First published on the public account: Si Feng Adao
Harden joins the Clippers!
Yesterday, there was a blockbuster trade in the NBA, and after four months of waiting, James Harden finally boarded the broken ship with his old ticket
The Philadelphia 76ers sent him and PJ Tucker to the Los Angeles Clippers for the whole dollar in exchange for Covington, Batum and Martin Jr., as well as two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and a first-round swap
After this deal, Harden and Wei Shao were on the same team for the third time, you look at the past experience of these two brothers, like a couple with a temper, they are disconnected, and now they are finally working together again, and the sound of the waves is still the same
This deal, you obviously made it by the Clippers, the Philadelphia 76ers are forced to trade because their arms can't twist their thighs, you look at these chips provided by the Clippers:
1, Covington, Tyronn Lue's rival in his past life, Tyronn Lue would rather watch the team lose last season than use him, just such a high-quality 3D wasted, only played two games in the playoffs, playing an average of 6 minutes per game
2, Batum, has issued a statement in advance, this season is the last dance of his career, and he returned to Paris after playing, and now it is purely about working years to ensure that he can get more pensions after retirement
3. Martin Jr., the only new signing of the Clippers team this summer, the person is here, the manual is not here, four games have passed, and Tyronn Lue still doesn't know where his switch is
4. The only thing that can make ripples in Tyronn Lue's heart should be his godson Morris, but this person's status in the eyes of Clippers fans is not much different from Jordan Poole's status in the eyes of Warriors fans
Just the above four people, some of them are a scrap for Tyronn Lue, and the other part is a scrap for Clippers fans, and in general, they are a bunch of scraps, you trade them for Harden, and the Philadelphia 76ers give you a PJ Tucker, which is definitely earned
As for the issue of draft picks, I want to explain to you, draft picks are not important, they are very important, but this is for the average team, what kind of team are the Clippers? Let me put it another way and think about who the Clippers owner is. Ballmer is worth $120 billion, does he need to worry about draft picks? Who do you fancie, and won't it be over if you dig him up at a high price? Do you need to train yourself? You don't sign 30 million a year, 50 million a year do you sign or not? Who has a grudge against money?
So draft picks don't mean anything to the Clippers at the moment, what they need now is to use the peak of the Cayenne combination to go all out to win the championship, as for the future, who can say for sure? There is money, what are you afraid of?
For the Philadelphia 76ers, this is Mo Laogou's retribution, now the team and Harden are on the same footing, Harden is playing now, the team has politely refused to him, don't let him play, your twisted melon is not sweet, what is the point of you keeping Harden in the team?
But the chips provided by the Clippers this time must not be what the Philadelphia 76ers want, just these broken copper and iron, the Philadelphia 76ers have to give him a second treatment, to exchange for useful assets, the starting point guards are now vacant, you plus, according to the previous grapevine, the Philadelphia 76ers have been salivating over the Clippers' Terence Mann, but this time it did not finally succeed, so just from the perspective of the transaction itself, the Philadelphia 76ers are very at a loss, the one they wanted did not come, and they took one after they finished
This can't help but make people wonder if Mo Laogou has some handle in Harden's hands, if he doesn't trade, it is possible that Harden will break out, which will make him ruined, but if you think about it from another aspect, after this deal is completed, next summer, the Philadelphia 76ers can free up $50 million-60 million in salary space, and part of this money may be used to renew Maxey, I think this is more or less a problem
Finally, let's talk about the issues that Clippers fans and Harden fans are more concerned about:
Can Harden help the Clippers compete for a championship?
My answer is: No!
First of all, after the arrival of Harden, the first difficulty that the Clippers will face is the division of the ball, I believe that fans and viewers who have watched Harden's game should understand, Harden is a ball-holding core, in other words, if you don't give him the ball, he can't maximize his offensive threat, and his off-ball ability is that dog meat can't get on the table
Now the question is, the Clippers team, Leonard needs the ball, Paul George needs the ball, Westbrook needs the ball, James Harden also needs the ball, just one ball, who do you give it to? Now that Tyronn Lue has finally smoothed out the Clippers' offense and reduced Willis's ball-holding time, and as a result, he has another Harden, what do you do with him?
There may be fans and viewers who say, this thing is easy to do, you let Wei Shao play as a substitute, you let Harden go to the starter to do Wei Shao's work, isn't it over? The problem is here, Harden really can't do Wei Shao's work now, Wei Shao's speed and explosiveness to break through, Harden doesn't have it, you let him do Wei Shao's work, which will lead to him not being able to attract too much defensive attention, unable to create shooting space, and you have no threat when you pass
Second, the Harden deal, I don't think it's very friendly to Leonard, Covington is gone, Batum is gone, Martin Jr. is gone, and these three forward players are gone, which means that Leonard may have to go to the No. 4 position to act as a defensive wingman next to Zubac
Although PJ Tucker is strong and can top the interior at critical times, his footwork can't keep up with the top forward players, so you let him defend against Durant and James? Don't give him a sieve? So that's forcing Leonard to do more on the defensive end, which increases his injury risk
In the playoffs last season, Leonard had no reservations in defense, and once reached the No. 5 position, but he was directly injured, and I don't know how he was injured until now, which is a problem of hard work! Overall, the Clippers made money in this deal, but if they want to use Harden's time in this year to compete for the championship, I think it is very difficult for the Clippers!