he is still an amazing basketball player
He’s just one player and one hammy injury away from an end of season for Sixers. At his age, his career is definitely on the way down and past his prime. As for Nets, they get a shooter in Curry, rebounder in Drummond, and Simmons, not to mention Kyrie who will now have more opportunities without Harden. Too much risk for Sixers amd Nets are more diversified.
Looking good so far. Will enjoy the rest of this season. Hope these guys learn how to make wide open 3s by the playoffs tho. They will need some bench guys to step up if they want to go deep in the playoffs like the Bucks had.
Next year Shake, Furkan, and hate to say it but Thybulle too need to go.
Delon Wright and McLemore would be good additions. Bring back Drummond too.