2023-07-17 06:54:59
As long as Joel Embiid, the latest annual MVP winner, stays healthy, young star Tyrese Maxey continues to evolve, Harden shows his housekeeping skills, and other players perform normally, the Sixers are a team that can hit the championship. Generally speaking, the quasi-Hall of Famers who are only short of the championship ring will not leave such a team. However, Harden, who was the boss of the Rockets for seven years and has been the MVP candidate for the past few years, may not leave this summer. Leaving Philadelphia…
Regardless of whether James Harden finally succeeds in changing teams or staying with the Sixers, he must show his best side in the new season to let everyone know that he is still a player worth investing in.
After opting to implement the final year of his contract, James Harden asked the team for a trade, which made everyone wonder what was really going on in his mind. The Sixers’ starting lineup is indeed not perfect, but their combat power is strong enough.
As long as Joel Embiid, the latest annual MVP winner, stays healthy, young star Tyrese Maxey continues to evolve, Harden shows his housekeeping skills, and other players perform normally, the Sixers are a team that can hit the championship. Generally speaking, the quasi-Hall of Famers who are only short of the championship ring will not leave such a team. However, Harden, who was the boss of the Rockets for seven years and has been the MVP candidate for the past few years, may not leave this summer. Leave Philadelphia.
If he is traded, it will be his fourth team change in four years. Harden changes teams almost as often as his former Thunder teammate Westbrook, even though he plays a very different game from Westbrook. Since leaving the Rockets, Harden has been favored as one of the teams to win the championship every time he changes teams, but in the end he has never even scored in the championship game, so even if he is traded to the Clippers as he wishes, it may not be good for him.
It is reported that the Prime Minister of the Sixers, Daryl Morey, had previously told Harden that he hoped that he might implement the option of the final year of the contract.
It might seem odd to do that when Harden wants to leave the team, especially with superstar Damian Lillard available this summer in a trade. Perhaps this step is to hold more bargaining chips when trading Harden (to make the relationship between Harden and the team look less rigid, and to increase his transaction value), the Seven Sixers still hope that if they continue to cooperate next season, Harden Can be willing to go all out.
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In theory, players should have no reservations on the court, but Harden has a history of poor performance. In the last days of playing for the Rockets, he never scored more than 20 points in four consecutive games.
It’s a phenomenon that never happened in his first eight years with the Rockets. Even though Harden said in an interview at the time: “I have given everything, I don’t think this situation can’t be resolved, it’s crazy”, but he made it clear at the time that he wanted the Rockets to send him away.
Even if Harden really failed to go to other teams as he wished, the Sixers’ situation is different from that of the Rockets at the time. In the new season, you can still see Harden working hard on the court, because he has reasons to do so. With only one year left on his contract and the fact that he’s regarding to turn 34, he’s bound to have nothing to hold back on the court.
It is rumored that he hopes that the team will give him a new contract with a long term and a high total amount, but the news indicates that the Sixers do not intend to do so, which makes Harden feel discouraged by the team.
In next year’s off-season, there may be teams that are eager to get him to offer him, similar to the Mavericks offering Kyrie Irving a three-year, $126 million contract with an option for the final year, but the key is that Harden is in the existing He must go all out in the last year of the contract, so that he can become a sought-following player in the market and have a chance to get a bigger contract.
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There are not many teams that need a floor commander of Harden’s price. If he can’t produce good results in the new season or let everyone see his ambition, then almost no team will be willing to pay a huge salary to make up for it. into him.
There is no doubt that Harden’s skills are still there. Last season, he averaged 21 points per game and became the season’s assist leader with 10.7 assists per game. He should actually be selected for the All-Star Game last season. However, what the team needs is that he can play normally in every game, not just explode in a few games, especially in the playoffs.
In the second round of the playoffs last season, when Embiid was absent from the first game, he scored 45 points in a single game. In the fifth game of the series, he scored 42 points in a single game, but deducting these two games, His other six games in the series combined for just 67 points. The Sixers were crushed by the Celtics in Game 7, and Harden’s stats for that game were 9 points, 7 assists, and 5 turnovers, with a plus-minus value of -30 on the field.
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Looking at the performance of Harden’s entire career, especially in the playoffs, he will find that he has no way to guarantee the team’s victory. If he ends up staying with the team, the Sixers will definitely lose something, especially if Lillard can be traded with reasonable chips, because Lillard will be a better choice.
However, the Sixers may not necessarily be able to acquire Lillard through a trade. Under such circumstances, the team still cannot get too rigid with Harden and ensure that he is willing to work hard in the final year of his contract.
As for Harden, even if he is dissatisfied with the team, for personal benefit, I believe he may use his performance to fight for the next contract in the new season.
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