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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at

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Speaker 1: the volume. Happy Monday again everybody, of all if you

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Speaker 1: guys had a great weekend and that your week's off

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Speaker 1: to a good start. We're going twice today because we

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Speaker 1: finally have some NBA news and what has been an

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Speaker 1: exceptionally slow NBA summer. I say exceptionally slow. It's all

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Speaker 1: relative because we have a Damian Lillard trade request that's pending,

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Speaker 1: we have a James Harden trade request that's pending. There's

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Speaker 1: been plenty going on, but relative to a normal NBA summer,

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Speaker 1: it's been very, very slow. But we finally have something

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Speaker 1: to talk about that's relevant today. So we're going to

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Speaker 1: talk about what this James Harden situation, what we know

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Speaker 1: for sure, the facts surrounding this James Harden situation with

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Speaker 1: the Sixers. I'm gonna give you guys basically my interpretation

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Speaker 1: of it, and then at the end, I have seven

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Speaker 1: potential James Harden trades. Scoured the entire league looking for

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Speaker 1: teams that potentially made sense. Some of them are super unlikely,

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Speaker 1: some of them are kind of likely, some of them

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Speaker 1: make a lot of sense. We'll get into all seven

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Speaker 1: of those you guys know the jow before we get started.

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Speaker 1: Subscribe to the volumes YouTube channels. You don't miss any

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Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore

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Speaker 1: Jason ltus. You guys don't miss anyhow announcements. And for

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Speaker 1: whatever reason you miss one of these videos and you

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Speaker 1: can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget.

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Speaker 1: You can find them wherever you get your podcasts. Under

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Speaker 1: Hoops tonight, All right, let's talk some basketball. So James

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Speaker 1: Hardy woke up this morning and chose violence one of

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Speaker 1: the most aggressive moves in terms of leverage creation in

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Speaker 1: a trade situation that I've seen in my time covering

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Speaker 1: the NBA. He said, quote at some kind of camp

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Speaker 1: that he was at this morning, he said, quote Darryl

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Speaker 1: Moury is a liar and I will never be a

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Speaker 1: part of an organization that he's a part of. Let

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Speaker 1: me say that again, Darryl Mory is a liar and

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Speaker 1: I will never be a part of an organization that

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Speaker 1: he's a part of. End quote. Who that is spicy

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Speaker 1: to say the least, opinion. This is a textbook case

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Speaker 1: of your word against mine. Right, we're hearing James Harden's

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Speaker 1: version of the events, and at some point in the

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Speaker 1: future we may or may not hear Philly's version of

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Speaker 1: the events. It's a little complicated for some reasons that

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Speaker 1: we'll get to in a little bit, but the gist

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Speaker 1: of it is, we're only guessing here. There are some facts,

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Speaker 1: and we're gonna go over those, but we're trying to

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Speaker 1: guess what's going on based on those facts, because it's

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Speaker 1: we're just hearing James Harden's version of the story. So

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Speaker 1: let's go over the facts that we know for sure

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Speaker 1: from this situation. Fact number one, James Harden actually had

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Speaker 1: a forty seven point four million dollar player option last summer,

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Speaker 1: a player option that he declined to sign, a two

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Speaker 1: year deal that paid him thirty three million dollars last

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Speaker 1: year and then thirty six in this upcoming season in

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Speaker 1: another player option. Why did he do that to help

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Speaker 1: Darryl Morey round out the rest of the roster. Now

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Speaker 1: you might say, oh, he took on additional guaranteed money.

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Speaker 1: He went from forty seven million guaranteed to sixty nine

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Speaker 1: million guaranteed. I get that. But even with Harden's decline,

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Speaker 1: he wasn't going to have trouble getting close to that

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Speaker 1: even if he had to re enter free agency the

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Speaker 1: following summer. How do we know, because we just saw

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Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell, who is a lesser player than James Harden,

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Speaker 1: sign in the same general ballpark of about twenty million

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Speaker 1: a year. So had James Harden taken the forty seven

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Speaker 1: million and then had to enter free agency, he would

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Speaker 1: have made more money. So fact number one is James

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Speaker 1: Harden did the Sixers a favor by taking a pay cut,

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Speaker 1: allowing them to round up the roster with guys like PJ.

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Speaker 1: Tucker and Daniel House and you guys get the deal.

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Speaker 1: So that's fact number one. Harden did take a discount.

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Speaker 1: Fact number two, at some point over the time since

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Speaker 1: James Harden worked out that deal with Philly to now,

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Speaker 1: the Sixers ended up asking James Harden to test the

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Speaker 1: market as part of the negotiation. We have no idea why,

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Speaker 1: but this was directly reported by Sam amk from The

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Speaker 1: Athletic and the dead giveaway was the Rockets. Firmer. I

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Speaker 1: think it was right around Christmas time last year we

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Speaker 1: started hearing these weird whispers about James Harden potentially going

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Speaker 1: to the Rockets. Do you think that report came from Philly.

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Speaker 1: Anytime a report leaks, you got to think about who

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Speaker 1: it benefits and who it came out from. A potential

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Speaker 1: offer from the Rockets very clearly benefits James Harden in

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Speaker 1: a potential negotiation with the Sixers. So we can say

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Speaker 1: relatively certainly, and I will consider it a fact in

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Speaker 1: this case that at some point during the process the

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Speaker 1: Sixers asked James Harden to test the market. The evidence

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Speaker 1: is not just the same AMIC report, but the fact

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Speaker 1: that Harden's camp started putting out all the stuff about

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Speaker 1: the Rockets. Now it is possible. Now this is just theory,

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Speaker 1: this is not fact. It's possible that James actually wanted

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Speaker 1: to go to Houston. I had heard from somebody that's

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Speaker 1: relatively close to the ownership group there that James had

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Speaker 1: a very good personal reason to want to go home.

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Speaker 1: I'll keep that private because it was very very personal,

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Speaker 1: But there was a reason why James Harden would want

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Speaker 1: to go back to Houston. And when I heard that,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, like, maybe he really wants to go

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Speaker 1: back there. But that is not a fact. That is

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Speaker 1: just theory based on noise that we hear behind the scenes.

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Speaker 1: Right The facts are Philly asked him to test the market.

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Speaker 1: His camp released a bunch of stuff about Houston. Okay,

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Speaker 1: fact number three. At some point Philly either called Harden's

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Speaker 1: bluff on the Houston thing or Houston changed their mind.

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Speaker 1: How do we know that because Houston signed Fred Van

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Speaker 1: Vliet to a ton of money and suddenly James Harden

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Speaker 1: had no leverage. Clearly, he didn't like the offer that

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Speaker 1: Philly did make to him, so he opted into the

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Speaker 1: thirty six million dollar player option and dem and did

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Speaker 1: a trade. And then from there we heard that he

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Speaker 1: definitely wanted to go to the Clippers. And then ESPN

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Speaker 1: reports yesterday that they are closing down trade negotiations for

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Speaker 1: James Harden and that they are going to bring him

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Speaker 1: back to camp. And then this morning we have James

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Speaker 1: calling Darryl Moury a liar. Those are our facts. That's

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Speaker 1: basically all we know for sure. James Harden took a discount,

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Speaker 1: they asked him to test the market, and Philly ended

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Speaker 1: up calling his bluff. That's what we know. Now a

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Speaker 1: lot of people in this situation are going to bring

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Speaker 1: up James Harden's history because he's demanded a trade twice before,

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Speaker 1: and I do think James's history is relevant, especially as

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Speaker 1: we look forward into the future. But I do want

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Speaker 1: to distinguish the difference between this particular trade request and

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Speaker 1: what happened in Houston and Brooklyn. In Houston, the team

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Speaker 1: was terrible, his co star was John Wall and so

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Speaker 1: he wanted to go play for a better team. And

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Speaker 1: you guys know how I feel about that. I hate

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Speaker 1: seeing really, really good basketball players trapped in bad situations.

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Speaker 1: It's a waste. It almost always brings out the worst

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Speaker 1: in them. I'm cool with guys requesting trades when a

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Speaker 1: team can no longer provide that player with the necessary

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Speaker 1: resources to compete. So I have no problem with this

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Speaker 1: trade request in Houston. We'll talk about what he did

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Speaker 1: in a minute, but I have no problem with the

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Speaker 1: request Brooklyn, same exact type of thing. That was the

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Speaker 1: year that Kyrie kept leaving the damn team. So, like

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Speaker 1: James was sick and tired of being in a basketball

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Speaker 1: situation where his co star, in this case, Kyrie Irving,

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Speaker 1: was not as invested in the situation as he wanted

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Speaker 1: them to be. Everything was good in that situation until

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Speaker 1: the Kyrie fiasco started. So I don't have a problem

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Speaker 1: with James Harden requesting a trade away from Brooklyn to

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Speaker 1: try to go to a more serious basketball situation. That

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Speaker 1: is all pretty straightforward. This situation is an accusation of dishonesty,

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Speaker 1: entirely different. I stayed because he made me a promise.

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Speaker 1: He went back on that promise, So screw that guy.

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Speaker 1: I'm not working with him again. That's not exactly uncommon

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Speaker 1: in everybody's daily life. I worked in real estate for

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Speaker 1: a while. If you worked with a contractor and that

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Speaker 1: contractor screwed you over, why would you continue to do

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Speaker 1: business with him. That's a totally different type of reasoning

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Speaker 1: behind the trade request. We know for a fact that

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Speaker 1: James felt as though he should have gotten something and

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Speaker 1: he didn't. At least that's the way that he has

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Speaker 1: portrayed the situation. So here's my guess as to what's happened,

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Speaker 1: based on the facts that we have, And again this

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Speaker 1: is just a guess. I would imagine that there was

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Speaker 1: a promise made at some point, Otherwise James would not

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Speaker 1: have turned down forty seven million dollars guaranteed in one year.

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Speaker 1: The only reason you'll ever see a player turn down

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Speaker 1: that kind of immediate guaranteed money is if there is

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Speaker 1: a long term deal at the end of it. So

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Speaker 1: if James Harden goes I'm gonna turn down the forty

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Speaker 1: seven million and I'm gonna sign a four year, one

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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty million dollar deal. So yeah, he's taking

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Speaker 1: a seventeen million dollar pay cut going from forty seven

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Speaker 1: to thirty, but then he's got another thirty and another

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Speaker 1: thirty and another thirty coming after that. That makes sense.

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Speaker 1: There's no way he would turn down that money for

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Speaker 1: just twenty two million dollars additional guaranteed. So I do

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Speaker 1: think that James Harden was promised something. But I think

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Speaker 1: somewhere during the season there was a souring of the

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Speaker 1: relationship because I don't think that the Sixers would just

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Speaker 1: blatantly lie. So I have a feeling that something went south.

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Speaker 1: Who knows. I don't know if it was something I

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Speaker 1: having to do with the Houston and just how uncomfortable

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Speaker 1: things were. It could be just the way he was playing.

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Speaker 1: Who knows. And it doesn't necessarily have to be Darryl Moray.

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Speaker 1: The focus is on Daryl Moray. So James Harden's leading

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Speaker 1: us to believe that that's the case, but it could

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Speaker 1: just as easily be ownership, being like, Hey, I know

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Speaker 1: we promised this guy, but we don't want to pay

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Speaker 1: him anymore. But at some point the Sixers reached a

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Speaker 1: point where they no longer felt obligated to hold up

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Speaker 1: their end of the bargain, so they probably feel righteous

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Speaker 1: about it. My guess is that it's it was a

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Speaker 1: breakup between two parties, not just a lie, but a

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Speaker 1: breakup between two parties. This is where James Harden has

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Speaker 1: done an amazing job of controlling the narrative on his part,

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Speaker 1: because this public accusation of Daryl basically calling him a

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Speaker 1: liar puts all of the sympathy behind him and Daryl

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Speaker 1: Mory and the Sixers kind of have their hands tied

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Speaker 1: because they can't really defend themselves because it's a delicate

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Speaker 1: situation because technically you're not allowed to make a promise

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Speaker 1: to pay somebody in the future, like a handshake agreement

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Speaker 1: to sign a lesser contract. That's manipulating the CBA. That's illegal.

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Speaker 1: The Sixers actually just got nailed with sanctions last summer

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Speaker 1: surrounding tampering and making a future promise of compensation at

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Speaker 1: a discount in the current situation is an example of tampering.

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Speaker 1: Tampering is probably the wrong word, but it's the same

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Speaker 1: type of manipulation of the CBA to your own benefit.

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Speaker 1: And so they haven't really had an opportunity to give

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Speaker 1: their end of the story, right, Like, they can't just

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Speaker 1: come out and be like, yeah, we did make him

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Speaker 1: a promise, but then he started talking to Houston and

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Speaker 1: threatening to leave, So we were like, Okay, if he's

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Speaker 1: threatening to leave, he's not behaving in good faith, so

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Speaker 1: screw him or moving forward, because if they did that,

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Speaker 1: they'd effectively be admitting that they broke the rules. So

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Speaker 1: James Harden has complete control of the narrative in this case.

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Speaker 1: So even though I think more than likely it's two

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Speaker 1: parties that experience kind of a mutual split for one

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Speaker 1: reason or another, James Harden can paint this as a

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Speaker 1: situation where he gets screwed over, but we don't know

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Speaker 1: the truth, and it's very possible that James Harden did

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Speaker 1: get screwed over, And so anytime that we're actually talking

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Speaker 1: about this, we have to make sure we color the

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Speaker 1: situation with the appropriate amount of skepticism. Is basically what

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Speaker 1: I'm saying, but moving forward, I really do think Daryl

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Speaker 1: Moray is crazy enough to bring this dude to camp.

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Speaker 1: Daryl Moury, I would say, is as confident in like,

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Speaker 1: I don't know him personally, so I hate saying this

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Speaker 1: kind of stuff. But the word on the street is

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Speaker 1: that Daryl Moray has a big ego and so he's

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Speaker 1: not afraid to throw down with these guys, right, And

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Speaker 1: so I do think it's very much on the table

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Speaker 1: in a way that it wasn't with some other guys

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Speaker 1: in the past. I do think it's on the table

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Speaker 1: that Daryl Morray brings James Harden to camp. This is

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Speaker 1: where James Harden history enters the equation. It is very

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Speaker 1: hard to imagine a situation where James Harden comes into

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Speaker 1: camp and actually plays hard. Why because that is what

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Speaker 1: he did in Houston. In Brooklyn, he stopped playing hard

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Speaker 1: in Houston, just dribbling the b off the floor and

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Speaker 1: throwing weak ass skip passes for turnovers and jogging back

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Speaker 1: on defense and giving absolute bare minimum effort until they

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Speaker 1: shipped him out the door. Then he was playing his

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Speaker 1: ass off in Brooklyn. Then when he decided and he

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Speaker 1: was done playing in Brooklyn because of Kyrie and his Shenanigans.

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Speaker 1: What did he do? He started bsing through the games

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Speaker 1: and not playing hard. Famously, we saw that clip. I

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Speaker 1: can't remember what team they were playing. I think it

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Speaker 1: might have been the Raptors, but where like he kind

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Speaker 1: of fumbled the ball away and it's rolling into the

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Speaker 1: back court and he's just kind of like jogging next

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Speaker 1: to it and just lets the defender just scoop it

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Speaker 1: up off the ground and take it in for a layup.

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Speaker 1: It was embarrassing. It was a really ugly side of it.

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Speaker 1: And as you guys have heard me talk about on

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Speaker 1: the show, I have no problem with trade requests, but

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Speaker 1: I do have problems with unprofessionalism surrounding trade requests that

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Speaker 1: goes both ways. If dey'remore, I have a huge problem

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Speaker 1: with that. But I also have a huge problem with

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Speaker 1: James Harden requesting a trade that not being fulfilled necessarily

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Speaker 1: yet in him opting to not play hard like, because

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Speaker 1: all that does is hurt your basketball team. It reminds

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Speaker 1: me of like you've ever seen like two parents who

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Speaker 1: are split, right, So they're separated and they have a

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Speaker 1: baby and they have all this resentment towards each other,

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Speaker 1: and so they start engaging in all this like kind

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Speaker 1: of petty behavior. Who ends up suffering the kid? The

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Speaker 1: kid suffers, the kid pays the price for the juvenile

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Speaker 1: behavior of the parents that happens all the time in

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Speaker 1: divided households in America. Right, who pays the price for

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Speaker 1: a public beef between Daryl Moray and James Harden? Because

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Speaker 1: if James Harden comes to camp, he's gonna end up

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Speaker 1: playing poorly and bring in a bad attitude that's gonna

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Speaker 1: hurt the team. Right. If Daryl Morriy is super stingy

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Speaker 1: and decides I'm not trading James Harden for less than

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Speaker 1: a star, then it drags out longer, so both of

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Speaker 1: them are culpable. Who pays the price? Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey,

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Speaker 1: Tobias Harris, Nick Nurse, those guys pay the price. And

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Speaker 1: so I hope, regardless of what the truth of the

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Speaker 1: situation is, I hope they just make a train because

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Speaker 1: I'm not interested in seeing another prime Joel Embiid season

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Speaker 1: wasted with the roster that can't compete. I'm not interested

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Speaker 1: in seeing a good basketball team with good players that

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Speaker 1: I like Tyras Maxey is one of my favorite young

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Speaker 1: players in the league. I ran into him in Vegas,

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Speaker 1: I think last year, and when everyone else is out

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Speaker 1: doing their thing, he was working his ass off in

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Speaker 1: the gym, just getting really good offseason working Like I

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Speaker 1: love Tyras Maxey's one of my favorite young players. I

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Speaker 1: want to see that dude playing in a competent basketball situation.

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Speaker 1: Love Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid. I had him at five

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Speaker 1: in my player rankings earlier today, which a lot of

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Speaker 1: people disagreed with, But like, I'm root for Joel Embiid

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Speaker 1: and so this whole thing is just stupid and I

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Speaker 1: hope it gets sorted out sooner than later. Now, before

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Speaker 1: we look at some potential trade destinations, we're gonna do

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Speaker 1: like a really super abbreviated version of the player rankings,

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Speaker 1: kind of like recaps that we did for James Harden,

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Speaker 1: because I didn't have him in my top twenty five,

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Speaker 1: but we might as well take a quick look at

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Speaker 1: him since we're trying to gauge his value around the league.

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Speaker 1: What does it look like to trade for James Harden

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Speaker 1: in the year twenty twenty three. In my player rankings,

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Speaker 1: he was honorable mention. He was in that group of

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Speaker 1: fourteen guys that was after the twenty five. But I

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Speaker 1: had him in a group of four guys that I

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Speaker 1: was considering for the twenty fifth spot. You guys, remember,

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Speaker 1: I was considering either Trey Young, John Morant, James Harden,

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Speaker 1: or Bradley Beal for that twenty fifth spot, and I

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Speaker 1: opted with Trey to go with Trey Young. But you

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Speaker 1: could kind of simplify that down to I view James

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Speaker 1: Harden as around the thirtieth best player in the world.

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Speaker 1: Quick recap of a season twenty one points, six rebounds,

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Speaker 1: and eleven assists per game, him sixty one percent true shooting,

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Speaker 1: so decent scory volume, very good efficiency, and he led

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Speaker 1: the league in assists per game. He is still one

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Speaker 1: of the very best pick and roll ball handlers in

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Speaker 1: the league. If you remember our one thousand plus pick

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Speaker 1: and roll list, the guys who ran at least a

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Speaker 1: thousand pick and rolls, Harden ranked fourth out of fifteen

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Speaker 1: players at one point zero eight points per possession. Now

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Speaker 1: a couple things for context. Joel Embiid was the best

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Speaker 1: roleman in the league last year in terms of points

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Speaker 1: scored in rollman situations, and James Harden passed out of

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Speaker 1: pick and roll way more than his peers, more than

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Speaker 1: two thirds of the time actually, and he was far

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Speaker 1: less effective when he was shooting out of pick and roll.

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Speaker 1: He actually only averaged zero point nine to one points

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Speaker 1: per possession when he shot out of pick and roll.

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Speaker 1: Out of fifty one players in the NBA to shoot

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Speaker 1: at least three hundred times in pick and roll, James

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Speaker 1: ranked thirty fifth, which is in the bottom you know,

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Speaker 1: half their bottom third ish, right, So he definitely is

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Speaker 1: less efective shooting out of pick and roll than he

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Speaker 1: is passing. But he's a great passer aut of pick

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Speaker 1: and roll. Even if we acknowledge that embiid helps that

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Speaker 1: a lot, James Harden can pass the basketball, he's still

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Speaker 1: one of the best ISO players in the league. Are

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Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty ISO list, so there's twenty five

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Speaker 1: players in the league ran at leastwo hundred fifty ISOs.

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Speaker 1: He was fourth on that list one point one to

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Speaker 1: one points per possession. Now again we have to kind

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Speaker 1: of obligatory mention the helio centrism piece here. Anytime you're

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Speaker 1: a player like James Harden, that dribbles the air out

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Speaker 1: of the basketball. It tends to inflate your per possession

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Speaker 1: numbers and not necessarily help the team a ton, but

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Speaker 1: it's worth mentioning per possession in ISO. James Harden was

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Speaker 1: still damn effective last year. Shot making numbers were really

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Speaker 1: good everywhere, but the RIM. Sixty five percent effective field

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Speaker 1: goal percentage in catch and shoot jumpers, that's off the

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Speaker 1: charts good, and we're gonna get to that a lot

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Speaker 1: when we're talking about potential trades, because James Harden is

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Speaker 1: a deadly spot up player, including knocking down what was

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Speaker 1: the game winning three in I can't even remember which

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Speaker 1: game it was against Boston, but the corner three on

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Speaker 1: the kickout from Joel Embiid. He is a deadly spot

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Speaker 1: up shooter and a deadly closed out attacker. So he

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Speaker 1: does have a lot of off ball value there that

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Speaker 1: we're gonna get to when we talk about trades. Fifty

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Speaker 1: three percent effective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers,

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Speaker 1: that's very good. Anything over fifty percent is really really good.

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Speaker 1: High forties is acceptable in this type of situation. So

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Speaker 1: he's a good pull up shooter. He made sixty pull

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Speaker 1: up twos this year inside the three point line. That's

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Speaker 1: more than he's made in years and years. He's starting

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Speaker 1: to add some variety there. Forty five percent on floaters

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Speaker 1: that's okay, and then his rim finishing is where you're

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Speaker 1: seeing the decline. He was at one point eight restricted

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Speaker 1: area makes per game this year on fifty eight percent shooting.

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Speaker 1: To give you an idea, in his MVP season, he

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Speaker 1: was at three point nine restricted area makes per game

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Speaker 1: on sixty two percent turro shooting, which was second in

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Speaker 1: the entire league among guards, second to Russell Westbrook. So

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Speaker 1: he went from being one of the best paint pressure

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Speaker 1: guards in the league who was twice as good in

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Speaker 1: volume and much more efficient getting thrim to what he

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Speaker 1: is now, which is a guy doesn't really get to

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Speaker 1: the rim much anymore at all. Defensively, he's a bad

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Speaker 1: perimeter defender who needs to be stashed. That's why Philly

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Speaker 1: usedd Anthony Milton and most of their point of attack

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Speaker 1: assignments last year. He's a good switch defender, though he

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Speaker 1: holds up pretty well against bigger players that try to

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Speaker 1: bully him, so at best, if you have good defensive

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Speaker 1: personnel or round you, he won't hurt you. But he

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Speaker 1: certainly is not gonna help you on that end of

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Speaker 1: the flour, and there are gonna be a lot of

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Speaker 1: random mistakes like jogging back in transition, mix missing box outs,

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Speaker 1: things like that. I do think the overall good of

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Speaker 1: the offense outweighs the bad of the defense, and on

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Speaker 1: the right roster, I don't think it would hurt you

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Speaker 1: too badly because of his relatively decent size for the position.

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Speaker 1: Playoffs were super weird for James Harden this year, super

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Speaker 1: up and down, like he had forty plus in a

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Speaker 1: game twice in his game winners in both of those games,

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Speaker 1: like you can't just shrug that away as nothing. He

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Speaker 1: stole two playoff games that the Sixers probably lose otherwise,

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Speaker 1: but it was awful. In almost every other game he

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Speaker 1: shot below thirty percent, not like in the twenties or worse.

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Speaker 1: He shot below thirty percent in six of the eleven games.

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Speaker 1: These are actual shooting numbers from James Harden in playoff

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Speaker 1: games just this season. Two for fourteen, three for fourteen,

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Speaker 1: four for eighteen, three for thirteen, four for sixteen, three

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Speaker 1: for eleven. So like as good as he was at

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Speaker 1: his highs, his lows were incredibly low, painfully low. The

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Speaker 1: Sixers were six to zero in games where he scored

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Speaker 1: at least seventeen points in this playoff run. How crazy

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Speaker 1: is that? Undefeated when he got at least seventeen points,

401
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Speaker 1: but he failed to score seventeen points in five of

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Speaker 1: the eleven games, and they lost all but one of

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Speaker 1: those games, including all four of them in the Celtics series,

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Speaker 1: which got them beatd So kind of like insummation, just

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00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:29,520
Speaker 1: tied all together. He's still an excellent offensive fulcrum. He's

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Speaker 1: great eating and innings in the regular season, even better

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Speaker 1: if you can pare him with a legit role man,

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Speaker 1: someone that he can set up for good opportunities. But

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Speaker 1: he's more inconsistent in the playoffs than ever, so you

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Speaker 1: cannot have him in a position where you depend on

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Speaker 1: his production, and defensively obviously as a certain amount of limitation.

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Speaker 1: So sounds about par for the course for around the

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Speaker 1: thirtieth best player in the league. But this is where

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Speaker 1: Darryl Moray, in his concept of trade value, gets a

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Speaker 1: little bit out of whack, because the last time we

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Speaker 1: saw a player in this range get traded was probably

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Speaker 1: de Jonte Murray, and he went for Danilo Gallinari in

418
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Speaker 1: three first round picks, and that was de Jontay Murray,

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Speaker 1: the young player on the rise, not James Harden on

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Speaker 1: the decline. In fact, a better comp for trade for

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Speaker 1: James Harden is probably something closer to Chris Paul. Chris

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Speaker 1: Paul went for Jordan Poole, who was a flawed but

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Speaker 1: interesting young player and one heavily protected first round pick

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Speaker 1: top twenty protected and a second round pick like that's

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00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:33,879
Speaker 1: a that's that's a better example of what you're gonna get.

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Speaker 1: If you get a singularly good player back, it's probably

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Speaker 1: going to be either a young and flawed player or

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00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:42,679
Speaker 1: an older declining player, and you might get a tiny

429
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:47,080
Speaker 1: bit of draft compensation. So the reality is Darryl Mory's

430
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:50,000
Speaker 1: going to have to eventually potentially trade James Harden for

431
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,800
Speaker 1: somewhat somewhat of a decline in return. I it's not

432
00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say it's impossible. He ended up, you know,

433
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:01,359
Speaker 1: making the being superst about the Ben Simmons deal, and

434
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 1: that ended up getting him James Harden. So maybe he'll

435
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:06,360
Speaker 1: get to take another victory lap. But I do think

436
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:08,840
Speaker 1: that he has to be a little bit more realistic

437
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:12,199
Speaker 1: about what potential return looks like for James Harden. So

438
00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:14,560
Speaker 1: here we go. We're to take a look at seven

439
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:18,800
Speaker 1: potential teams that could trade for James Harden. Really quickly,

440
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,480
Speaker 1: before we get started, what teams make sense for James Harder?

441
00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,040
Speaker 1: What kind of teams? In my pain, I wrote down

442
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:29,280
Speaker 1: three things. A team that lacks ball handling but has

443
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,679
Speaker 1: a great pick and roll screener. So a team that

444
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:33,520
Speaker 1: really just needs a pick and roll ball handler, like

445
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 1: a good big that needs to be kind of set

446
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:38,960
Speaker 1: up in positions where he has an advantage, but a

447
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 1: team that really needs ball handling. Two, A team that

448
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,640
Speaker 1: has the necessary defensive personnel to hide him. You put

449
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,840
Speaker 1: him on a situation where he's alongside other bad perimeter defenders,

450
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,199
Speaker 1: your defense is going to be horrible. He essentially has

451
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,919
Speaker 1: to take on a wing defensive role, and you have

452
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,520
Speaker 1: to have a wing that can take a perimeter defensive role,

453
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,280
Speaker 1: or a good guard alongside and that can take that

454
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:00,359
Speaker 1: kind of role. And then lastly, they have to be

455
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 1: close enough to contention to actually justify making a trade.

456
00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:08,159
Speaker 1: I came up with seven teams. One of them was

457
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,119
Speaker 1: the team that James Harden actually wanted. This is the

458
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:12,880
Speaker 1: Clippers that made some sense, right, good pick and roll

459
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,760
Speaker 1: partner in if you Ka Zubac, good defensive personnel who

460
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:19,640
Speaker 1: can take perimeter assignments, and Paul Georgia, Kahi, Leonard Terrence Man.

461
00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:22,520
Speaker 1: They need ball handling, although they do have Russ, but

462
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 1: Russ is a trade, a tradable contract kind of would

463
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,720
Speaker 1: be like a lower ceiling, higher floor version of Russ. Right,

464
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:33,160
Speaker 1: But it sounds like Daryl Morray from all reporting wants

465
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,399
Speaker 1: Terrence Man in the deal, and you cannot give up

466
00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:38,359
Speaker 1: Terrence Man in that deal because he's one of the

467
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,000
Speaker 1: most valuable archetypes of players in the league in my opinion,

468
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: when it comes to the playoffs. He's that shorter wing

469
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:45,320
Speaker 1: or taller guard, whatever you want to call it, the

470
00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,400
Speaker 1: guy between sixty four and sixty six who's really big

471
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 1: and strong, freaky athletic and just does all of the

472
00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,040
Speaker 1: dirty work well. Can take lead perimeter defense assignments, can

473
00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 1: bring the ball up the floor if you need it,

474
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:56,560
Speaker 1: can screen and roll to the basket as a screener,

475
00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:58,639
Speaker 1: can run the occasional pick and roll, can attack and

476
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:02,359
Speaker 1: transition and beat mismatches like Terrence Man is the type

477
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:04,480
Speaker 1: of player that Bruce Brown is, and we've seen how

478
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:06,840
Speaker 1: valuable that is. You cannot afford to give that up

479
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,119
Speaker 1: in a deal for James Harden because that could end

480
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,440
Speaker 1: up being a net loss for you. But I do

481
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,480
Speaker 1: understand why Daryl Moury is holding out for Terrence Man

482
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,680
Speaker 1: in this case, although the Clippers do make some sense,

483
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 1: you could get some version of the deal done for

484
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,040
Speaker 1: like Norman Powell and Nicholas Batoum. Again, I could see

485
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,119
Speaker 1: why Maury's holding out, but that gives you a decent

486
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,680
Speaker 1: ball handler back in Norman Powell in a legitimate wing

487
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 1: and Nick Patum, although he's had some playoff struggles himself.

488
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:34,159
Speaker 1: Next is a team that makes all the sense in

489
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:36,240
Speaker 1: the world, but I think will never happen, and that

490
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 1: is actually give you guys a chance to make a guess.

491
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:40,960
Speaker 1: Think about what I was saying. Doesn't need James Harden

492
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:42,480
Speaker 1: to do all the lead scoring because they have someone

493
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,160
Speaker 1: who has that spot, an excellent roleman, good defensive personnel,

494
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 1: needs some ball handling. Take a guess. I put down

495
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,240
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat. They make all the sense in the world.

496
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,159
Speaker 1: They desperately need ball handling. They have an excellent roleman

497
00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 1: in Bam. They have a more dependable star in Jimmy

498
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 1: Butler that you count on in big moments, and they

499
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:04,879
Speaker 1: have the defensive personnel to hide him. Eric Spolser in

500
00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,960
Speaker 1: particular has a gift for hiding the weaknesses of his players.

501
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,960
Speaker 1: And they have some trade pieces that actually make good

502
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,359
Speaker 1: sense from the same point of value, Like Tyler Harrow

503
00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 1: seems like a really weak centerpiece for Damian Lillard trade,

504
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:18,359
Speaker 1: and I understand that, but he's kind of perfect for

505
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 1: hard and trade, Like you can get the deal done

506
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,240
Speaker 1: probably with Tyler Harrow and Caleb Barton for James Harden.

507
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,119
Speaker 1: But despite that making all the sense in the world,

508
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:31,639
Speaker 1: it's never going to happen for two reasons. One, he's

509
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:37,800
Speaker 1: the furthest thing from Heat culture, consistently overweight, inconsistent effort guy,

510
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:39,680
Speaker 1: not the kind of guy that they're gonna want to

511
00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:42,600
Speaker 1: bring in house. But secondly, they're holding out for Dame,

512
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,919
Speaker 1: and they should so, but like maybe just in the

513
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,720
Speaker 1: in the unique situation where some team comes in and

514
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 1: steals Dame and Harden is still available, I could see potentially,

515
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 1: just the tiniest crack of a window, them going after

516
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 1: someone like James Harden as a backup plan, but I

517
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:01,200
Speaker 1: just I think that they I would in house. Miami

518
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:06,399
Speaker 1: goes like screw that we're not taking him on, but

519
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:08,880
Speaker 1: let's pit ball some other options. So again, we need

520
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 1: a lack of ball handling, a good role man, good

521
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,679
Speaker 1: defensive personnel, a couple teams that threw down the Milwaukee Bucks.

522
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:17,400
Speaker 1: The only iteration of this trade that makes any sense

523
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,879
Speaker 1: would be a straight up Drew Holiday for James Harden trade.

524
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,359
Speaker 1: That would be great return for Philly because they're getting

525
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 1: back a similar level of player, even though a different archetype,

526
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:29,320
Speaker 1: and Drew Holiday and fits their timeline makes some basketball sense.

527
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,680
Speaker 1: For Milwaukee. You get a really good pick and roll

528
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 1: passer to partner with Giannis and Brook Lopez, a guy

529
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,159
Speaker 1: who could really help set up Yannis with easy opportunities,

530
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,960
Speaker 1: which is not something he gets a ton of currently

531
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,200
Speaker 1: with the Bucks. But it fundamentally changes the identity of

532
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,920
Speaker 1: the Bucks. It makes them a significantly worse defensive team,

533
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 1: although it does make them a better offensive team. In

534
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 1: my opinion, it's way too big of a risk, so

535
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,840
Speaker 1: I think this one's incredibly unlikely, but they are a

536
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 1: team that makes some sense. Potentially is a hard and

537
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 1: destination again, guys, I'm going with that a wide net here.

538
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:04,399
Speaker 1: There are gonna be some ridiculous ones in here. Next

539
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 1: the New York Knicks, the structure of the deal would

540
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:11,400
Speaker 1: look something like RJ. Barrett and Evan Fournier for James

541
00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 1: Harden and Ferkhon krkmas Now. Doesn't make a ton of

542
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,399
Speaker 1: basketball sense because one complicates the Knicks ball handling a

543
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,280
Speaker 1: little bit. They already like to split duties between Julius

544
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:22,640
Speaker 1: Randall and Jlen Brunson. So you're bringing the third guy

545
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,040
Speaker 1: in there, you know, Isah Hartenstein and Mitchell Robinson are

546
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:29,399
Speaker 1: good roleman but not great role men on defense. They

547
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,040
Speaker 1: don't really have a guy you could take point of

548
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:34,320
Speaker 1: attack assignment unless you bring Josh Hart into that position,

549
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,520
Speaker 1: and like then you kind of become a little bit undersize.

550
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 1: So I don't love it. But here's the case the cases.

551
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:43,920
Speaker 1: R J. Barrett is already kind of a clunky fit there,

552
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,280
Speaker 1: Like they just don't have the spacing to really weaponize

553
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:50,440
Speaker 1: his ridiculous left hand drive, which is almost unguardable when

554
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:54,640
Speaker 1: you give him room. That's a good young player that

555
00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:58,400
Speaker 1: Darryl Morey might view as you know, appropriate compensation for

556
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 1: James Harden and then the Knicks. James Harden is an

557
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:04,840
Speaker 1: excellent spot up player one point one five points per possession.

558
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,720
Speaker 1: Like I said, that's excellent, sixty five percent effective field

559
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:09,800
Speaker 1: goal percentage on catch and shoot jumpers, and the Knicks

560
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 1: really needs spot up shooting. So he would essentially enter

561
00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,040
Speaker 1: into like a new phase of his career with the

562
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 1: Knicks as like a secondary ball handler runs bench units

563
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 1: and then takes a ton of spot up threes, basically

564
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,840
Speaker 1: what D'Angelo Russell is for the Los Angeles Lakers. That's

565
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:29,760
Speaker 1: kind of what I see in a potential Knicks Sixers trade.

566
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 1: It don't love that trade for either team, but it's

567
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:36,320
Speaker 1: on the table as reasonable enough. The Brooklyn Nets, I

568
00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:38,280
Speaker 1: actually kind of like this one. The structure of the

569
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 1: deal would look like Spencer Dinwoodie and Dorian Finney Smith

570
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:45,440
Speaker 1: for James Harden. Puts together a very interesting Nets lineup.

571
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:50,760
Speaker 1: Imagine James Harden, McHale, Bridges, Cam Johnson, and Nick Claxton

572
00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 1: with some other guard at the two right, someone like

573
00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 1: Royce O'Neill or Lonnie Walker. You also have Ben Simmons

574
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:00,000
Speaker 1: in the mix there if if he makes any sense

575
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,440
Speaker 1: to play James Harden and Michal Bridges are actually a

576
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 1: really good fit because mckail Bridges went up a huge

577
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:07,360
Speaker 1: level as a score when he went to Brooklyn, but

578
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 1: he's still not a very good passer. So you have

579
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 1: like a pass first guard that's setting everybody up. And

580
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 1: then you have a guy who can be kind of

581
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:17,200
Speaker 1: your primary shot maker in McHale Bridges, right, and you

582
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 1: know you're essentially massively upgrading Dinwitty for the expense of

583
00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,960
Speaker 1: Dorian Phinney Smith. Now, Dorian Finney Smith is a luxury

584
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,719
Speaker 1: for you because Cam Johnson and and McHale Bridges are

585
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,160
Speaker 1: forwards for you. You got Ben Simmons as a forward

586
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,360
Speaker 1: for you, so you've got kind of like a surplus, right,

587
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:36,320
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith is probably the kind of player that

588
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,240
Speaker 1: they'd be looking to trade for a first round pick

589
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: around the deadline, right, So you're basically looking at it

590
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 1: as Dinwitty and a player with the value of about

591
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:46,600
Speaker 1: a first round pick to massively upgrade Spencer Dinwittye to

592
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 1: a better player in James Harden. I think it makes

593
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,000
Speaker 1: their offense more credible, makes it much more entertaining, not

594
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 1: contention status, but it makes them more entertaining for Philly.

595
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 1: You pitch it to, like, to emb like this, you're

596
00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:01,120
Speaker 1: essentially saying, hey, James Harden's not a good play player anyway,

597
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 1: so Dinwoody might kind of be like an even trade

598
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:06,320
Speaker 1: for you, is the way you kind of pitch it

599
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 1: to Joel Embiid, Right, And then Dorian Phinney Smith is

600
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:11,360
Speaker 1: a very interesting type of four to add to that

601
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 1: Philly roster. From the standpoint of what happened when PJ.

602
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:17,000
Speaker 1: Tucker was on the floor last year, the Celtics in

603
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 1: particular towards the end of that series were just flat

604
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 1: out ignoring him to throw double teams around. So getting

605
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:25,360
Speaker 1: Doriyan Phinney Smith out there totally different type of player

606
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:27,920
Speaker 1: than PJ. Tucker is the long athletic wing as opposed

607
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,160
Speaker 1: to the short, stocky wing, but he kind of fills

608
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:33,280
Speaker 1: a similar type of position, can take similar responsibilities, and

609
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: he's a credible corner three point shooter who actually gives

610
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 1: you better spacing in those situations. You can imagine a

611
00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,800
Speaker 1: lineup of Tyrese Maxi with Spencer Dinwoody, Dorian Phinney Smith,

612
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:47,560
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris, and Joel Embiid. That's actually interesting enough to

613
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:50,600
Speaker 1: make this deal plausible, and you could make the case that,

614
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:54,960
Speaker 1: given Harden's inconsistencies in the playoffs, that's actually a better team.

615
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 1: So that's kind of an example of a trade that

616
00:31:56,920 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 1: might make both teams better. The Minnesota Timberwolves. I have

617
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 1: two versions of this trade. It'd either be Mike Conley

618
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:09,400
Speaker 1: and Kyle Anderson for James Harden, again the same type

619
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,080
Speaker 1: of vibe for Philly, you're getting you're getting replacement ball

620
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,000
Speaker 1: handling for James Harden, and you're improving at forward right,

621
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:17,440
Speaker 1: So similar type of deal to the Dinwoody Drian Phinney

622
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:20,680
Speaker 1: Smith type of deal. Another version of that trade would

623
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 1: be Carl Towns. You uh, straight up make the deal

624
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 1: just Carl Towns for James Harden. It baiales the Wolves

625
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 1: out of their weird too big set up and kind

626
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:34,160
Speaker 1: of passes that problem along to Philly, gives them a

627
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:36,360
Speaker 1: good change up to Ant's fastball. Like that. That's kind

628
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 1: of the genesis of this idea, Like James Harden is

629
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 1: like a pass first, pick and roll guard playing alongside

630
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,240
Speaker 1: the like downhill crazy you know, tunnel vision type of

631
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:49,600
Speaker 1: scoring of Anthony Edwards. I kind of like that fit

632
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:52,640
Speaker 1: potentially Ant also is much better perimeter defender that can

633
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 1: take those lead perimeter assignments and for the Sixers in

634
00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:58,960
Speaker 1: that case, you get back Carl Towns, so you get

635
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,920
Speaker 1: a star for James, which is something that Darryl Morey

636
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 1: is obsessed with. Now that opens up a whole other

637
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,640
Speaker 1: can of worms in terms of clunky fit for Philly

638
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 1: with Carl Towns and Joel Embiid. But you can either

639
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:13,000
Speaker 1: try to make that work and just see what happens,

640
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:16,960
Speaker 1: or you have you an option at least to go

641
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:19,240
Speaker 1: into training camp, and then if Darryl Mory wants to

642
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 1: be super patient and make another Carl Towns trade on

643
00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:26,760
Speaker 1: a timeline that makes sense without bringing toxicity into training camp.

644
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:28,720
Speaker 1: It kind of buys him time in that sense, although

645
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,440
Speaker 1: that's not super fair to Carl Town's to potentially be

646
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 1: traded twice in a year, but the again Timberwolf is

647
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:36,800
Speaker 1: super unlikely, but I just threw them out there as

648
00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:40,120
Speaker 1: an option. The New Orleans Pelicans, it'd be a CJ.

649
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:42,640
Speaker 1: McCollum for James Harden, straight up type of deal for this.

650
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:45,760
Speaker 1: Both teams pitch it as upgrades. Right if you're a

651
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,840
Speaker 1: Pelicans fan, that's been somewhat disappointed with c J McCollum.

652
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:53,000
Speaker 1: You're bringing in a better passer in James Harden, who

653
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 1: can run action with Zion Williamson if he ever gets

654
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:58,280
Speaker 1: healthy and gets back on the court, an ideal kind

655
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 1: of pick and roll passer for Zion Williamson. And obviously

656
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 1: it's the past first guy to go along with that

657
00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:05,240
Speaker 1: scoring wing in Brandon Ingram. That's kind of the way

658
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 1: you look at it. And again for the Sixers, you're

659
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:09,359
Speaker 1: you're looking and beat in the face and you're being

660
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,120
Speaker 1: like c J. Mccom's a better playoff player. He won't

661
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:14,160
Speaker 1: have the highs of James Harden, but it'll be more consistent.

662
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:16,680
Speaker 1: Like let's get CJ McCom. It's like a classic kind

663
00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,880
Speaker 1: of like swap, where like both teams just are talking

664
00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,840
Speaker 1: themselves into a moderate improvement at the position because of

665
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:27,319
Speaker 1: different play styles. Right the last team I put, and

666
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 1: this is actually a team that I think makes the

667
00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:35,480
Speaker 1: most sense to me, the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors have

668
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:38,560
Speaker 1: one of the weakest guard cores in the league as

669
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,720
Speaker 1: of right now. It's basically Dennis Schroeder and Gary Trent Junior,

670
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 1: And I really like Dennis Schroeder, and I told Raptors fans,

671
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,319
Speaker 1: I'm excited for you guys. You're gonna You're going to

672
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:50,000
Speaker 1: like Dennis. But that's not good enough at guard. So

673
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,799
Speaker 1: the and you have a plethora of forwards. So the

674
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,320
Speaker 1: general structure of this deal would be og An Andobie

675
00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:00,879
Speaker 1: and Chris Bouche for James Harden, and then Philly might

676
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:03,520
Speaker 1: have to include some sort of additional compensation depending on

677
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:06,360
Speaker 1: how much Toronto values og Anobi. But in this case,

678
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,640
Speaker 1: Darren Mory gets back a young star in Ojan Andoby,

679
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 1: so you can talk himself into star return, and they

680
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 1: improve in depth at forward with Chris Bouchet right, and

681
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 1: in general with Ojan Andoby, Toronto in this case massively

682
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:23,399
Speaker 1: upgrades at guard. Now you have James Harden to put

683
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:26,600
Speaker 1: alongside Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes and all of the

684
00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:28,960
Speaker 1: other wing talent that they have on that roster. Now,

685
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,240
Speaker 1: if you're Philly and you're like, we need a guard

686
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:33,480
Speaker 1: in this deal, you can kind of adjust the trade.

687
00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:36,520
Speaker 1: I think it would be you'd add in Gary Trent

688
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,480
Speaker 1: Junior and ends up being like Gary Trent Junior, Ognoby

689
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:43,080
Speaker 1: and Chris Bouchet for James Harden for Gohn Korkmaz and PJ.

690
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,480
Speaker 1: Tucker is essentially how that works. But I like this

691
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,360
Speaker 1: trade for both teams because it's like a surplus a

692
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: situation where it's like, for Philly, you're stuck in this

693
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 1: city situation. You need to find a way to bring

694
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:59,000
Speaker 1: back meaningful talent. Og Nanobi is that guy. If you

695
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:00,759
Speaker 1: bring back Gary Trent Junior, you're in the deal as well.

696
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:02,880
Speaker 1: You've got shooting off the ball and a little bit

697
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:06,480
Speaker 1: of movement shooting as well. And then for the Raptors, it's, dude,

698
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 1: we need guards, we need guards. Let's bring back James Harden.

699
00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,319
Speaker 1: These pass first guard. He'll set up our forwards with

700
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 1: better spots on the floor, with advantage situations. That's kind

701
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:18,160
Speaker 1: of the way you look at it there. So I

702
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:20,520
Speaker 1: think I might have been eight. Let's see Raptors, Pelicans, Timberwolves.

703
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:26,680
Speaker 1: It's four Nets, five, Nick six, Heat seven, and then

704
00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:32,759
Speaker 1: Clippers eight and Bucks nine or really nine eight nine,

705
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,080
Speaker 1: something like that. A lot of trades. I'm messing up

706
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:41,520
Speaker 1: the county. I say, Clippers, Bucks, Heat, Nicks, Nets, Wolves, Pelicans,

707
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,320
Speaker 1: Raptors eight. Okay, so we got eight potential James Harden's trades.

708
00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:47,400
Speaker 1: James Harden trades there, so we get misbranded the episode.

709
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:51,200
Speaker 1: But again, I just want the trade to go down

710
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:52,960
Speaker 1: because I don't want to see Philly go in with

711
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:57,000
Speaker 1: a bunch of drama going into training camp. I'm not

712
00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 1: taking sides in this at all whatsoever. I do think

713
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:01,360
Speaker 1: it's import to point out that James Harden is in

714
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:04,080
Speaker 1: a better position to control the narrative though, and that

715
00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:08,680
Speaker 1: most likely the Sixers had a certain reason to behave

716
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:11,439
Speaker 1: the way that they did in this particular negotiation. There's

717
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:13,960
Speaker 1: always two sides to a story, all right, guys. That

718
00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:16,080
Speaker 1: is all I have for today is always I sincerely

719
00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 1: appreciate your support. We would be back tomorrow with number

720
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,759
Speaker 1: four in our player rankings. To guess at who that's

721
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:47,920
Speaker 1: going to be. I'll see you guys. Then the volume