Philadelphia 76ers: NBA fans would HATE a James Harden-Joel Embiid pairing
The entire NBA would hate a Philadelphia 76ers squad featuring JoJo and The Beard.
When the clock struck 12 (pm) on Monday, November 16th, it felt like Christmas morning for fans of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Finally, after months, and months, and moths of toiling away with a roster that clearly isn’t built to chase championships, new general manager Daryl Morey was going to walk up to the hypothetical trade window, push his chips to the table, and transform his new team on the spot.
Gone would be the days of “at power forward, Al Horford“, and in his place would be… someone.
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If we’re being honest, it didn’t matter all too much who; all that mattered was the endorphin rush of a lunchtime Woj Bomb.
Well, guess what? It didn’t happen. Plenty of trades happened, from relatively minor to absolutely insane, but the 76ers remain untouched and unchanged; a proverbial first snow on a crisp winter’s day.
And with only so many players on the proverbial block – assuming players like Kelly Oubre, Danny Green, and Eric Bledsoe don’t get rerouted – the chances of the Sixers landing the kind of trade that generates Stan Twitter accounts appear to be down to one option and one option alone: James Harden.
Sure, the team could still potentially land Buddy Hield – though that trade appears to be dead – or pull off a lesser move for a guy like P.J. Tucker, but is that really going to move the needle? With the Nets ascending, the Heat holding strong, and the Bucks pushing all their chips to the center of the table to win now with Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Sixers can’t get things twisted: The status quo isn’t going to work this time around.
Now could the Philadelphia 76ers trade for James Harden? Sure, if Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid is on the table, they can put together a package better than any other team in the NBA. Should they trade for Harden? Now that, my friends, is the $250 million question.
But I don’t want to talk about that. I’m sure you have an opinion on which of the three you would most like to build around, and even my most impassioned prose won’t change that.
What I can say definitively, however, is that a Joel Embiid-James Harden combo would be the most hated duo in the NBA.
I mean, think about it, Harden and Embiid routinely rank among the most fouled, and by extension, highest free throw attempted players in the NBA. Both are incredibly cocky, have signature shoes, and show up on commercials way too often for players that very rarely play into the championship picture.
But wait, it gets better.
According to Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey, Harden and Embiid are two of the three most prolific floppers in the NBA right now; a trifecta closed out by Pheonix’s new favorite son Chris Paul. Get those two on the court together playing a two-five pick-and-roll-based offense surrounded by a trio of 3-and-D shooters, and you’ve got a team that could score 130 points a night with ease, but you’ll also get some 20 free throw attempts from the team’s two stars alone and a whole lot of groans from opposing fanbases.
Gosh, the whole league hating a team from Philadelphia? Imagine that.
Next. The dreams of a Buddy Hield trade are (probably) dead. dark
For whatever reason, fans in Philadelphia are a different breed. They’ll wholeheartedly support a team actively trying to lose and boo a team that’s good but doesn’t play ‘the right way’. They’re also one of the few fanbases that would wholeheartedly embrace a Joel Embiid-James Harden pairing, as it would instantly make the Philadelphia 76ers the least liked franchise in the NBA. In a weird way, I think the fanbase would embrace that, as it perfectly fits the ‘they don’t like us, we don’t care’ ethos that drove the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory a few short years ago. Even though this trade probably won’t happen, if it did, it surely would be an incredibly entertaining sight to see.