On February 12, Beijing time, after exchanging owners with Simmons on the trade deadline, Harden officially arrived in Philadelphia, and because Philadelphia's No. 13 jersey has been retired, he will wear the No. 1 jersey instead. However, Harden's change in Philadelphia is probably not just a simple change of jersey number, but also in terms of personal playing style, he may also need to make some sacrifices and compromises.
After coming to Philadelphia, Harden will team up with Embiid, and the combination of the two is very promising, and even former NBA player Perkins bluntly said that the combination of Harden and Embiid is the best duo in the league, and it is better than James and Thick Brow. Embiid himself welcomed Harden's arrival, saying in an interview, "This is James Harden, one of the league's best players, MVP." ”
However, if Harden and Embiid want to meet the expectations of the outside world and become the strongest duo in the league, then the first thing to solve is a problem - after the trade, whether Philadelphia should change to harden's preferred magic ball system, or continue to focus on Embiid's point, the inside line as the axis to build the inside-out system.
Judging from the current situation, I am afraid that the party that needs to make compromises and sacrifices is Harden. That is to say, he needs to find a way to integrate into Philadelphia's existing system, and it is unlikely that Philadelphia will come back and reinvent the magic ball system around him, which is determined by 3 reasons.
For one, Philadelphia is Embiid's team. Whether it is Embiid's immediate combat strength this season, or his age, he is the number one core of Philadelphia. Philadelphia traded Harden to let him help Embiid share the pressure, not to let Harden be the boss of the team.
So far this season, Embiid has the top 1 in the league in possession of the ball, and he only tries 16 blocks per 100 possessions. If Philadelphia wants to play magic ball, then it means that Embiid needs to drastically change his personal playing style, reduce the low-post ball holding, increase the frequency of high-level blocking, and the role on the offensive end will drop sharply. Embiid is willing to join forces with Harden, but it is doubtful whether he is willing to make such a huge sacrifice for Harden, even giving up the position of the number one core at the offensive end, from a low-level killer to a blocking robot.
Second, Philadelphia's existing players are not suitable for the magic ball system, and Rivers does not like the magic ball play. In the magic ball system, role players need to shoot a lot of three-point shots or attack the basket, but rarely shoot from the middle distance. But at present, after Philadelphia left Curry Jr., the outside line lacks an absolutely stable three-point shooter.
Although the likes of Maxi, Green and Harris can shoot three-pointers, most of their three-point shots are created by Embiid's compression of the inside line, which is completely different from the magic ball system's style of play that ignores defense and shoots wildly.
This season, under rivers' system, Philadelphia has averaged 14.4 shots per game, ranking fifth in the league, and the proportion of shots scored is 4th in the league. Once the magic ball is changed, it means that Rivers needs to change the tactical system significantly, and the role players also need to collectively change the way they play, they need to re-run, and the probability that Philadelphia will make such a decision in the middle of the season is also very low.
Third, although the magic ball system can guarantee Harden to play explosive data, it has never proved that it can win the championship. Especially in the playoffs, the magic ball system seems efficient in the mathematical model, but because the characteristics of the shot distribution are too obvious, it is easy to be targeted by the opponent. Philadelphia traded Harden in the hope that he could help Embiid compete for the championship, rather than letting him brush the data, and naturally there was no need to abandon the existing system and play magic balls instead.
So in this case, If Harden wants to integrate into the new team, he needs to take the initiative to make changes and sacrifices. Of course, while playing for the Nets, Harden has made some compromises, significantly reducing his individual shooting rights. In Philadelphia, because Embiid is an interior lineman, harden will still be the initiator of the attack even if he does not play magic ball. If the two can find tacit understanding under the existing system, then Philadelphia is indeed very promising to impact the championship, but if Harden does not adapt to the existing system and still only wants to play magic ball, this deal may be difficult to achieve the effect expected by Philadelphia.