Thoughts on Simmons-Harden Deal

[kekgeek]

Am I crazy to think the Nets won't make the playoffs. Irving still a part time player. Durant out for another month and it's not like Simmons will be amazing off the start

[FNG]

Am I crazy to think the Nets won't make the playoffs. Irving still a part time player. Durant out for another month and it's not like Simmons will be amazing off the start

Not crazy, kek, considering they've lost ten in a row. But they still have a 4 1/2 game cushion over the only team in the bottom five with any chance of moving into the top 10 (the Knicks), and I think they have a 98% chance of making the playoffs. I think I know what their current strategy is, and even though I find it distasteful, I can't argue against it. I don't think they want any home court advantages in the playoffs (they would prefer to have Irving in any Game 7), so I see them trying to manage their way into the 8th spot they currently occupy. And they will do that by letting Durant stay out until he is 100% ready and bringing back Simmons very slowly. I look for them to switch into high gear with about 2 weeks left in the season, and then enter the playoffs as both the most talented and best rested team in the playoffs. I think Vegas has it right giving them the shortest odds on the board to win it all.

[Q-is-here]

Kinda find the entire ordeal disgusting.

James Harden has blatantly and obviously QUIT on two different franchises in barely one year. And yet... here he is... getting his wish to join another top contender. And the worst part is that now that his "injured hamstring" is magically healed, he will try harder and he will post big stats.

And he will be celebrated for it.

I don't know if the NBA has ever been in a better place than it is right now for talent. Unfortunately, an increasing number of those players have a sense of entitlement to everything they do that's very off-putting.

An even larger problem is that I think part of this extends beyond basketball. It's more of a generational thing. Count me in the old man with a hose running the kids off my lawn camp... but I can't relate to many of these guys...

... nor the type of NBA fan that eats up the TMZ-style discussions about their next forced move to their next desired destination.

1. Make the best of the situation you're dealt... learn more from adversity than success... grow and build internally.

vs.

2. Use your leverage to put yourself in the best situation to win... put yourself first... let others deal with the consequences, that's not really your concern.

-------

I'm not suggesting that everybody needs to follow my lead or thinking. Not at all. But it's how I was raised and it's shaped how I live my life. So, it shapes how I view people and situations sometimes.

Likewise, others prefer #2. And that's fine for them and works for them. People can probably assign pluses and minuses to either approach.

I simply prefer #1 and will continue to bristle at those who are hard advocates for #2.

Now get off my lawn before I strike you down with a frozen hose!

I'm kinda sorta OK if it happens once. But I definitely go into full grumpy old school Abe mode if it becomes a pattern. I've always hated Harden's game and dumb beard anyway, so yeah, I hope things implode here in Philly for him.

Middleton and Giannis are the counterpoints here. Their first season together in Milwaukee (Middleton was a soph and Giannis was a rookie) they win 15 games. The next year they win 41. Cool! Nowhere to go but up, right!? Nope. The next season they win 33 games. Then 42. Then 44. Then finally 60. But it would still be two more years after their 60-win season that they got to the Finals. Talk about loyalty and perseverance. And that's in Milwaukee!

[TheFuture]

I think you are all crazy. Harden and Embiid will be an insane force to compete with.

[FNG]

I think you are all crazy. Harden and Embiid will be an insane force to compete with.

Hey, I agree Future! Philly has added a superstar without giving up too much (since Simmons wasn't playing), so they should be better the rest of the year...and they were already on a pace to win 49 games. The reason I like the deal for the Nets better is I see Harden as a wild card. Will he be healthy (and will Embiid), and will he be happy or ask to get out of town again? If both those happen, and I see it as a big IF, they will be very good.

[TheFuture]

I think you are all crazy. Harden and Embiid will be an insane force to compete with.

Hey, I agree Future! Philly has added a superstar without giving up too much (since Simmons wasn't playing), so they should be better the rest of the year...and they were already on a pace to win 49 games. The reason I like the deal for the Nets better is I see Harden as a wild card. Will he be healthy (and will Embiid), and will he be happy or ask to get out of town again? If both those happen, and I see it as a big IF, they will be very good.

Morey netted Harden for a zero in Simmons, a far lesser Curry, two picks, and Drummond. They now just need to get one of the plethora of bigs out there and they will be frightening.

The only reason I think Harden was slightly unhappy is because he was forced into a new role. Harden is a huge difference maker on the sixers.