2023-24 NBA Free Agency 06/30 at 6PM

[AHF]

20 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

The reporting at the time of him opting in was that he had played his last game in Philly.  I think the way you are filling in the blanks is a little different than me.  The league only has itself to blame for these types of outcomes.  They've created a cap system that doesn't allow free agency to work as intended.  Guys making $30M+ and especially $40/50M+ don't even have options in free agency because of how the soft cap / hard cap works.  I blame the system more than anything, and they just had a chance to fix it but didn't.

I think Morey absolutely intended to trade him and Harden expected that.  I also think the market for Harden was softer than either of them expected it.  Let's be real.  Harden had no intention of resigning with Philly in the first place.  He was going to opt out and sign a huge deal with Houston, etc. but then Houston and every other team with the cap room to sign him didn't want him at that kind of price and he was forced to go back to Philly so he could get the guaranteed money when there wasn't interest in him the way he expected.  And when there isn't interest in you the way you expect guess what that is a red flag for?  A lack of trade interest in you.  I'm just saying this was hardly an unforeseeable circumstance.

Maybe Harden did foresee it and he specifically asked and was told by Morey that Philly would trade him for the best offer no matter how bad that offer was.  But I tend to think it is more likely that this went unsaid and that Harden and Morey had different scenarios in mind for how things would play out if Philly didn't get decent offers.

And for trade purposes, Morey absolutely has to make teams think they are willing to keep Harden in order to get better offers so I'm not sure that the recent leaks about Philly being ok playing out the season with Harden are legit.  Clearly Harden didn't like seeing those rumors, though.  This is a problem with signing a contract to do something you aren't willing to do, though.  Maybe Morey is the Carlos Boozer of NBA GMs.  But Cleveland had to live with it after Boozer bait and switched them because Cleveland gave him the contractual right to walk to Utah.  Harden may have to live with it if Morey did the same because he contractually committed to play for Philly this season. 

I'm just saying that there is a very plausible scenario where everyone talked about trading Harden assuming there would be an acceptable trade offer and no one directly asked Morey about what he was expecting to get back in a trade and what would happen if Philly didn't get any offer close to that.  I think there is a very real possibility there could have been mismatched expectations with Harden expecting he would 100% unconditionally be traded and Morey thinking Harden would 100% be traded on the condition that Philly got an acceptable offer.

[Spud2nique]

[JeffS17]

31 minutes ago, AHF said:

I'm just saying that there is a very plausible scenario where everyone talked about trading Harden assuming there would be an acceptable trade offer and no one directly asked Morey about what he was expecting to get back in a trade and what would happen if Philly didn't get any offer close to that.  I think there is a very real possibility there could have been mismatched expectations with Harden expecting he would 100% unconditionally be traded and Morey thinking Harden would 100% be traded on the condition that Philly got an acceptable offer.

Yeah, this sounds like what happened.  I hope he does sit out though lol and I hope they dock his pay, accordingly.

[kg01]

Am I wrong?  Harden was in China when he made these anti-Morey comments.  Remember China still hates Morey for his tweet a few years ago.  Harden was just playing to the crowd.  I bet he still shows up.  Of course, he's gonna be the stay puft marshmallow man but he's gonna show up. 

[djjob23]

“Previously on Harden Offseason 2023…”

Harden (before offseason): Philly sucks! Houston was so much better AND they’re getting Wemby)!?! I wanna play there.

Houston (before Udoka): Sweet! Harden is gonna be awesome with Wemby!

Udoka (interview): Get your heads out of the clouds! It’s called a lottery for a reason. How could you give the max to a toxic Harden?!? I don’t want that guy anywhere near our young core.

Houston signs Udoka.

Harden: what do you mean you’re backing out of giving me the max?!? I’M JAMES HARDEN! F*** y’all, I’ll just get my money elsewhere.

League: You’re toxic James. You need help.

Harden: FINE! I’ll just get my money with Philly and demand a trade where I wanna go. Hey Morey, give me my money and trade me to the Clipps!

Morey: What, you’re opting in (YES!!!)?!? I mean… yeah yeah, sure we’ll trade you wherever you wanna go (finger’s crossed). (WE’RE GOING ALL THE WAY!!!)

Harden: Hey Westbrook, these idiots just gave me my bag and I’m coming to play with y’all. Let’s get stoned and go to a game!

https://x.com/currypistonn/status/1690442617039785984?s=46&t=8v2t8Tg0a87E2l7bs0NAiw

Harden: Hey Morey, why haven’t I been traded yet?!?

Morey: (We’re gonna get a ring! We’re gonna get a ring!). Huh? Oh uh… yeah we tried but they turned down our offer for Kawhi, PG, & 10 1sts. My hands are tied (hehehe)!

Harden: F***IN’ LIAR!!!

 

”To be continued…”

[Spud2nique]

24 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Am I wrong?  Harden was in China when he made these anti-Morey comments.  Remember China still hates Morey for his tweet a few years ago.  Harden was just playing to the crowd.  I bet he still shows up.  Of course, he's gonna be the stay puft marshmallow man but he's gonna show up. 

He was wasn’t he? Ughhh he is a kiss a$$ as well as a greedy out of shape one way player.. he makes me sick . I’ll look back at this era and think of this guy as one of the idiots along with 

KD 

Kyme

Ben Simm

more to come..

Zion Ja .. oh wow.. 

[warcore]

1 hour ago, Spud2nique said:

Ya on  

 

used to watch this on the Box in middle school all the time!

[macdaddy]

28 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Am I wrong?  Harden was in China when he made these anti-Morey comments.  Remember China still hates Morey for his tweet a few years ago.  Harden was just playing to the crowd.  I bet he still shows up.  Of course, he's gonna be the stay puft marshmallow man but he's gonna show up. 

This is my thought too.  In a few weeks they say they've buried the hatchet and Harden will play for Philly because no one else wants him.  

[JeffS17]

7 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

This is my thought too.  In a few weeks they say they've buried the hatchet and Harden will play for Philly because no one else wants him.  

Yeah, Harden doesn't really have any say or leverage... unless his long term play is to try to drum up Chinese support to get a big pay day playing over there, which I'm rooting for because it would be an entertaining outcome.

[JayBirdHawk]

3 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Maybe that’s what Harden wants anyways to have an excuse to take the first 3/4 of the season off. 

If he misses 30 days in a hold out...he won't be eligible to be a FA....new CBA rule.

[JayBirdHawk]

I know Morey is the easy target, but what if it's the owner's call in not wanting to pay Harden at 34 years a max longterm contract. Don't blame him.

I think Morey had intentions to pay him when he traded for him and when Harden took the paycut last year.  

Houston didn't want him after hiring Udoka - at least only on a short term 2 year deal.

 

[AHF]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

If he misses 30 days in a hold out...he won't be eligible to be a FA....new CBA rule.

I expect him to show up and half-a** it to let them know he isn't going to miss a paycheck but he is also not going to really try.  Similar to him tanking it in Houston to force the trade to Brooklyn.  

[AtLaS]

20 minutes ago, AHF said:

I expect him to show up and half-a** it to let them know he isn't going to miss a paycheck but he is also not going to really try.  Similar to him tanking it in Houston to force the trade to Brooklyn.  

It's going to be a lot more controversial this time.  For one, he's already done this before.  Second, that Houston team had no other stars or key leaders of the team at that time.  Embiid is the star on Philly, wouldn't be surprised if something went down between those 2. I just can't see them letting him dog it, if I'm an MVP caliber player who is trying to win a championship I'm not playing with a half-ass, unmotivated Harden.  But that's probably what Harden wants, for Philly to tell him to stay home then he still gets paid and doesn't have to play.  

I think this is going to do much more harm than good for Harden, wouldn't be surprised if he gets the Melo or Starbury treatment after this.  At the very least he's going to take a huge paycut next year.  Dude is going to be humbled bigtime.

[djjob23]

What do they know that we don’t…  

https://x.com/bookies/status/1691105432717389824?s=46&t=8v2t8Tg0a87E2l7bs0NAiw

Tweet embeds aren’t working for me, but it has betting odds for James Harden’s next team:

LAC: +500

ATL: +550 (WHAT?!?)

MIN: +650

PHI: +750

MIA: +800

[AHF]

13 minutes ago, djjob23 said:

What do they know that we don’t…  

https://x.com/bookies/status/1691105432717389824?s=46&t=8v2t8Tg0a87E2l7bs0NAiw

Tweet embeds aren’t working for me, but it has betting odds for James Harden’s next team:

LAC: +500

ATL: +550 (WHAT?!?)

MIN: +650

PHI: +750

MIA: +800

Atlanta?!?

[kg01]

48 minutes ago, AHF said:

Atlanta?!?

Duh?  Didn't you know Trae gonna ask out ... and the Hawks is tired of Trae... smh.

[Spud2nique]

5 hours ago, warcore said:

used to watch this on the Box in middle school all the time!

Ya I was in my 20’s but always thought I was hotter than dude on bike with her.  

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, djjob23 said:

ATL: +550 (WHAT?!?)

Oh heeeewwwllll no 

[Spud2nique]

45 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Duh?  Didn't you know Trae gonna ask out ... and the Hawks is tired of Trae... smh.

Have you read those lame articles too? I didn’t even wanna bring them to light but they have lists of stars ️ going to want to ask out. Embiid, Luka and Trae were on it. 
 

Today’s journalism blows. I mean, 99% is utter crap. Ya, one might get traded but these articles are insufferable just frickin exhausting they make me wanna skim it..

 

Like forget the reading is fundamental crap if you are laying out garbage on top of garbage for me. I dunno . 
 

I’m prolly a lil bitter right now cuz I got a tummy ache after smoking a box of cigars in a week   
 

I thought it would last a few years.  @kg01 I been walkin round Cali like Tony Montana/George Burns ..

 

 

[bird_dirt]

Watching Philly even with the “almighty Embiid” these past few years has made me feel better about being a Hawks fan.