The Nets-Sixers trade, and introducing: Mr Bimmons
The 2022 trade speculation season has ended with an explosion, completely terraforming the Earth and displacing the continents as they once were. The NBA’s Pangea has become Gondwanaland – shout out to my first year law lecturer for teaching me about Gondwanaland, the supercontinent from 800 million year ago and the only thing I remember from that year. More to the point, the NBA has completely turned on its head this week.
Since the last article, there’s been plenty more trades; namely, the mega-deal superstar swap between the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.
Now, I have an issue here. A month ago, I gave an undertaking that I would not write another word about Ben Simmons until he steps on a basketball court and plays for a professional team. So, in this article, I will be referring to a fictional character known as Mr Bimmons. Mr Bimmons is a 6 foot 11 point guard rostered to the Brooklyn Nets. Of course, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Because I’m an actual lawyer now I can say that is perfectly fine.
With that solved, let’s talk about the move that started a war between NBA insiders Shams Charania, Adrian Wojnarowski and the true king Brian Windhorst. It was a great battle as each of them were desperately trying to report the most up-to-date leak they’d been given from whichever agent/general manager/rapper was in the know, swerving from “the deal is done” to “Rockets GM Daryl Morey has never met Brooklyn GM Sean Marks and doesn’t have his number”. Ultimately, no one will care who broke the story once the teams are actually playing, but for now all praise should go to Brian Windhorst.
In a move that had NBA Twitter on fire for three days, James Harden now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers and Mr Bimmons, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond now play for the Brooklyn Nets. For many Philly fans, it’s time to go back and delete the James Harden slander that was so popular the last few years and pretend like they are excited for a guy to take 45 dribbles into a step-back three – I mean, at least he takes the shot.
Philly have traded the least popular player in the league, a guy who quit on an entire season and lost $19m in fines after flaming out in the playoffs, for the second least popular guy in the league. Harden has now quit on two franchises in two years, he tried sitting out training camp for the Rockets before leaving and he’s flamed out in the playoffs at least five times. Don’t forget that Philly are coached by Doc Rivers, the only NBA coach to have ever blown three 3-1 leads.
Why did this trade happen?
This is a strange trade to evaluate because, whilst multiple millions worth of salary were sent across the league, both teams were trading away players who had little-to-no value to them. Mr Bimmons had made it clear that he would never step foot on a basketball court in a 76ers jersey ever again, but would be able to resolve whatever issues prevented him doing that if he was wearing a different jersey. His value went up-and-down plenty in the last few months, but he was always going to be worth more than the absolute zero he was worth to Philly.
Meanwhile, Harden had the opportunity to exercise his player $47m option with Brooklyn and lock himself in for another year and didn’t. Brooklyn’s options became limited quickly when Harden’s commitment to the team became questionable: woo Harden to stay and take another deal, let him walk in free agency for free or trade him. Harden doesn’t seem like the type to be worried about burning bridges, there’s no guarantee he’d wait around for a sign-and-trade.
Letting a superstar walk for free is the worst sin an NBA front office can commit – you have to get assets back. Compare DeMar’s departure from San Antonio with Kyrie’s departure from Boston. DeMar came to Chicago as part of a sign-and-trade, meaning he technically signed his latest contract with the Spurs. The Spurs have just used one of the pieces of that trade to acquire Goran Dragic, one of the great veteran guards in the league. Contrast that with the complete nothing that Boston received when Kyrie left.
That’s going a long way to rationalise why two superstars being paid more money than I’ll ever see in my life were allowed to act like toddlers and force their employer to move them elsewhere – but I’m actually really excited to watch Philly and the Nets play.
Holy Moly Harden Plays for Philly Now
I’m still getting used to the sentence “Joel Embiid and James Harden play on the same team”. It immediately conjures up visions of offensive brilliance caused by a pick and roll combination where both players can get whatever shot they want. It’s also a pairing of two of the most frequent free-throw shooters (a.k.a. floppers) in the league so get ready for plenty of games going longer than 3 hours.
Harden has to set his ego aside and accept this is Embiid’s team. Joel has waited years for this to be his team and he’s shared the limelight with plenty of guys who didn’t share his game-breaking talent. Harden and Embiid both share the ability to completely take a game away from you. They play slow, they hold the ball a lot and hunt for fouls but once they get into their spot, they’re basically unstoppable. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen James Harden dribble the air out the ball for an entire possession, sitting behind the three point line and letting his teammates remain stationary, only to step back into space and drill a 3 in his defender’s face. The question is, which version of James Harden arrives in Philly?
Harden’s scoring numbers went down during his time in Brooklyn, but in his first season with the Nets he led the league in assists before he went down injured with a right hamstring issue. There’s plenty of speculation about the hamstring injury which kept Harden out of the last weeks worth of games with Brooklyn, particularly after the trade rumours started becoming credible. What’s weird is that Harden’s current complaint is a left hamstring injury. Philly are welcoming a 32 year old former MVP in the back half of this prime with two bung hamstrings.
It’s difficult to know what to believe when it comes to Harden’s performances this season. His right hamstring has continued to give him trouble and he looks half a step slower than his Houston days, but reports say he’s been desperately unhappy in Brooklyn for months, particularly due to Kyrie Irving’s refusal to get vaccinated. I think it’s disingenuous to suggest Harden was merely making up numbers the last few months, but I don’t think that was his best.
Tactics wise, Philly don’t move a whole lot on offense; which is fine because Harden hasn’t run an off-ball cut since his first year in Houston. Harden is a great pick and roll operator, but he’s never played with a big that’s skilled like Embiid. Embiid likes to screen, but he doesn’t often roll to the basket after a screen, preferring to survey the court from the high post before making a move. There’s plenty of opportunity for Harden to score by moving while Embiid takes stock, if Harden’s willing to move.
Embiid struggled in fourth quarters of games during last year’s playoffs, solely because no one else on the team could score. Embiid would tear teams apart and score 30 in the first half, only to run out of gas in the second half and find himself unable to score. In Philly’s crucial game 7 against Atlanta, Embiid went 3-21 in the second half with only 1-10 in the fourth quarter. The man was completely destroyed every night and now has the opportunity to share the scoring burden with James Harden, of all people.
At the end of the day, after a long season of speculation and offers that never materialised, we’re about to see Joel Embiid play with the one of the most talented one-on-one scorers in league history. I’m excited to see something new in Philly and hope this move is what takes them and Embiid over the hump.
How does Mr Bimmons fit in Brooklyn?
Everything in Brooklyn right now is headed for disaster. They’re in the midst of an 11 game losing streak, Durant is out indefinitely with an MCL sprain and Kyrie is only available for 1 of their next 8 games due to his inability to play home games. The guys who are left are tired, inexperienced or just old. Patty wasn’t expecting to play the most minutes of his career, he’s 33 and he’s about to start in more games in Brooklyn than he did in his last 4 years with the Spurs. Blake Griffin is completely busted after a reclamation season last year. At this point, it would be more productive to throw the ball directly out of bounds than give it to Blake on offense, because then at least the other team can’t run out in transition off the rebound.
On the other hand, Kyrie hasn’t missed a beat in the games that he’s played – he’s even doing that nonsense where he spins so quickly he ends up on the floor, then picks himself back up, splits two defenders and scores. The last time Kevin Durant recovered from an MCL sprain he won finals MVP. He’s still the baddest man in basketball and now he’s pissed off that Harden abandoned him.
Brooklyn can’t afford to miss the playoffs, not with the most expensive team in league history. Barring complete collapse they should stay within the play-in and keep a shot of forcing their way into the playoffs. This is a great situation to insert Mr Bimmons into, he’s known for his calm under pressure. Fortunately, Durant solves a lot of the problems Brooklyn has because he’s nearly impossible to defend and hates losing.
If this team is at full strength, which they never are, Mr Bimmons is a ridiculously good fit. In Brooklyn he won’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to. Mr Bimmons only took 17 shots outside the paint last season and now he doesn’t even have to shoot if he doesn’t want to – just give it to Durant you dummy. His job can be as simple as getting the ball, getting down the court as fast as possible, finding someone open behind the 3-point arc or driving to the hoop.
Mr Bimmons’ best game last season came playing center against the Utah Jazz, where he scored a career high 42 points over defensive stalwart Rudy Gobert. In that game, all he did was rocket down the court as fast as he could, get into the lane, bump a few guys with his massive shoulders and score easy buckets. It’s a replicable formula when you don’t have to share space in the lane with Joel Embiid.
Brooklyn doesn’t really have a full-time center. Minutes are shared between Nic Claxton, DeAndre Bembry, Lamarcus Aldridge and at times Kessler Edwards. Nash has shown he’s willing to experiment at this position, he even played 6 foot 4 Bruce Brown at center last year.
Mr Bimmons can plug straight into center for Brooklyn and give them far more than any of those guys. He’s still a ridiculous playmaker and he’s great at making snap decisions at high speed. As the screener, Simmons is more than capable of rolling to the hoop, getting the ball back and making a play to get the ball to the open man. Secondary pick and roll playmaking can break a defense’s back as they try to react and counter. It’s half the reason Draymond Green gets paid so much, the part less obvious than his elite defense. Did I mention Mr Bimmons is an elite defender? He can genuinely guard every position on the court and has no hang-ups whatsoever about throwing his body around on defense.
There were very few, if any, good situations for Mr Bimmons to find himself after completely wasting an entire season. Somehow, he’s found himself in a situation where he can play his best role, where he doesn’t have to carry the hopes of the team and where he can always bail the ball out to one of the two best scorers ever.
There’s already been a lot made about the first matchup between these teams in Philly in March, which has already caused Mr Bimmons back to seize up preemptively. That will be compulsory viewing as both go head to head in an attempt to prove the other lost the trade.
Don’t forget about Seth Curry
It may not be common knowledge, but Seth Curry is far more than just Steph’s brother, he’s also one of the best shooters in the league. Curry is in the midst of the best season of his career and was making beautiful music with Joel Embiid, slinging himself around the top of the three point arc while everyone else stared at Embiid. It’s a shame that Philly had to give him up, but Seth was the name that had to go in order to keep Matisse Thybulle and Tyrese Maxey – two important young pieces.
Curry will have plenty of opportunities for open 3’s running through the chaos that Mr Bimmons and Kyrie will create with the ball and he’ll continue shooting at a great clip. I’d love to see him weaving and criss-crossing the lane with Patty Mills, another great off-ball movers, but given both guys aren’t much more than shadows on the defensive end, we might not get too many minutes of them together.
Apart from the Philly-Brooklyn mega-trade, there’s also been the kind of periphery nonsense that I tend to obsess over, like the Celtics sending PJ Dozier and Bol Bol to Orlando for cash, who then immediately waived Dozier. I had some rose-tinted memories of Dozier’s time as a Denver Nugget and the bubble playoffs, but it turns out he averaged only 3 points a game in those playoffs, so maybe the Magic have a point.
I have a weakness for all of the Denver Nuggets offcasts, the guys who fought for spots alongside Jokic but either became due for expensive contracts at the wrong time or didn’t fit quite right alongside the Joker and Murray. It’s Denver’s way of saying ‘we like Jokic better than you’ and, in honour of the first guy to be given that treatment, I call it the Jusuf Nurkic List. The List includes Nurkic, Malik Beasley, Jerami Grant, Torrey Craig will very likely include Will Barton this summer.
Torrey Craig was an odd case of seller’s remorse this deadline. Craig was a member of last year’s Suns team and was a nice guy Phoenix could turn to at the end of the bench who knows what he’s doing and won’t cause any disasters. Sadly, Torrey’s playoff highlight last year was when he got absolutely trucked trying to draw a charge from Giannis at full sprint, which served as a deadly reminder of why he’s called the Greek Freak and made me think Craig would never walk again.
Phoenix let Craig walk in the off-season to go and sign a two-year $10 million contract with the Pacers. Now six months later the Suns have decided that’s actually a pretty good contract and they’d actually like Craig back, so much they were willing to give up on former number 10 pick Jalen Smith and a second round pick to do it. It’s a reminder that we all make mistakes, and sometimes owning up to them can fix the problem. But maybe like 3 people care about that trade so it’s probably time to end the article.