Although Harden has not yet officially played for Philadelphia, his combination with Embiid has been widely favored. Perkins, a former NBA player and now retired to become a ball critic, said embiid and Harden are the strongest duo in the NBA.
"Philadelphia has the best duo in basketball," Perkins said.
Perkins' argument is inevitably extreme, after all, Harden and Embiid have not yet joined forces, and whether the combination of the two can be called the strongest duo in the NBA remains to be discussed. But Perkins' words can still represent the expectations of the outside world for the combination of Harden and Embiid to some extent.
And it's not just the outside world that's looking forward to the pair, Philadelphia itself is looking forward to it. Take Embiid, for example.
In an interview, Embiid said bluntly that he and the team hope that he and Harden can become a perfect combination, he is very happy to have such a good teammate as Harden, and all he has to do is let Harden integrate into the team.
At the same time, Philadelphia coach Rivers said that Harden's arrival has brought Philadelphia the expectation of the championship, and he and his team are ready to meet the expectations of the championship.
"I put the most pressure on myself and I've always won with that attitude. When you make that decision, you're bound to be stressed. It should be. Because if it's too easy, everyone can win the championship. I think the reason we made this deal is that we can use it to get into the title race. Rivers said.
Meanwhile, Rivers said he thinks Philadelphia's roster is good enough, but the time left for them to run in is limited, because the Suns are very good now, the Bucks and Heat lineups have been running in for many years, and all they have to do is get on track as soon as possible.
From Rivers's words, the Nets, Bulls and other teams do not seem to be the teams they care about. Even if the Nets still have Durant and Irving, the Bulls are not bad.
It is worth mentioning that this is another time that Rivers has coached a super-strong team on paper. Previously, he had been bullish when the Clippers were coaching Leonard and George, especially after the Clippers beat james and Davis's Lakers more than once in the regular season. But in the end, the Clippers were out of the playoffs.
Now, can Rivers lead Philadelphia, who own Harden and Embiid, to the championship? It remains to be seen.