Who will the Nets trade with Harden to ensure that the entire Team of the Nets can play together healthily? Can durant and Irving be guaranteed to have good chemistry with him? Can it be guaranteed that the probability of winning the championship is greater than that of the current Big Three?
Unless it's Curry, we all know that's impossible.
You see, Curry isn't coming...
Seth Curry: That's right, Curry is just down there.
Before the trade deadline, the Nets and Philadelphia finally pulled the trigger: the Nets sent Harden and Millsap away, in exchange for Simmons, Curry Jr., Johnson, a 2022 or 2023 first round and a 2027 top 8 protected first round.
Q: There are three MVP players, the eldest brother has played with the second brother, the second brother has ridden with the third brother, and the third brother has also ridden with the eldest brother. So whose problem is it?
According to the principle of the control variable method, the separation of the thunder three in that year may be doomed.
But no matter whose problem it is, now all three MVP-level players have their own problems.
The second brother did not say anything, and the Lakers did nothing. The enemy does not move, he does not move, the enemy is in the sky or he is not moving, you can not say whether he is "pretending to die" or static braking.
The incompatibility of the Lakers' big three has become a fact, and the last fight may be Thatysot to play the bench. If the road doesn't work out either, the Lakers can really lie down.
The Nets made the deal and definitely lost money. Sending off an MVP-level player like Harden also allowed Philadelphia, the big enemy in the same district, to keep Sable and Maxi, and only by letting Sable join the trade can the Nets not lose money.
I'll help you recall what the Nets paid for Harden a year ago: Le Vere, Prince, Allen, Kurucs, four first-round and four first-round swaps. The Nets nearly dismantled half of the team and overdrafted the team for the next 6-7 years.
Just 13 months later, what did they get back with Harden?
Simmons: An All-Star who was completely unprojected, targeted in the playoffs, and didn't play for half a season. Of course, Simmons' ability to defend and orchestrate conversions is impeccable, but apart from these two points, it is difficult to find Simmons' other advantages.
Curry Jr.: A pitcher who is destined to be targeted in the playoffs, he's similar to Mills' role. The advantage is that he is younger, he is more stable overall in terms of season, and he will not have as many stages of ups and downs as Mills.
Zhuang Shen: Meat shield type center, defensive selection problem is very big, the Lakers were originally taught. A center who can't feed him out of The Way, he should go to Paul, not Durant and Irving.
Two first rounds: one is nearly two years, with Harden and the Emperor in place, Philadelphia will not be bad in the regular season for two years, so this signing has become a chicken rib in the extremely late stage of the first round; the second signing is in the distant 5 years, who knows what will happen?
Oh, yes, in addition to that, the Nets also won 16 games and a playoff first-round victory in the big three combined.
Durant now has two main problems to solve:
First, he had to learn to be a locker room leader.
Harden left because in his judgment, staying with the Nets was less likely to win the championship than going to Philadelphia. All the signs before he left showed that the Nets' locker room was discordant or even broken.
No champion's dressing room is full of discord, and if there is, someone must be able to calm the field and close those cracks. This person is either the head coach or the core player.
Nash as a player coach is obviously not good, part-time Irving may be counterproductive to speak, harden in exchange for Simmons can not solve.
Only Durant, who is the boss of this Nets, he can't just play his own ball on the court anymore, he has to be a real leader.
Second, he wants to find the foundation or DNA of this new Nets. The Nets of the Big Three era were simple, the ultimate in individual singles and offense, now what?
Say it's a defensive team, there is no special defense in the team except Simmons, and the three top scorers - Joha, Curry Jr. and Mills are not 3D types, and they must be targeted in the playoffs.
Say it's an offensive team, Simmons didn't shoot, Irving could only play away, the center didn't have the ability to attack autonomously, and lacked a defender who could organize the whole team. The nets' offensive firepower is far less cap than in the past, and in the end, don't you have to practice Durant alone?
A team's roots determine its playing style and ceiling, and how it gets through those real moments of crisis.
On paper, Philadelphia is indeed the big winner of the deal. Not only did harden get it, but it also retained the full structure of the team.
Harden and the emperor are one inside and one outside, and it is indeed an excellent combination in theory, both can suddenly shoot and pass, and there is no dead end in the half-court attack.
Some people may be worried about the distribution of the ball, but the two-man team is never more difficult to score than the three, and Harden has partnered so many stars that there has never been a problem with the ball.
Perhaps some people are worried that the emperor will take the ball inside, and Harden will not move on the outside. But conversely, can it be worse than the Emperor's partner Simmons? Harden can stand at the three-point line, and Simmons can stand awkwardly.
Philadelphia's real problem may not be on the court, but off the court. The trio of Harden + The Great + Rivers, it is difficult not to make people feel a little ripple in their hearts.
Coach Rivers is the god of reversals, and the Emperor's performance in last year's series that was eliminated by the Hawks was not as perfect as the outside world thought. He also had a 4-of-20 shooting performance, averaging nearly 6 turnovers in the last 4 games.
It's just that Simmons' performance is so harsh that others don't seem too problematic.
And Harden, the emperor is his partner in recent years, the superstar?
From the beginning of Paul to the Rockets in 17 years to the present less than 5 years, Harden has changed 4 batches of partners around him, encountering problems, Harden's inertia reaction is to change people or change places to try.
This is consistent with his logic in key playoff moments, why did Harden always perform unsatisfactorily in those moments?
Because he can't go out, Harden is too smart, his first reaction to encounter difficulties is not to rush forward to solve the problem, but to wait, endure, slow down, take a look, wait and wait and there is no way out.
So when Philadelphia encountered a strong opponent in the playoffs and got into trouble, can Harden really stand up?
Your inner answer says it all.
Harden's parting ways with the Nets are destined to have one that will be a joke after the season, or maybe two.
Thanks for reading it all!