Nicolas Batum is expected to make his Sixers debut on Monday when they face the Wizards, Chris Hayes of TNT and Bleacher Report tweets.
Batum was included in the James Harden blockbuster. He’s been away from the Sixers for personal reasons but returned to Philadelphia over the weekend. Batum was a rotation player for the Clippers for three-plus seasons and averaged 18 minutes pere game this season before the deal.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Nets center Nic Claxton suffered a high left ankle sprain in the regular season opener and admits he’s exasperated by the lingering injury, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. Claxton has shed a walking boot, but has yet to return to action. “It’s been frustrating, especially getting hurt the first game of the season, and even the way to the way I did it. But it’s coming along. I’m day-to-day now, just trying to keep myself in a good space, keep supporting my teammates,” he said. “After a couple days … I saw it was taking a little bit longer than I expected and everybody expected. Like I said, it’s frustrating but it’s an 82-game season, so what can you do? I’m not going to put myself in harm’s way. I’m just taking it day-by-day.”
- Harden will make his Clippers debut against the Knicks and Jalen Brunson believes they could be an offensive juggernaut, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post relays. “Another weapon for them,” Brunson said. “They have a lot of great players over there. Really impressive résumés and all that stuff, and their careers have been nothing short of spectacular. So, it’s a lot of firepower. We’ve just gotta be ready to go.”
- Knicks wing RJ Barrett has missed the last two games with knee soreness. Coach Tom Thibodeau indicated that Barrett could return on Monday. “He said he’s feeling a lot better,” Thibodeau said. Barrett is averaging 21 points this season.
Knicks to beat Clippers in this one…
Clippers are gonna be a mess for a while, who knows if Lue can mold it into a team before seasons end…
He should be able to mold them into a team in about 2 weeks whenever he realizes Russ is a TO machine and Harden has basically spent the last few years leading the League in assists.
Except for the fact that Harden’s career assist to turnover ratio is 1.9/1, and Russ’ is 2.1/1, I guess Russ is a turnover machine compared to James! Check the stats buddy.
Also, it seems like everyone in the Clips locker room really likes Russ, but when James walked in for the first time, the only guy that was excited to see him was Westbrook. It’s going to take more than two weeks for Kawhi, Paul and the others to figure out where they fit in “the Harden system” (James said it himself).
I think you’ve gotta add in the terrible shots too by Westbrook to paint the full picture. Doesn’t show up as a turnover but if you shoot the ball at the side of the backboard and then other team collects that board, might as well have been a turnover lol.
But the Westbrook v Harden thing is pace. James isn’t keeping the same pace as Westbrook. The ball movement dies in Hardens hands. That’s the main difference between the Sixers now vs last year, ball movement. James might hold that ball for 15-20 seconds and then shoot or dish it.
Harden leads the league in assists, but the overall ball movement becomes very one-dimensional when he has it. With Russ, the whole team is moving the ball. And their respective FG% over their last 26 games (the amount of time Russ has spent with the Clippers) has favored Russ, even if you don’t include the playoffs (where Russ was great and Harden was… not). And Russ is a better defender by leaps and bounds than Harden is. Now that’s he’s not in charge of the whole offense like he was at his peak, Russ has found much more stability and continuity.
Harden might be the better individual player at this point, but as part of the Clippers system, I’d take Russ every time.
Well said.