[Russillo] 76ers waiting on Rockets for Simmons / Harden deal; also PJ Tucker wants out

If James Harden is playing for the Rockets and scoring 32-35 points a night and playing well, his value will only go up..... he is a rare power shifting player that is available in trade during a season, which is just about unheard of. He can fit in on just about any team as well as he doesn't require anything other than teammates that can hit open 3's and not clog the lane.

There would a group of teams in the "very good" category that would think he could be the difference between very good and great. That may not be Philadelphia but there would be a group of 3-4 teams that fall into that category. There is a lot of pressure to win in the NBA at the head coach and front office level, and there will be strong interest in James Harden.

Now, if Philadelphia is the best team in the East at the deadline, and they feel good where they are at, they likely would keep Simmons because their window would be longer...... but not every team in that situation will be #1 in the East or West.

Having said that, I do believe that the Rockets front office sincerely believes that they have a chance to be a lot better than last year and want to try and get Harden playing and hope he decides to stay.

At this point I do not care as long as the Rockets do not trade Harden and think they are going to be a contender with the pieces they get back, that just isn't going to happen. The Rockets would need to rebuild and be smart about it if they dealt Harden.

 

Christian Wood is 25, Jae-Sean Tate is 25, and Ben Simmons is 24.

 

Russillo may have said good things about Morey in the past (I don't doubt that) but I have also heard him say nasty things as well and Morey has criticized him before.

 

19 ppg on 11 shots. First team all nba defensive player. This post sucked.

 

I still dont understand how the hell it got to this point so quickly, or what Harden is so butt hurt about. Since he's been here all DM ever did is find stars to pair him up with, and Harden seemed to have an issue with all of them. Now, Stone has taken over and has made some incredible moves that will complement Harden's game nicely. What the hell does he want??

 

I highly doubt this is true, if it is we may as well pull the trigger. BUTTTTT if they come out terrible maybe we still get a better package

 

Wasn’t their a leak about harden leading a call between him, Tilman, and Westbrook. Where he got Tilman to apologize. Dunno what happened afterwards to lead to this.

 

Personally I think Ben Simmons is overrated and on a terrible deal. You can’t pay that type of player max money and expect to be successful. He can’t shoot! If that is the best offer we get I’m just not trading Harden, and it makes more sense to let him walk in 2 years.

At a certain point one of these franchise owners needs to grow some balls and quit catering to these players the moment they start complaining.

Hypothetically speaking he’s traded for Simmons I think we’re a lottery team immediately with no draft picks of our own to look forward to, and that’s in addition to now having two terrible contracts on the books. The only way I consider trading Harden to Philly is if we get a 3rd team involved. Send all of that sixers trash to Phoenix and get us Book.

All of these teams that Harden is rumored to be interested in make no sense for us. Bucks, heat, sixers, and nets all have nothing of interest, or I should say nothing they’re willing to part with.

 

I agree

 

Except when Morey told him no it wasn’t possible and you know he was okay with it.

 

I agree with you but @Nook has circled the same news about Tucker wanting out for at least the past week (I'm sure it's been longer).

Plus Rusillo was one of the first other than Goodwin of Yahoo! to report that CP wanted out because of his busted relationship with James.

I wouldn't put all my chips in on this "news" from Ryan but even our insiders have mentioned these two insider bits more often than not.... that being said, I don't see how Wall and Simmons fit together if a trade is made with Ben involved.

 

Simmons is a taller, younger Westbrook to me...

he has a lot of positives but he MUST develop a jumper for Gods sake

 

Id rather have the nets trade than ben simmons.

Allen
Dinwiddie
Levert
Prince
1st rd picks

Trade them by the deadline if you dont want them but they are still valuable assets.

Personally woukd love to have Allen. Former longhorn

 

How do you break out if you can't shoot?

I have never been a fan of Simmons. Usually a star can win at any level. He was soo underwhelming in college. Especially at LSU. A player as talented as he is should have dominated at that level.

 

LMFAO.

He can play defense. Ben Simmons would be the best defensive anchor in Houston since Hakeem.

He's closer to Giannis than Westbrook.

If Westbrook were 7 Feet he'd be one of the best players in NBA history. He's basically an all time center in a point guard's body.

 

<a href="https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/...rockets-1-31-2017.280262/page-7#post-10909041">ClutchFans Game Thread: Kings @ Rockets 1/31/2017</a>

That was 2017 lol

Seems my opinion of Paul George went down in 2018.

 

I don't think Simmons is close to a top 20 player in the league. He makes the all star team solely cuz he is in the East.

These are guys for sure better than him.

Harden
Westbrook
Lebron
AD
Jokic
Luka
Lillard
Tatum
KD
Giannis
CP3
Curry
Mitchell
Kawhi
PG
Embid

These are guys I think are better or potentially could be better. Some of these guys exploded in the playoffs this year and if they can sustain that type of success are for sure better.

Lowry
Kyrie
Bam
Vucevic
Beal
Booker
KAT
Klay
Morant
Zion
Oladipo
Trae
Gobert
Murray
Ingram

If Healthy.
Wall
Boogie
Blake are also better.