James Harden traded to 76ers for Ben Simmons

James Harden, pierced The Brooklyn Nets guard was one of the names with the most ballots to move on the day of the market closing and finally his destination will be Philadelphia.

This has been the transfer:

To Philadelphia 76ers: James Harden and Paul Millsap

To Brooklyn Nets: Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two future rounds of the Draft (1st of 2022 and 1st of 2027)

Andrés Monje’s analysis:

• for philadelphia: Daryl Morey has landed his desired star, the one he watched rise to the top in Houston. And he has done it in a move by which he gets rid of a Ben Simmons who, by refusing to play, had left the franchise in a very compromised situation both from a sporting point of view and from a market value perspective. Philadelphia will surely have to shield Harden with a great contract (in years and duration) next summer, in which he will turn 33, but his pairing with Embiid points to fabulous. The Cameroonian is playing at the best level of his career and gets an ideal partner for the pick & roll, getting rid of a Simmons who was not playing and, yes, the biggest perimeter threat in the squad: Seth Curry. Harden will once again take complete control of the attack, as the axis of a system that, yes, aims to turn drastically towards a simple 2×2 scheme, for which a full external threat will be needed (key profiles such as Green, Korkmaz, Niang or Maxey, leaving the latter as secondary generator). Harden had never shared a team with such a dominant interior and the same can be said of Embiid, who once found good chemistry with Butler (another great pick & roll manager) but will now find a high-caliber offensive monster. The situation of Harris also remains to be deciphered, doomed to a space weapon when it coincides with the two axes of the attack but that could increase prominence in the breaks of some of them. It is a movement that boosts the Sixers’ short-term options and that hands over their future to a pair, a priori, very complementary.
• For Brooklyn: 13 months ago the Nets gave up Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince, three First Rounders and three other Firsts with a trade option. In return came James Harden. But the fairy tale has lasted too little. Injuries mortally wounded the Nets in the last Playoffs, in which only an alien Durant was about to work the miracle and eliminate the Bucks. And the lack of chemistry has condemned this second adventure of a Big Three that only became so in fiction. Harden ended up apparently tired of the ‘Irving case’ and forced to overexert himself in a phase of the course without Durant, injured. The Nets lose one of the biggest individual imbalances in the League but win above all two pieces of great collective value. Curry fits like a glove in a structure with excellent handlers next to him, being one of the best shooters after receiving in the league and may even return Patty Mills to his ideal role, that of agitator off the bench. And Ben Simmons, without playing since last season, initially finds another very suggestive scenario. It is for two reasons: one, defensively, his adaptation seems perfect to a super-versatile structure, focused on small quintets and defensive assignment changes. He could play as five in them along with Kevin Durant, raising the defensive level notably. And two, in attack he will find a panorama without internal referents, the liberated zone and surrounded by shooters, something ideal for a player like him (without a shot threat). The only doubt with Simmons, beyond seeing what physical state he is in after not playing all season, is to figure out how he can coexist with an Irving who does tend to be a ball handler whenever he is in clue. Simmons could be used as a five in the Nets, used as a blocker and follower (in the style of Draymond Green in Golden State, for example) and be decisive, but it remains to be seen how the Australian adapts to losing ball share. For the rest, his sports fit is fantastic and he will have less responsibility at key moments being surrounded by Irving and Durant, two clutch animals.

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