The Philadelphia 76ers shook things up in a major way ahead of the NBA trade deadline when the Ben Simmons saga finally came to an end. They agreed to a deal with the Brooklyn Nets, sending Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks out of town in exchange for James Harden and Paul Millsap.
Harden is who Daryl Morey always wanted to acquire to make a superstar duo along with Joel Embiid. They are both extremely talented players, but there will need to be adjustments made by both players to make this work.
There is no doubt that the Philadelphia 76ers are now a more dangerous team with Harden. He is a former MVP that when locked in and healthy, is still one of the best players in the league. Adding that to a lineup that includes Embiid, who is in the middle of the best season of his career and among the favorites to win the MVP award, makes them one of the favorites to win the title.
Alas, both players are used to playing a specific way. The ball is in their hands often, as Harden initiates a lot of offense for his teams and Embiid has the highest usage rate in the NBA for the second straight season.
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Of the two, it will likely be Joel Embiid that has to adjust his style of play the most. James Harden will have the ball in his hands a ton as a lead playmaker, which will lead to a change in how Embiid plays. How he reacts to those changes is what an NBA executive believes will determine just how good the Philadelphia 76ers can be.
“The single biggest thing is Joel’s adjustment to his offensive role changing,” an Eastern Conference executive said. “It’s not just gonna be, ‘Go set ball screens,’ because he won’t. But it also won’t be what it was before the break.
“How he reacts will make a major difference. If he can keep it together, I think this could go great.”
As Embiid said in a recent press conference, Harden excels when he has the ball in his hands, shooting pull-up 3-pointers. He acknowledged he needs to become more of a pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop player for things to work, but the team needs to also be able to knock down spot-up 3-pointers as he is double-teamed as much as any player in the NBA.
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When Joel Embiid finds an open teammate on the perimeter, they have to knock down those shots at a good clip to keep the offense moving smoothly. Harden, who has made 102 3-pointers this season, only has 12 makes on spot-up attempts.
Finding a balance between what they each do well will be important. They will still be relied upon for their strengths for stretches of the game, as Doc Rivers wants to keep two of James Harden, Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and Tyrese Maxey on the floor at all times.
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How those minutes are staggered will be important to the team’s success. However, if they want to achieve their ultimate goal of winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy, all four of those players will have to be in sync as they will most likely be part of the lineups closing out games more often than not.
