With the trade deadline whistle operation, the Nets Big Three regretfully disintegrated, Harden joined the 76ers as desired, Simmons is finally going to play, the competition between the league's teams in the second half of the season will be more and more intense, how powerful is the combination of Embiid and Harden? Can the Nets' new lineup still expect a championship? Whether the Lakers can recover strongly, etc., are the focus of fans' attention to Germany, but the first half of the season that has ended still has to be summarized, today we will take stock of the seven most depressed stars of the season so far, Harden is hungry for the championship, Westbrook has been sprayed to become the first of the list.
Seventh place, Sexton, who is reimbursed for the contract season
Last season's offseason gave birth to a lot of top salary contracts, the 18 young talents who can be renewed early have 4 top-salary players, they are Doncic, Trae Young, Alexander and Porter Jr., but the Cavaliers actually gave Sexton, who averaged 24.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1 steal, to a contract with an annual salary of only $20 million, insiders revealed that the contract is five years, but Sexton wants a 4-year and $100 million early renewal contract.
In the end, the two sides failed to reach an early contract extension, realistically speaking, Last season's sexton explosion performance, he only sought a 4-year, $100 million contract, but the Cavaliers still refused, of course, Sexton also rejected the Cavaliers' slightly insulting offer, so this season's performance is crucial for Sexton, after all, Gao Guang's personal performance is the biggest chip on the negotiating table, but it is a pity that Sexton in the contract year continued the serious injury reimbursement of the season.
On November 8, 21, in a game against the Knicks, Sexton suffered a serious injury from a torn meniscus in his left knee, and before the injury, Sexton averaged 16 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, although the data declined significantly compared to last season, but as the season progressed, as the team's main attacker, healthy Sexton was fully capable of playing beautiful data, but unfortunately, the sexton season in the contract year was reimbursed.
The biggest blow to Sexton after the season reimbursement is that the big contract flew away from the mouth, insiders revealed that the Cavaliers do not believe that the severely injured Sexton can return to the top, and there is even news that the Cavaliers are ready to provide Sexton with a mini-middle-class contract similar to Schroeder, the Attitude of the Cavaliers Team Sexton clearly shows that Sexton is already a dispensable state for the Cavaliers, after all, the Cavaliers' record of 35 wins and 21 losses is second in the East. The Cavaliers also developed Garland, an All-Star, and Allen, an All-Star.
The author thinks that the offseason Cavaliers may not even offer Sexton any participation contracts, although it is cruel for Sexton, but the reality is true, if Sexton is not plagued by injuries, Garland can not replace, the opportunity to participate in the All-Star Game is a good bet for Sexton, this season is the cavaliers blossoming time, but this is nothing to do with Sexton, I have to say that the creation of people.
Potter Jr., the sixth, who failed to prove himself
Last season offseason gave birth to a lot of maximum salary contracts, but when Porter Jr. and the Nuggets reached a maximum salary renewal contract, it still became the focus of fan attention news, almost everyone thinks that Little Porter He de how can get the top salary big contract Ah, even Little Porter himself thinks that he is not worthy of the maximum salary contract, so far why the Nuggets have extended the maximum salary to Porter Jr. is a mystery.
Last season, Porter Jr. did play a beautiful season, averaging 19 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, and the shooting rate was as high as 54.2%, and the three-point shooting rate reached 44.5%, a 2-meter-08 tall and not accounting for the ball Porter Jr. and Jokic were almost seamlessly connected, plus Porter Jr. was once the highly anticipated first high school student in the United States, and everyone also thought that Porter Jr. was cashing in on his talent, so the Nuggets, who had a good record in recent years, rushed out of the East.
But the ideal is very full, the reality is very bone, this season's Porter Jr. suffered Waterloo, averaging only 9.9 points and 1.6 rebounds per game of pitiful data, shooting percentage is a pitiful 35.9%, down nearly 20 percentage points compared with last season, three-point shooting rate is a pitiful 20.8%, down 25 percentage points compared to last season, and then Porter Jr.'s old injury recurred, the season was reimbursed.
I personally think that the Nuggets' top salary to renew Porter Jr. is obviously in a hurry, Porter Jr. himself is not ready to renew the contract with the maximum salary in advance, and the joy of falling from the sky also makes Porter Alexander Jr., but if he is in good health, Little Porter has a lot of time to find his state, but Little Porter is in the case of signing a big contract, personal performance is extremely ugly, and he has suffered serious injury troubles, that Little Porter of course has become the focus of public opinion, the Nuggets currently rank sixth in the West, and it is MVP big hit Jokic who has done his best to play the results If the Nuggets end sloppily in the playoffs, the culprit behind the Nuggets' poor performance this season will be Porter Jr.
Fifth, the disgraced Simmons
Before the trade deadline, the Nets and the 76ers completed an earthquake-level whistle trade, the Nets sent Harden and Millsap to the 76ers, and the 76ers gave the Nets Simmons, Cescuri, Drummond and two first-round picks, thus ending Simmons's farce with the 76ers.
For the 76ers and Simmons this is an extremely "pleasant" breakup, first of all, Simmons finally got rid of the 76ers, to know that Simmons vowed never to play for the 76ers again, so far this season, Simmons has been fined more than $20 million, for the rich NBA star, this is also definitely a sky-high number, it can be seen that Simmons has decided, and now Simmons has finally left the 76ers as he wished.
Secondly, the 76ers finally got rid of Simmons, the thorny player, although Simmons does not play, but Simmons's salary is calculated in the team's salary, that is to say, the 76ers have one less big player, and they cannot be reinforced, for the 76ers, if it is not Simmons so noisy, the combination of strong Embiid and Simmons this season is the first in the East, so the 76ers are also very anxious to send Simmons through the way of trading.
Although Simmons left the 76ers as he wished, but because the coach criticized a few words to make a mood and not play the game, has made Simmons bear a lot of infamy, and even Simmons has become one of the new generation of thorns in the league, when the deal was reached, Embiid publicly shelled Simmons, thinking that Simmons does not care about the team's record, only wants to be a star, only wants to be the boss of the team.
Realistically speaking, Simmons is indeed a player with top talent, if Simmons can have a stable shooting ability, then Simmons is one of James's successors, because Simmons' defense and tandem teams are the top existence of the league, and now Simmons, who is constantly criticizing, needs to cash in on talent to reverse the unfavorable situation, for Simmons, practicing shooting is a panacea, otherwise Simmons will repeat the same mistakes,
Fourth, Ayton, who is drifting away from the top salary
Things also go back to last season's offseason, the leaders of the 18th offseason have got the maximum salary contract as desired, but the up-and-down Yuanlang Ayton did not receive the Suns' maximum salary extension quotation contract, which is a bit surprising, but through the performance of this season, Ayton did not receive the maximum salary quotation contract is also reasonable.
So far this season, Ayton averaged 16.4 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, Ayton still did not show significant improvement, so far this season, Ayton has only played 34 games due to injury, but the Suns have achieved an excellent record of 45 wins and 10 losses in the league, the win is not terrible, who is embarrassed, ironically, substitute center McGee can get 10 points and 7 rebounds in only 16.3 minutes per game, and Bi Yongbo, who has almost no ball to play, can average 8.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in only 18.8 minutes of playing time It could even be argued that Ayton is not very important to the sun.
Ayton belongs to the typical than the upper and lower than the bottom, although Ayton is physically talented, but he does not have the defensive ability of Gobert and alphabet brothers, and even the performance of the defensive end is not as good as the Eagles' Capela, Ayton's skills at the offensive end are more comprehensive, and even have a certain long-distance shooting ability, but Ayton on the court is almost to eat cake and secondary attack for a living, the threat of the offensive end is far less than the comprehensive hands such as Embiid and Jokic, so there is more than Eyton than the upper and lower Ayton, Getting a top salary is a bit tricky.
Even if Ayton's talent is outstanding, if you can't play a dominant role, can't help the team very well, then over time, people's expectations of Ayton will continue to decline, last season offseason Suns did not provide Ayton with a maximum salary contract, not that the Suns will not renew Ayton with a maximum salary this season, but from the performance of Ayton de this season, Ayton's dream of a maximum salary is likely to be in vain, and Ayton in the contract year will be tortured for a whole season.
Third place, Lillard, who wants to stay and can't stay
This season Lillard suffered the biggest crisis of his career, before the injury, Lillard averaged only 24 points, 4.1 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game, the data seems to be quite good, but the shooting rate is only 40%, the three-point shooting rate is only 32%, you know that last season's Lillard or can cut 28.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game Super breakup, the team boss performance is not good, the Blazers' record has been hovering in the lottery area.
As I predicted in the previous article, the Blazers are likely to rebuild, and the Blazers trade the other day also proves my point, the Blazers will send guard CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr. and Snell, from the Pelicans to Hart, Alexander Walker, Satoransky, Didi Luzada, 2022 first-round picks (protected), two future second-round picks.
On the surface, the Blazers sent an All-Star player, McCollum, to get the Pelicans' draft picks, and it was true that the Pelicans were ready to storm the playoffs, and the Blazers were ready to rebuild the team, because this was clearly against the draft picks than the trade Blazers, and although the Blazers announced that they would continue to rebuild the team around Lillard, the clear-eyed people could see that the Blazers' supermarket door had been opened.
The funny thing is that Lillard has said countless times that he will not leave the Blazers, even if he does not have a crown for life, he is willing to end up with the Blazers, but the Blazers will most likely take advantage of Lillard's great trading value to send them away, of course, from the perspective of fans, leaving the Blazers is not a bad thing for Lillard, Lillard has a big contract, and there is a lot of oil in the fuel tank, joining a new team still has the opportunity to win the championship as a core player.
Second-place, james Harden, who is also looking for a high score
The most important news of these two days is the news that Harden left the Nets to join the 76ers, and the terrible Nets Big Three announced the disintegration after 16 games, which is indeed a pity, after all, the power of the Big Three is the only one in the league, if it is not injured, last season's Nets will most likely win the championship.
But this season Durant again suffered from injury trouble, Irving willfully do not vaccinate, home games can not play, in the current Bucks, Heat and 76ers more and more courageous situation, the Nets are really more and more no champion phase, in a hurry, Harden helplessly chose to leave, but Harden's other way to get higher still can not get the understanding of fans.
First of all, Harden has been expressing his heartfelt heart to the Nets, telling the Nets management not to care about the gossip, and even head coach Nash has always stressed that Harden cannot leave the Nets, but Harden has been in contact with the 76ers, and finally told the Nets that they want to join the 76ers a few days after the trade deadline, which made the Nets scoff at it. It can be seen that Durant is very dissatisfied with Harden's departure,
Harden's season and a half with the Nets can be said to be the biggest sacrifice among the Big Three, the Big Three are super scorers, Durant and Irving play the same, carrying the banner of offense, but Harden has become the organizer of the tandem team, to put it bluntly, Harden is playing an auxiliary role in the Nets' Big Three, but the poor performance of the personal offensive end makes Harden very uncomfortable, which is one of the reasons why Harden left the Nets.
In short, in the past two seasons, Harden's style has taken a sharp turn, constantly changing teams, constantly contradicting teammates and other problems, Harden's life is not good, how the combination of Harden and Embiid will develop in the future, we wait and see.
Number one, the powerless Westbrook
This season Westbrook is the biggest "wronged head" in the league, leaving the Wizards, joining the Lakers, originally thought that Westbrook's championship dream was angry again, but this season's Situation with the Lakers is a mess, currently achieving a record of 26 wins and 30 losses, only ranking ninth in the West, the championship? Don't think about it too much, let's talk about the advanced playoffs.
The Lakers' poor record, Westbrook's body was sprayed, honestly speaking, Westbrook's poor performance did drag down the Lakers, poor defense, non-threatening shooting, are hurting the team, and even at the key moment of the recent game, Westbrook was actually pressed on the bench, which is extremely embarrassing for Westbrook, but here I want to say a few fair words for Westbrook.
First of all, the Lakers management can not not know that Westbrook is a double-edged sword, the management finally decided to get Westbrook through the trade, must be looking at some of Westbrook's advantages, such as the ability to score offense and defense conversion, the ability to hold the ball offensively, the ability to connect teams, etc., these Westbrooks do well enough, the Lakers' poor performance The main reason should be the decline in the dominance of the Zhan Mei combination, especially the continuous injury of the thick eyebrow brother, the serious decline in dominance.
Secondly, we all know that Westbrook is a typical self-centered way of playing to play the most energy of the player, although the upper limit of such a playing team is not high, but Westbrook is such a player, which is also his biggest flaw, but to the Lakers Westbrook but to play without the ball, such a change makes Westbrook very uncomfortable, no ball, Westbrook and no shooting ability, Westbrook outside the bottom corner of the three-point line can only stand awkwardly, Occasionally, the efficiency of the offense is also greatly reduced, because Westbrook's personal presence is seriously insufficient.
The author is not excused for Westbrook, Westbrook this player is a double-edged sword, can only let him in the spotlight, role players he really can't do, Westbrook and the Lakers are very inappropriate, in the Lakers James and thick eyebrow brother, Westbrook must also be a supporting role, which seriously limits Westbrook's play, for both sides to separate is the best choice, but the embarrassment is, who wants to call the takeover man?