Harden joined the 76ers, and although he has not yet played, fans are already looking forward to his combination with Embiid. Of course, these two superstars are very good, but how can we form a 1+1 >2? Sam Vecenie of TA analyzes this.
On the one hand, Harden is a ball-handling guard who has been in the top four of the NBA (leading the league twice) since the 2016-17 season, and that was the first season after Howard Harden's partnership, when Harden jumped from an All-Star to MVP candidate under D'Antoni.
Embiid, on the other hand, is the most dominant interior in the NBA today. 30% of his offense comes from back-to-back singles, the most of the league's starters; back-to-back singles scored 1.1 points per round, ranking fourth out of 37 players with at least 75 back-to-back hits this season, behind DeRozan, Durant and James; and scoring 381 points on back-to-back singles, 137 more points than second place Jokic, equivalent to the gap between Jokic and 19th place Kevin Löw!
Theoretically, an interior player and a blocking point guard can definitely play well, but Harden will have to make concessions on possession time. Embiid is one of the best basketball players in the world, he needs to be a central figure, Harden needs to realize this first, and then make changes according to the characteristics of the emperor.
The data shows that Embiid chose a jump shot for 77% of the time this year. Last year's proportion was 75 per cent. The previous year was 73 per cent. This is different from the inside line Harden has encountered in the past. Embiid is not Clarkston or Capela, who has shot 50 percent this season. The three-point shooting rate also reached 36%. So Harden has to adjust his playing style and change his habit of hanging the ball inside, which can take a while to find chemistry.
In addition, at the Rockets, Harden broke through the ball and was able to find a reliable shooter on the outside. What about 76 people? Maxi is a great scorer, but he still needs to evolve as a shooting weapon. Sebel's outside defense was excellent, but shooting was a problem. Tobias Harris' shot wasn't at his best. Danny Green has had ups and downs.
Also, can Harden use the space that Embiidra comes out to storm the interior and create damage? In the past two years, his total number of free throws has dropped from the all-time top to just elite level, shooting just 50 percent from the field, one of his worst seasons.
So, the best way for the big two to work together may be to let Harden control the ball, bypass the cover of teammates (such as Harris), attract players who are staring at Embiid to help defend, and then pass the ball to the emperor to shoot or bomb the basket.