The morbid is near. James Harden will soon wear the jersey of the team with which he has just signed. He will do it with the number 1, since the 13 is retired in honor of Wilt Chamberlain. And next to Joel Embiid, that player who is, at the moment, the top contender for the MVP. The center has made it clear that this team is his during a season in which he averaged more than 29 points per game and a streak of 22 consecutive games of 25 or more points that has continued against the Thunder, against whom he has reached 25 righteous. Embiid is also averaging 10.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists (his career high), he is with almost 36% in triples and has 26 double-doubles in 43 duels. Something that makes it clear that he is the basic pillar of the Sixers project, the lord of the area, the locker room and the franchise. It only remains for James Harden to also have it clear.
It does not seem, a priori, that Harden is going to propose a leadership pulse with the center. His discomfort with Kyrie Irving, similar to the one he had in a Rockets already without aspirations, has allowed him to set course for Philadelphia through the work and grace of Daryl Morey, that manager whose greatest filiation is an escort with an exceptional beard. now let’s see What The issue comes up: Harden may have gotten carried away with the Nets to force the trade or be the player he has proven to be (or not be) in recent months. Probably, neither one nor the other: We will see more of Harden than we have seen, but it is difficult for him to be the Rockets player again. Of course, he is far from the total player who won the MVP in 2018 and won the title of Top Scorer for three consecutive years.
Now, Harden should resemble the post defender he was in his time with the Rockets, play more time without the ball, do pick and roll Y pick and pop with Embiid and assume that his position is second sword, something that did not cost him so much (although we have not seen them together for so long either) next to an aura infinitely greater than that of Embiid (and that of almost everyone) as that of Kevin Durant. Let’s see how Doc Rivers manages the issue, one of the 15 best coaches in history to the ridicule of a few and a coach who risks his reputation. And if Morey’s move, champion in the market (for getting what he wanted in exchange for what he wanted) and a man who always (forever, forever) goes for the ring, translates into sports or remains an epic bomb of absorbing journalistic analysis, but without revenue in the form of championships. Which, ultimately, is what matters most.
For now, the Sixers are still in form. Embiid briefly reminded the fallen and has said goodbye in his own way to Ben Simmons: “It’s a shame, it seems that winning is not the most important thing for him“, he has said in statements collected by NBA Central and various media. And he has destroyed the Thunder under the hoops: 25 points (bad shooting, 8 of 25), 19 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 5 blocks, although with 4 losses It was the best, once again, in a match that had many alternatives until the locals woke up after the break (31-20 partial in the third quarter). They came to send for 19 points, they had 24 goals from Tyrese Maxey (another one that Morey, again a winner, did not want to let go of in the transfer of Harden) and added a new victory that allows them to go to a 33-22 record, in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and in a small irregular phase in which they alternate defeats (the last one, against the Suns, quite logical), with victories (last night). Anyway, this is how the Sixers are, the team that James Harden arrives at. The new epicenter, next to Brooklyn, of the NBA. An exciting story. And of uncertain ending. That, of course, It is the best.