maybe—one possibility is he knew all along Harden was open to leaving.
Harden seems not to be a good fit with Kyrie and Durant. Ben could just run the floor and play D.
Ben could avg 15 ast/g feeding Kyrie and Durant all night without worrying about shooting and still finding gaps in the lane to put up his normal 15-16 pts/g himself.
Has there been any new reporting on Simmons' vaccination status? Not having him and Kyrie available for home playoff games would seem like a problem. God forbid the Nets end up matched with the Raptors in a series.
The long ESPN article on the Simmons-Sixers standoff that ran this week said he'd gotten vaccinated.
As much of a fan, I'm of recent Marcus, the C's should do that trade in a heartbeat.
Too bad. We could have had a home grown team of the Jaylord Terry's. That would be quite the trade. You'd hope the C's would bring in some more depth to finish the year, otherwise Ime might go with a 7 man rotation.
You can't trade both Richardson and Smart unless you are getting a guard back though.
I agree the C's would need a ballhandler. BUT I hope Brad wouldn't let positional need get in the way of adding a talented 24yr old sWing that has shot 40% from 3 (over the last 3 seasons). He's been cusp All-Star & is reasonably signed for 4 more seasons. IME likes to play BIG and JC slides into that Horford role.
I'm here for TATUM48!
also, zero chance Wyc is paying essentially 26 million for Josh Hart (his salary, plus tax, plus missing out of the 8 figure payment to non-tax teams)
KW can be a +++ regular-season scorer from the bench. The problem with Kemba on 1 knee is the same with IT on 1 hip. Any well-coached, serious team can hunt them and play them off the floor in the playoffs.
I've not be a fan generally, but it really makes you appreciate Chris Paul. He's basically the same size as Kemba (maybe even a bit smaller), yet is somehow still going strong at age 36. He made the all star team, is leading the league in assists while running the team with the best record. I don't remember him being picked on in the playoffs last year, but who knows.
Well, Chris Paul is an incredible defender. Kemba wracked up a lot of steals when he was much younger, but that's the best you can say for him on that end.
The problem, of course, is that he got hunted off the floor in the regular season. The only thing that Knicks team has going for it is its defense. They're in the bottom of the league in FG% and ASTs, neither of which a guy like Kemba helps you with. And if he's not improving your bench on offense and making it difficult to do what your team does best, what do you have?
They really aren’t comparable though. Paul is one of the best defensive PGs the game has ever seen while Kemba, even in his prime, was a guy you would look to for switch advantages. Your point is well taken though in that Paul, much like say a LeBron, is aging well. That just goes to show how elite they were in their primes.
That was such a masterful trade by Phoenix. Basically got Paul for crap and the #30 pick in this year’s draft.
It was more of a response to the "tall person's sport" comment above, Paul is breaking the mold. He was always a great defensive point guard, but it's still somewhat shocking to see a guy his size (99% of the time he's the smallest guy on the court) play so well for so long.
I'm in the "tall people's game" camp too, but clearly the elite players of all time come in different sizes.
Kemba "floating" is a perfect description of his defense. Never guarded on-ball, or challenged 3pt shots. Would look to strip BIGs in the lane or step into a charge would be the kindest way to describe it. He completely warps a defense in the worst way
Not sure how Chris Paul, Point Gawd, were conflated with two terrible defensive PGs?
My point was to contrast and marvel at how Paul has survived and thrived while other players of similar stature have fallen off a cliff years earlier.
Understood your intention, but quibbled with a minor detail. That's all. You're totally right that it's pretty amazing for a player to play so well at Chris Paul's age, no matter how good they were the rest of their career, and at that stature. It's pretty amazing.
ok got ya. CP ended up in the Greatest 75 of All Time.
Yeah, getting LeVert for basically their 2022 First Round pick isn't a bad deal, but I'm interested in seeing how he fits in Cleveland. He gives them a wing that can score the basketball, but he is also a ball-stopper who isn't a very good shooter. He's not a perfect player for the Cavs and moving Rubio + their pick was their big move they could make at the deadline, unless they do trade Sexton which they've been adamant is not part of the plan.
The tough part there is that the Celtics are (understandably) huge TL believers, and it would be tough to play those two together. I know Horford makes it work by spacing to the corner, but that's a pretty bad use of Sabonis. If you play him in the high post, you're taking away what Rob does well.
Sham’s language here is interesting given Woj’s story this morning that has Marks shutting down Morey with a quick and resounding “no” the only time Morey brought up a Harden to Philly trade, back on January 11:
The Athletic article using language like “the Nets are believed to be open to discussing a deal“ and “it’s believed that an opening exists” really seem like Morey’s camp wishcasting via Shams, while the ESPN story seems like Marks communicating the opposite via Woj. We’ll see how it shakes out the next few days.
