James Harden was brilliant in his Sixers debut Friday night, but he couldn’t escape questions about whether his reputation has suffered after issuing trade demands to two teams in 13 months, writes Brian Hall of The Associated Press. The former MVP put up a near triple-double with 27 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds in a win at Minnesota, but the postgame conversation centered around the circumstances that led to his departure from Brooklyn.
“Just because the current situation happened, whatever happened, happened,” Harden said. “It doesn’t mean that I’m a bad teammate. Me, personally, I feel like I needed to do what’s best for my career, and help myself and be happy. It doesn’t harp on whether I’m a bad teammate or not.”
Sixers players and coaches are extremely happy to have Harden on board. Doc Rivers raved about how Harden has raised the level of communication since arriving, and Joel Embiid noticed an immediate difference in the quality of shots that he’s getting.
“I’ve never been wide open like this in my life,” Embiid said. “Seriously, the passing, like I wasn’t even expecting it and it was just coming.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Although the Raptors were blown out Saturday for the second straight night, Precious Achiuwa continues to be impressive, notes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. The 22-year-old big man, who was acquired from the Heat in the Kyle Lowry trade, put up 21 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes off the bench. He could be on the way to replacing Khem Birch in the starting lineup, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports.
- The Celtics‘ decision to keep Payton Pritchard at the trade deadline is paying off, says Trevor Hass of Boston.com. The second-year guard played an important role in Saturday’s win at Detroit, delivering 19 points and six assists in 27 minutes, the most he has logged in two months. “My confidence never should waver,” Pritchard said. “For me, it’s just staying ready and trying to find little ways to help this team win. That’s my job, so I’m going to keep doing it.”
- The slumping Knicks could use a boost from Immanuel Quickley, who is mired in a long shooting slump, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Quickley, who’s expected to become a primary ball-handler off the bench with Derrick Rose and Kemba Walker both unavailable, is shooting 30.7% from the field and 26.6% from three-point range in his last 19 games. “Teammates tell me all the time, sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t, but you just gotta keep the main thing, which is playing defense every night, playing hard every night and just bringing other things to the table,” Quickley said. “You can do other things good when you don’t shoot well. You can still bring other things to win.”
Precious is gonna be a big time player, especially if he plays more at the 4 than the 5. His ball-handling/size/hands/footwork/shooting/agility are all above average for the 4. Masai hit (yet) again by acquiring him in the Lowry deal, showing that he was absolutely right to hold onto Lowry at the trade deadline last season. Tbh I’d rather have Precious than Talen Horton-Tucker (the guy they most wanted for Lowry last season) going forward
Tht’s an underwater contract today at 2/20 so anybody performing at sea level (relative to contract) is better
Lakes would do well to play the age/upside card this offseason for an expiring (think Terrance Ross) in order to free up more 24 cap
His greatest strength was he plays a little longer than his actual height…. as a rook, the league was caught off guard, they have adjusted and THT hasn’t made any sort of improvement to counter to date
Mediocre, his ball handling and hands are below average.
Shooting above average with 45-47% eFG% and TS%?? He’s below league average in FG% from every spot in the court.
THT was safe at ballhandling as a rookie… something happened… now he gets blitzed. IMO.
All I hear about on Lakers is anger— i don’t hear analysis. They should have kept Caruso, is about the last sanity i have read.
They should have started Caruso, I said about three years ago.
All judgment aside, doing what’s best for your career as opposed to what’s best for your team is the definition of a bad teammate.
I couldn’t disagree any more, dude!
Yes, it is a team sports, but at the end of the day people will remember Harden for what he did as a player individually not for what his teams did!
Also as an individual person, which is far more important than his job, he needs to be happy, the pursuit of happiness is way more important than any team consideration!
We are talking about people here, never forget that, teams are just an idea, a concept, a name you give to a group of individuals, but people are always more important than any human organization!
You’re judging him as a person and his own needs. Which is fine. Like I said, when you put judgment aside, he just contradicts himself. Doing what’s best for you as opposed to the team (I.e. not playing hard and giving up on your team) is literally the opposite of a good teammate.
If you continuously have to assert that you are not a bad teammate…it says a lot. Especially when it occurs on multiple teams in less than two years. Good luck, Philly. Something tells me you were better off without both Harden and Simmons.
Of course, that also takes into account the other pieces given up in the trade for Harden.
He’s gonna fit in Philly very nicely…
Cause no one likes us,and we don’t care
IQ’s slump has more or less extended the entire season
Shooting splits of .369/.326/.914 won’t cut it for an undersized guard who doesn’t exactly create a ton of shots for others
Who cares if he’s a good teammate? There have been lots of NBA players over the years and I’m willing to bet a lot of them weren’t good teammates or people.
Show me the research that says being a good teammate makes you more successful.
Also if you never played in the NBA I don’t want to hear your opinion.
Harden has yet to own up to CP3’s kitchen fire. Also the beard causes air resistance and slows him down.
Lil d doesnt want to hear anyone’s opinion yet share his own
What team did you suit up lil d?
Definition of being a team player. Is a good teammate lol. Doesn’t mean outside the court you are good. But on court you have to like and want to play with each other.
To me Harden and Kyrie was never going to be a good mix basketball wise. But the diva just wanted a ring. So he was willing to go there and just play off of Kyrie.
When he first got there. His first words were. Kyrie is the PG. I’m just here to help. Well with no Kyrie and KD getting banged up. He saw there was no ring at end of tunnel. So he knew his sugar daddy was in Philly. And saw a way out and road to rings ……..
Harden would never play for me……..
Harden playing as pass first PG. Is just what Sixers need. He can always get his points. He can get 20 easy. What Philly needs is 15 ast and him running offense. That makes them a dangerous team.
The real test is in the playoffs. Harden is not the same player historically. And his D can be exposed by smart teams. We’ll see how bad he wants a ring then. There are guys in playoffs that can give Harden fits. So don’t get too high on him yet.
The BEARD makes all his teammates better on and off the court. They only grumble once the BEARD takes his talents elsewhere. Funny how that works.
Precious will not replace a healthy Birch in the starting line up. If your saying that, then you haven’t seen any Raptors games this year. I liked Precious as a rook in Miami, and loved the move to TO, but he’s still learning. I will admit he has grown through the season, but his decision making with and without the ball is not even close to where Birch is and that comes with experience.
Nick nurse is trying real hard to join the D’Antoni-Thibodeau club with his lack of rotation and that is the real issue with the Raptors right now. All the more reason to keep Precious coming off the bench as he is a more versatile/multi-positional player than Birch.
(Grumble, grumble.)
Who wanted Peyton Pritchard? Offer?— I did not see any. Pretty easy for Ainge not to trade him.
Have we gone too far with Knix articles? “could use a booat from IQ”. Why him, now?— Were they against a boost before?