The CONSEQUENCES Of The Harden Trade That Nobody Mentions

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James Harden is a Clipper and things got really interesting but not only for them.
Nobody mentions the Philadelphia side of this trade, so let’s go deep on this deal.
First of all, we gotta look at this depth for the Clippers right now.
You got a stacked starting 5 of Westbrook, Harden, PG, Kawhi and Zubac.
And a legitimate bench unit of Bones Hyland, Norman Powell, Terance Mann who LA was able to keep in this deal, then PJ Tucker and Mason Plumlee.
Now on paper or if you’re playing 2k this is interesting but we know that Harden is the one who is more efficient with the ball and will probably be the point guard which leaves Russ off the ball on a lot of possessions. Similar to how these 2 were operating in Houston.
But having Westbrook out on the perimeter like this is not an option. This is in no way ideal for spacing, defenders sagged off of him in Houston clogging down the paint, and will do that again.
So I guess that the Clippers will stagger their minutes having them both play the point as much as possible.
Now if Ty Lue is brave enough to move Russ to the bench, now you could have this starting lineup of Harden at the point with PG at the 2, Terrance Mann and Kawhi as the forwards and Zubac, which first of all seems like a great fit. But also this would give Westbrook a great opportunity to lead the second unit and really be in attack mode doing what he does best- providing both scoring and playmaking for the others that are with him on the court.
The lineups and the fit will be interesting to follow but 1 thing is obvious and we gotta mention it- this would have been a superteam like 6 years ago, now you got 2 guys that are way past their prime, and 2 that are always on the injury list. This team looks more like this Brooklyn Nets team, rather than the Celtics championship team. So we’ll see how far they can go.
But if we move on to the Sixers, things got better for them in a very sneaky way.
First of all, if you asked Philly fans this summer, they would tell you that they want to see Tyrese Maxey unleashed. He was playing in Harden’s shadow here, while everyone saw his rise.
Look at his numbers. Not only is he extremely efficient, and a crazy good three point shooter, but right now in the 3 games playing without the beard this season Maxey is averaging a staggering 30 points per game on 56% from downtown.
Now of course this is miniscule sample size, but you already see it in his game, and the Sixers offense under Nick Nurse that allows him to go all out.
This stat from Kevin O’Connor shows just how big of a change they’ve made.
Philly went from being second to last in handoffs per game, to number 2 right now.
And from a pick and roll heavy offense to one of the teams that uses it the least.
And you see how that translates. The offense is much faster, Maxey can use his quickness, and defenders have to be flying around the court, providing more space for Embiid inside.
Ok so this is good for right now, but the messaging is clear that the Sixers will use these picks to get some guys right now.
There are teams going nowhere that should blow it up and rebuild with those picks. The Raptors and the Bulls immediately come to mind and with that you got guys like Zach Lavine and Pascal Siakam as really interesting pieces who Daryl Morey could go after. And you know that he will be aggressive to get somebody. Morey has always been a win now type of GM. He knows that this roster by itself is not enough against the juggernauts that are the Celtics and the Bucks.
So the moves for Philadelphia are not done yet. And that needs to be emphasized more when talking about this trade. For this team the fun part is yet to come.
But I wanna hear what you think. Who do you think that this move benefits more? Let me know in the comments. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.