Before the All-Star Game, the Nets traded Harden to the 76ers, got Johnson, Simmons and Seth Curry, many fans are lamenting Harden's departure, and also said that with this deal, the nets' overall strength will decline, but this is not the case, we analyze it from the following three points.
1. The Nets' internal strength has been greatly improved
In this deal, the Nets have a very big profit, that is, from the 76ers to get The Johnson, which must be a very good signal for the Nets.
The previous Nets inside line is composed of Griffin, Ade and Clarkston, but looking at these players, are not a good rebounder, although Ade has a good offense, but in the rebounding scramble, there is not much advantage, which also leads to the Nets' rebounding ability can only be ranked in the middle and lower part of the league, and the arrival of Chuang Shen, to the Nets inside the Nets has brought a certain guarantee, to know that in the first half of the 76ers season, Chuang Shen became Embiid's bench, averaging less than 20 minutes per game. Averaging 9 rebounds per game, even in the few games embiid was absent, Chuang Shen had many games to win 20+ rebounds, which shows how strong Zhuang Shen's rebounding ability is, and the arrival of Zhuang Shen will successfully improve the Nets' interior line and rebounding by more than one notch.
2. Projection boost of the outside line
In this deal, many fans did not expect that the 76ers would use Seth Curry as a chip to trade to the Nets in order to get Harden, and the arrival of Seth Curry also provided a stable projection for the Nets' outside line.
In the first half of the season, the Nets only shot 35.1% from three-point range, only 17th in the league, and one of the big reasons for this is that Joe Harris is absent, although Mills also has a good projection, but compared to Joe Harris's three-point ability, there is still a certain gap, from the 76ers trade to Seth Curry, in the absence of Joe Harris, Seth Curry can also provide a stable projection for the Nets' outside projection.
Although Seth Curry doesn't have the super shooting skills package of his brother Stephen Curry, in the first half of the season, Seth Curry's three-point shooting rate was as high as 41%, compared to Mills, Seth Curry's shooting on the outside was much more stable.
3. Defensive improvement
Last season's Nets had the league's strongest offensive big three, which made many people ignore the Nets' defensive ability, and this problem, in the playoffs, met the bucks who also had a super offensive, and finally lost.
Simmons' arrival can not only make up for the organizational problems after Harden's departure, but also bring a very good defense to the Nets, if it were not for Gobert, the best defensive player last season was Simmons.
Simmons has been in the team's No. 1 position in the 76ers, but defensively, from the No. 1 position to the No. 3 position, and even occasionally to the No. 4 position, there will be no physical disadvantages, and the Bucks were able to beat the Nets last season, in addition to the Nets' injury problems, PJ Tucker's defense also played a key role, and Simmons came to the Nets, will also greatly improve the Nets' defense.
Many fans said that the Nets' deal is a sure bet? Of course not. In this deal, the Nets will face a major problem in the next half of the season, that is, the problem of projection.
First of all, Simmons, last season the 76ers were overturned, it was because Simmons's projection problems, so that the opponent constantly pinched Embiid on the inside line, and eventually led to the 76ers losing the game, fortunately, today there are media reports, Korver taught Simmons projection on the spot, hoping that this time Simmons really wants to improve.
The second is the projection of Zhuang Shen, although Zhuang Shen has a very good rebounding ability, but Zhuang Shen does not have good projection ability, which is one of the reasons why Zhuang Shen was quickly abandoned by the Lakers after joining the Lakers.
The last key comes from the Nets themselves, that is, Irving's stability, if Irving still can't appear in the home game, then the Nets trade Harden out, it is a biggest mistake, after all, Simmons is very organized in the offense, compared to Harden is not a grade.