Harden didnt need the clippers he was better off with the sixers when his vaule was actually appreciated. Clippers are a poverty franchise and were gonna fall off eventually with or without harden joining them
Just because they're 0-4 since the trade, have lost to the Nets and now the Grizzlies, the team is a -67 when Harden is on the floor, their four top players are all free agents, and they don't have any picks for a decade why would you worry/panic?
What’s funny is that people who defended this trade and giving up all the picks said “if worst comes to worst the Clippers can let them all walk and open up cap space” uh, the top two free agents next summer then would be… Kawhi and PG13
@@PacisJusticiai don't think the Clippers owner understand basketball at all, he might be a billionaire but when it comes to basketball he don't have a clue. What a waste of money for this Bonehead player they got.
Smile and laugh for what? Yall lost a top 3 all time shooting guard just for maxey and embiid. But we all know come playoff time embiid will choke as usual 😂
This dude is such a hot take artist. Doesn't critically think or look at ball, just simply goes with popular narratives on reddit. Offers no insight or analysis of the game. Who watches this dude or looks for this dudes takes for real?
Facts, i loves how he tries to speak so matter of fact about these subjects and then he ends up dead wrong lol. This guy is the quintessential RU-vidr for the casuals who barely watch ball.
I was confused by this trade the second it hit the news. The Clippers didnt need Harden, they were decent on their own, but I guess they wanted to learn the hard way that another star =/= better team automatically, rather than learn from the mistakes of literally every failed superteam before them. If their opportunity with PG and Kawhi wasn't wasted before this trade, it's certainly wasted now. I'm convinced now more than ever that the Clippers curse is real.
Steve Balmer must have been really motivated to get James "Box Office" Harden. Thats how these guys think. They just think "Oh, he a star player, lets get hm!"
@@23ofSeptemberon top of that , when Harden wanted to come back to Houston, he said he wanted another scoring title, which why I'm glad we didn't get him
Is Harden going out like late career Allen Iverson? He still thinks he is THE system, every time he leaves a team it’s never his fault, and you see just about every team he leaves is either better off chemistry wise, or just flat out better after he’s gone. Me personally, I thought the Clippers fucked themselves simply cuz they didn’t *NEED* him like he needed, or at least overly openly, wanted them. You see theack of wing defense and depth, and Russ and PG look like their play has gotten worse since Harden cuz he just does not fit with this team like people want him to
Mo Williams, Vernon Maxwell, Andre Miller, Elgin Baylor, Caris Levert, Walt Wesley, Terrence Ross, Willie Burton. This is just a quick list of random low tier players that have scored 50 points in their career once. I showed this to let yall know that even trash players like Maxey can go off randomly but it doesn't make him better than real stars like Harden.
@@sac1211 okay? Well one, Maxey ain’t trash. Two, yes Maxey isn’t better than Harden all time, but he’s definitely been a better fit and meshing better with Embiid NOW than Harden
Depends on how you look at it. Russ game worked well with the previous team especially when Kahwi was out Russ and those big shooting wings is a recipe for him to look better. Saying all that if offering the same compensation no team in the league would trade for Russ over Harden as big of a headache as Harden is and making way more than Russ he's still a piece who was just the second guy on a contender. Most NBA teams wouldnt pick Russ up at the minimum.
"We have Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Russ Westbrick, what do we need to get over the hump?" - Clippers "How about a past his prime iso-ball player that plays zero-actually negative-defense, who mopes around when the ball isn't in his hands, is mostly interested hitting the Yak at the club, and will likely demand a trade after this season for reasons?" - Clippers "That sounds perfect, I know just the guy!" - Clippers
They saw an assist leader and a highly efficent guard. But i think you are right that all 4 of them need to have the ball too much to make it it work with all 4 on the floor
@@Ibrakadabra-vf6bd Yeah, he was an assist leader by passing to Embiid every night. He also had an elite catch and shooter in Maxey. Not too hard to collect assists on such a team. Ben Simmons collected assists, too. Maxey is averaging over 7 assists a game at the moment. What you're discovering is that Harden's season last year was mostly the result of who he played with rather than him being elite himself. He's pretty much a negative on the basketball court if he's not getting to the line. Slow, can't play defense, and streaky as all out. You're not winning anything with him in your starting backcourt. At best, he's a bench player, but his ego would never allow him to accept such a role. Good luck with him. You're going to need it.
@@Hemingway-dq4fx with this logic he should be even better because he has pg an kawhi to pass to. Zubac has very good pnr stats too. His problem is his mentality. Not enough training because of the situation at philly. So right now he is a negative pmayer on the court. I hope you meant this and not in general...
as a philly fan, i have to thank the clippers so much. they took our liability away and gave us arguably one of the best benches in the league atm. honestly, just thank you.
This was such a bad trade for the Clippers from the outset, Westbrook fits much better and is more flexible, despite being a notoriously inflexible player.
That's just a straight up lie lol. Harden's play declined because of injuries and he just got worse not because he can't get free throws. They made the rule change for the start of the 2021-22 season. Harden's free throws that year went up from the previous year despite averaging less shots per game. In 2022 he averaged .53 free throws per field goal attempt while in his 2019 season where he averaged 36 ppg he averaged .45 free throws per field goal attempt. The NBA also made a rule change at the end of the 2017 season because of Harden and he still went on to win an mvp and 3 scoring titles.
I knew this trade was a mistake before it even happened. James harden is just a terrible fit with this team. Westbrook was literally the perfect point guard for this team. Played good defense, grabbed boards, pushed the pace, didn’t dribble too much. Now they have James harden literally ruining the fast paced, Kawhi / PG focused offense that made them good in the first place. What a mistake.
I disagree. Westbrook is a better fit in the starting lineup because he can impact the game without needing the ball or scoring. He increases their pace and will give better effort defensively and will hustle for loose balls and do the little things. Harden can play Harden ball with the second unit where he can dominate the ball with Powell Bones etc.
This sounds like a good idea but will Harden agree to a demotion without throwing a fit? Dude wanted to go to the Rockets when they were one of the worst teams in the league so he could be the focal point again (and go to his favorite clubs).
Facts....we finally get a athletic wing in Kelly Oubre only for him to get hit by a car smh. But yeah, Clippers helped us out wit depth n getting that choker named Harden out of here
I can’t believe what they gave up for Harden. Who was the competition? Who else wanted him? The Clippers were competing with a team from China best I can figure. “We’ll take him off yer hands, best offer. Oh, here’s a $20 gift card to Starbucks to sweeten the deal.”
James Harden is the CM Punk of basketball. Overrated, insinuates drama, blames his employers for his fuck ups, causes problems with every team he plays for, has a hall of fame worthy career and accolades that he thinks is not enough, always wanting more than he’s worth, underperforms when it matters most and expects everyone to cater to him
I'm a Clippers fan and have been very skeptical about this trade. Nothing's shaken my doubt. This may be the most in-character self-sabotage the team's pulled since some of them during The Bubble year decided to just go to a strip club and eat wings rather than actually try to play while having Paul George call it a "building year."
Their defense turned severely bad Clippers before Harden trade: 5th in ORTG (offensive rating) 4TH in DRTG (defensive rating) 3rd in NETRTG (net rating) Clippers after Harden trade: 25th in ORTG 28th in DRTG 27th in NETRTG
James Harden said he is a system. That "system" involves him dribbling and teammates watching. Its a style of ball that will not win a chip in this league. Kobe said as much how many years ago n it still rings true
Taking what Kobe said out of context. He said a team can't win with one player dominating the ball meaning a heliocentric offense where one man is the only one scoring and creating offense doesn't work. He then went on to say that once Chris Paul gets back healthy the Rockets have a chance to win. His point was basically that Harden can't win by himself as no player in history can win by themselves. He wasn't saying Harden is incapable of winning.
They lost at home to a 1-8 Grizzlies team that didn’t have Ja Morant, Steven Adams, Brandon Clarke, Xavier Tillman, Zhaire Williams, Derrick Rose and Jake LaRavia. That’s two starters and 7 rotation players and a basically full strength Clippers team lost to an injury ravaged Grizzlies team in a game that Desmond Bane and JJJ shot a combined 33% from the floor. That’s inexcusable.
Russel Westbrook is also quite selfish and a guy who needs the ball to be effective in any way but he is currently a better choice for the Clippers than Harden
Yea… Hes really the right choice bc hes not looking for his own shots anymore, he rebounds and puts effort on d which is what they need in the starting lineup.
@@CahlilWesson I agree. Russ ended up much more humble after his whole Lakers ordeal and now seems to simply want to win a ring instead of still believing himself to be a top 10 player in the league
I almost always agree or am convinced by rusty. This is one of the few times I disagree. James needs to come off the bench. You want your best shot makers next to russ. He's not a good jump shooter. You want him to be able to create shots for guys who are going to hit those shots the most and keep russ from being doubled. James should run the bench unit
You can't really send Russ to the bench because really he's playing better than Harden. It would actually make more sense to bench Harden but they can't do that either. It's a no win situation. Crazy as it sounds they might miss the playoffs.
It’s a good thing that he went to this franchise, and that the Sixers heavily won the trade Joel Embiid wants to win a championship and now he has a really good shot. No more drama in Philadelphia. Once Harden’s done with the clippers and his contract expires, he’s out.
@@antjack6192 Maybe, but if this version of Maxey is for real, he's literally the top point guard in the east. An elite big and an elite wing--this would be the first time the Sixers have had that since the days of Doc and Moses. And there's one thing that the NBA has proven, a team with an elite big and wing tend to win stuff.
@@Hemingway-dq4fxhasn't the sixers always flamed out when it mattered most embidd just stinks in the playoffs harden actually put 40 point games to win them games
As soon as the trade happened, the Clippers immediately got worse. Remember when they lost to the injured Lakers despite being fully-healthy before Harden’s debut? So technically they are 0-5 after the trade. This is the Westbrook situation with the 2021-22 Lakers all over again.
Injuries aside, I had the Clippers winning this year. They were meshing well with Russ, but the moment Mr.MustyBeard came I knew it was over. I literally said “Why the fuck would you ruin your season?” Hopefully, they can win a chip despite the Harden/Clippers curse. Btw Harden bumass should be benched, not Russ.
Ask the producer to pipe this into the Clippers locker room so I can talk to you James. I hope you’re taking notes. I’m telling you in advance, you’re welcome, for the wisdom I’m about to spew. Because listen, I get on my knees every night and pray for someone to believe in me like Daryl Morey believed in you. You wanted a certain coach, they brought in Mike D’Antoni. You wanted to play a certain style, they played it. You wanted Dwight Howard, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. You wanted Chris Paul, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. They brought in your old friend Russell Westbrook. You want to go to Vegas on off days? They looked away. You wanted the team to stay over so you could go out at night, they changed the schedule-and it didn’t work. And you know what, you said I’m gonna break up with my wooby, not good enough. I see the bright lights of New York. I want to go there. My old pal Kevin Durant. It’s gonna work, the big three-and all after one year you wanted out. You realized, “oh my gosh! I took this guy for granted, the guy that believed in me. I want back with Daryl Morey.” They traded Ben Simmons for you-how did they pull that off? And you know what? You went there, and you got a partner who got the MVP. He won the MVP, and what did you say afterwards? You said, “they didn’t hand me the reigns.” You’re the point guard! You were holding the reigns! And what did you do when you had the reigns? You scored 9 points in Game 7 against Boston, you blew a 3-2 series lead. So they fired their coach, not good enough. You broke up with the guy that believed in you again, you said “the bright lights of LA! That’s where I want to go! Let’s see if that works.” Listen James, have you ever had those friends who had bad roommates? Over and over they complained about their bad roommates: “this guy’s terrible,” “the bad roommate here,” they never thought to be self aware enough that THEY’RE the bad roommate! They’re the problem! Hey James, YOU’RE the PROBLEM! If this doesn’t work this year, in this system, with this team, then you’re gonna go and point fingers at everybody else and then you’re gonna go back home and you’re gonna start swiping right for another team, and there’s not gonna be anyone left. Because James, you’re not the beard, you’re not the system, you’re the problem
They were looking so good before trading for Harden too lmao. Biggest problem is, Harden still thinks he's in his prime years. He doesn't understand he's not the 36 PPG scorer he used to be
🤔 Looks like they're figuring it out. They are interchanging Harden and Westbrook and everyone is ensuring the ball moves. You're take makes some sense, but I think you've seriously underestimated their willingness to move the ball and quicken the pace. I find Harden quarterbacking the ball to the other end adds to pace. He also defends those types of passes well. The egos are also not suffering as mich as eveyone anticipated because Westbrook is shining off the bench as well as everyone else in their respective roles. It's working. As they win, they buy in more and more.
Nah rusty You usually be speaking facts but Ain’t no way harden should be starting over russ. Paul kawhi and Russ was the third best offense and defense before the trade and Russ still has explosiveness and give effort. Which was getting mvp level of play from pg and kawhi. Also the bench has man and bones two not shooter and effort guys. I think those guys would fit harden better due to him just walking half the time leading to bad offense and his driving ability isn’t good plus his effort on defense is poor at least they make up for his lack of effort and be play finisher. He might be the better player but his fit is horrible
So let me get this straight you want to bench westbrook who has success with this team from last year and this year so harden can can hold the ball which shown to be terrible for this team lol
Can Harden just be OKC 6th man Harden? Him playing with the 2nd unit would allow him to dribble the air out of the ball. Let Russ be the one who sets up Kawhi and PG.
I’m not going to say Harden is washed (yet), but he doesn’t look good. He seems slow, out of shape, and disinterested. I don’t see any pride or passion in his play, he just looks like a guy clocking in for a paycheck.
The clippers continue to be the clippers, that is the forgotten brother of the lakers. Their entire franchise is either cursed or simply incompetent. You’re right that it’s 4 games, but Let’s relaize this: the clippers WANT a championship it’s all they been thinking about since the Lakers won over California. You DONT trade for harden thinking “well it s a rebuilding/slow growth year.” The clippers picked harden, a selfish, arrogant, playoff chocker. The guy HAD the mvp with him in Philly and burned the bridge. He is old, and by his own account was for most of his career NEEDING. A reason to stay in shape. And his playoff run is legendary for the times he and his team failed (and yes he usually played a role in those collapses). WHY were the clippers wanting a guy with that work ethic, that personality? And to make matters worse, James DIDNT practice with an nba team because he didn’t want to, and second the 76ers were so fed up that they REFUSED to let him practice. This is what the clippers wanted. What a joke
Ty Lue’s body language and demeanor tells me all I need to know about how this trade is low key going over in the locker room. He knows this was a terrible move and I don’t think he thinks he can fix it enough for them to be championship ready.
People were claiming that Harden was the reason why Embiid won MVP, while in reality it was Embiid who helped Harden become AST leader. When you don't have a 7'2" beat who can score in the paint like a Big, from the mid range like a Wing, and from the 3 point and FT line like a guard, dribbling for 20 seconds and passing doesn't work as a strategy.
Embiid didnt win MVP because of Harden but Harden didn't only become assist leader because of Embiid. Harden already won an assist title with no other all stars on his team and he has averaged 9.3 assists since 2017
Good vid rusty, I gotta let you know as a clippers fan tho that Zubac has been bad this year seemingly out of nowhere. Guy is getting out rebounded constantly by opposing centers
Ya let's take a guy that cares and was working great with the starting lineup and instead insert the most selfish careless, defensively inept player in the NBA. 👍
