John Granato: Raptors & Celtics favorites to land James Harden

Building your team around Jaylen Brown will be like when the Sixers tried to build around Andre Iguodala as their franchise player. If that’s what Stone and Rockets management want to do, more power to them.

They should build Ainge a statue in Boston if he pulls off that deal.

 

He's a 20 year-old rookie. No player is perfect in year one and has things they have to work on. He knows he needs to work on defense and is doing it.
https://www.miamiherald.com/article243777037.html
"The results, so far, have been mixed, but that is to be expected for a rookie who’s just 20. Players defended by Herro are shooting 44.5 percent from the field, compared to the 43.5 they shoot overall.

As perspective, among other rookie wing players, opposing players are shooting 42.7 percent against Memphis’ Ja Morant, but 46.1 percent against Minnesota’s Jarrett Culver, 50 percent against the Knicks’ RJ Barrett, 51.6 percent against Cleveland’s Darius Garland, and 51.1 against the Bulls’ Coby White.

So Herro is permitting a lower shooting percentage than most of the other top rookie wing players.

And this is also encouraging: Herro is holding players he’s guarding to a lower shooting percentage than that permitted by All Stars Donovan Mitchell (46.2), Chris Paul (46.3), Damian Lillard (46.4), Luka Doncic (47.4), Bradley Beal (47.7), Russell Westbrook (47.8) and Trae Young (48.3).

The caveat, of course, is that shooting percentage against doesn’t fully take into account blow-bys. And working to make sure his man stays in front of him remains an area of emphasis for Herro.

Herro said the defensive work with Heat coaches, which began days after he was drafted and has continued nearly uninterrupted for eight months, focuses on “footwork, the technique, getting stronger, knowing and anticipating the plays before they happen. There’s something always new to work on.”

He said he works mostly with assistants Chris Quinn and Anthony Carter.

“Those guys, ever since I got here, whether it’s offense or defense, they pushed me every day,” he said.

He also has watched tape with Spoelstra, just the two of them, on two occasions before the season was suspended.

“The tape we watch is of me, the areas I need to improve on and stuff like that,” Herro said. “He will ask me what I see, what I was doing, what I was thinking, breaking down what things were going through my [mental] checklist at that point. It just shows how much he believes in me. He wants me to be great. It shows what trust he has in me.”

Herro, who said he reported to the Orlando-area bubble in the best shape of his life, said his trainer in Wisconsin sends him clips of defensively-skilled wings to study, and Herro is an eager pupil.

“He sends me clips of Avery Bradley, Patrick Beverly, guys that are on the ball and get into the ball when ball screens come,” Herro said. “There are a bunch of guys who are really good at what they do.

“I know it’s a long road and a long process. Defensively is the biggest area I need to improve in. My offense is fine as of now.”

 

Or you can just get Jaylen Brown and skip 3 yrs of Herro trying to work on his D.

 

I just don’t think brown is the off ball player herro is or the shooter that herro is and even ball handler.

I will say brown is more stronger more athletic and more explosive.

 

Great! That's half the game. What about putting the ball in the hole!

 

Iggy was actually decent as a franchise player. If you look at his supporting cast it consisted of old Iverson and Chris Webber, Dalembert and Andre Miller. He was like Pau Gasol, extremely underrated cuz his team sucked balls. When they got traded to decent teams then they def shined.

Iggy did so much for GSW and thats when he was washed up already technically. Nobody wanted him and said he was overpaid. He was much better in his prime then when he was on GSW.

 

Yeah and Herro isnt the defender Brown is. Herro also isnt the iso player Brown is.

Brown is more athletic, explosive and the proven player cuz you know he developed into a good player already. Herro is still a question mark on how high his ceiling is, he watches tapes of Rondo but we dont know if he will be able to defend like Rondo.

 

Siakam's all nba 2nd team last year is a joke, it's more an award for the team success rather that for his personal excellence. In the ECSF, he was primarily guarded by Jaylen Brown, and was held to 14.9 PPG on 38.2% shooting from the field, 12.5% from three (32 attempts, so sample size is small).

Toronto took it to a close game 7 despite Siakam's abysmal performance. Had Siakam and Brown swapped team last year, it would have been an easy win for Toronto.

 

3/4s of the game. Def, rebounding, passing.

He put the ball in the hole enough for 16 pts a night. That aint so bad y'all act like he is Roy Hibbert. Giannis cant shoot 3s either nobody seems to be complaining.

 

The Rockets are not going to get back a player remotely as good as James Harden.... the Rockets are not going to get a franchise player to build around (although they will likely tell the fans otherwise). If the Rockets are extremely lucky the will get back the third best player on a championship team.

 

Simmons is a franchise player even if he's a third option on offense.

If they pull off Simmons, I'm more than happy and when COVID is over, I'd be more than happy to celebrate that particular trade.

 

not gonna get into pascal vs brown right not strictly on defense in that series brown really just made everything hard for siakam and pascal was literally a non factor

 

That’s why I rather gamble on MPJ, RJ. Jaylen and Pascal are number 2s.

 

If the Rockets get back Simmons in a deal I will consider it a win. I don’t think he is a franchise player shooting the ball a dozen times a game. I do think even if he remains the same player that he can be a long term all star and the third best player (possibly second) on a championship team. He does a lot of things well.

I just don’t think the Sixers will trade Simmons because I don’t think Doc Rivers or ownership wants to.

 

lol buffoonery. Since you act like a kid let me break it down for your dumb ass. You realize that there’s other thoughts or ideas out there and not everyone agrees with you right? You realize you calling people idiots when you don’t agree doesn’t give you much credibility or respect right? Maybe you didn’t learn this in elementary school or your home. Next lesson is about your deep insecurities as an Awkward teen. Stay tuned for more lessons dumb ass.

 

Morey definitely is lobbying for James and I agree, I don't think Doc wants it.

I think it all comes down to how close the Rockets get to finding another acceptable offer. Heat present a great opportunity because Riley always sons Morey.

Herro, Robinson, 2 FRP, KZ, and Precious all on the table? That's good enough to accept if a trade is 100%.

I think Morey gets worried. If the Heat have a trio of Harden/Butler/Bam no one is beating that team in the East. Not a shot in hell.

 

Yeah, in the end i also think this, who's going to realistically beat Miami if they add Harden? Seriously, Harden, Butler and Bam is scary good, probably the best big 3 since Lebron, Wade and Bosh...and the only quality player they would lose in the process is Herro lol, good luck to the other teams, Lakers included imo.

 

I'd take OG + Siakam over Brown

If OG is not in the deal the I'd take Brown over Siakam.

No matter which team we trade for, we're not gonna get a top 5 player back so our chances of winning it all are slim.

Our best bet now is build a team with multiple tier 2 all-stars. Wall, C.Wood, (whichever star we get back for Harden).

Unless we go the way of the Mavs and tank for a generational talent like Doncic, we're not going to get another future top 5 player.

 

Still taking spicy p over brown.

And age is not and issue he’s only 1 year close to 2 older then wood.

But OG better be in the deal

 

I don’t know if it was Siakam being that “bad” or Brown just being a tremendous defender. Brown is unreal on that end of the court. Quick, outstanding lateral movement. Very disruptive on defense and when he gets his hands on the ball because of a steal or a block, he knows exactly what to do with it. Not only a hell of a defensive player, but also very good on the other end. Good size for a wing. Brown improved on basically every metric last season from the season before. No reason he couldn’t be better this season than last, either.

We could do a damn sight worse than getting Brown as one of the significant pieces of a deal between us and Boston if we move Harden, in my opinion. He signed an extension that begins this season at $23 million, locked up through 2023-24 with no options. Just the sort of young, very talented player you’d want as part of a Harden deal and a guy who’d fit very well with Wood, in my opinion. Doing a deal with Ainge is a royal pain in the ass, though, and we’d want more than Brown of course.