James Harden traded to the Clippers

Capt. Factorial

Capt. Factorial

ceterum censeo delendum esse Argentum
Staff member
#1
#1
coolhandluke said:
What are the Clippers giving up? There's only one ball.
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I dunno, but the Clips don't have a pick to send until '28 so it's not like there's some massive draft haul there for Philly.

The Clips have a lot of ways to make salaries match, with Covington and Batum both around $12M expiring, Morris about $17M expiring, Zubac and Mann both around $11M on 2-year deals, and Norman Powell at $18M on a 3-year deal.

The question, I guess, is what's in it for Philly other than dumping Harden? Perhaps he's just that toxic, and I can't imagine the trade market is all too high. I suppose they might want a locked-up Powell and Bones Hyland? At any rate, the Clips won't have room for either at this point.

But man, Kawhi, PG-13, Harden, and Russ all on the same team is liable to make Minnesota's Twin Towers mess look like a decent idea after all.
 
hrdboild

hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
Staff member
#3
#3
miltonap said:
https://twitter.com/statuses/1719242901438242833
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So a salary dump it is then. They took back all expiring contracts and a draft pick or two. I suppose they were going to lose Harden for nothing so getting a pick out of it isn't the worst end to this situation. That pick is going to be 5 years away but maybe it pays of for the Sixers if Kawhi and PG are forced to retire due to injuries by then.
 
Tetsujin

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#10
#10
The clippers are giving up a lot of the amoeba optionality that made them so dangerous for this move though.

Morris and Batum and RoCo were their three big wings who were also capable of playing small ball five and completely opening up the floor and playing traditional centers off the floor. Now the Clippers are going to have to play more traditional lineups unless PJ Tucker has something left in the tank.

Zubac
Kawhi
PG
Harden
Russ
Is a superteam when all those guys were in their prime and capable of playing defense but right now they are going to need Zubac to play like a stud to avoid getting sliced and diced by good guards every night
 
funkykingston

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
#14
#14
On paper this isn't a terrible roster.

Westbrook
Harden
George
Leonard
Zubac

with a bench of Mann, Powell, Tucker, Plumlee, and Hyland.

But I think they'll struggle a bit with spacing, not to mention how they'll share the ball.

Harden is a FA next summer and Leonard, George, Tucker, and Westbrook all have player options. Things could get messy quickly for LA.

But at least they have Normal Powell signed for 20M/year for 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.
 
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iowamcnabb

iowamcnabb

Hall of Famer
#19
#19
The challenge for the Clippers is they can run with this core for maybe 3 years at most before some pretty heavy decline. At that point they will have very little in the way of trade assets and not much draft capital to work with. I guess they would be banking on free agency for a rebuild
 
HndsmCelt

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#20
#20
iowamcnabb said:
The challenge for the Clippers is they can run with this core for maybe 3 years at most before some pretty heavy decline. At that point they will have very little in the way of trade assets and not much draft capital to work with. I guess they would be banking on free agency for a rebuild
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Hell if they don't make it to the finals this year they're big challenges keeping the core together
 
HndsmCelt

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#21
#21
Tetsujin said:
https://twitter.com/statuses/1719367547697418542

Not sure the Sixers turning around and flipping the assets they got for Harden for Lavine or OG actually makes them much better off than just keeping the vet role players from LA and the draft capital and just sitting back and seeing how a Embiid/Maxey duo-led roster sans Harden looks for a while.
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Well what they got is Big Time flexibility. The pressure is off for this season it's just run and see how deep you can get. Then they can assess need and the draft and decide what they're going to do with their double-wide truckload of pics and assets
 
See_Hanks

See_Hanks

Bench
#22
#22
funkykingston said:
On paper this isn't a terrible roster.

Westbrook
Harden
George
Leonard
Zubac
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It's pretty bad. The defense will probably be worst in the league with that starting lineup, and they will have to resort to out hustling (which will probably not happen), and 3pt shots to win their games. They will not be a threat to our playoff positioning. We will tire those old men out within a quarter.

There are too many cooks in the kitchen that do the same thing **ahem Westbrook, Harden, Leonard, George** and all of them together shoot about 25 three point shots a game. A good zone defense will probably negate most of their three point shooting and a good running team like the Kings will wind them pretty quickly.
 
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See_Hanks

See_Hanks

Bench
#23
#23
HndsmCelt said:
Hell if they don't make it to the finals this year they're big challenges keeping the core together
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No way they even come close to the finals this year. I predict they will be a 5th-6th seed at best and out of the playoffs in the first round or they will be a play-in and lose. The team is too old, and "slowing" to compete against young teams that can run and cut like the Kings. We shoot a lot of 3pt shots like the Clippers will be doing, but we have cutters and they really don't except for Westbrook and Leonard, who will not be able to save the Clippers from mediocrity.
 
HndsmCelt

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#24
#24
See_Hanks said:
No way they even come close to the finals this year. I predict they will be a 5th-6th seed at best and out of the playoffs in the first round or they will be a play-in and lose. The team is too old, and "slowing" to compete against young teams that can run and cut like the Kings. We shoot a lot of 3pt shots like the Clippers will be doing, but we have cutters and they really don't except for Westbrook and Leonard, who will not be able to save the Clippers from mediocrity.
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Oh I never meant to imply that the Clippers would make the finals just that with four major stars all with options at the end of the season I can't imagine most if not any of them coming back to a team that does not give them a legit shot at a championship.
 
ockingsfan

ockingsfan

Starter
#25
#25
iowamcnabb said:
The challenge for the Clippers is they can run with this core for maybe 3 years at most before some pretty heavy decline. At that point they will have very little in the way of trade assets and not much draft capital to work with. I guess they would be banking on free agency for a rebuild
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I can't see this Big 3 staying healthy long enough to get 3 years of top level contending team performances. They will be lucky to make a deep playoff run this year. I can definitely see this core having a huge decline after this year.
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#28
#28
ESP47 said:
Clippers saw what happened in Brooklyn a few years ago and wanted a piece of that.
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You also love to hear that Harden was mad at his touches with Philly and felt he was being cast aside. Absolutely the words you want to hear when adding him to 2 other high-USG super stars
 
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