What is krack lacking? Fellow thermonuclear appers, I am Dana Valley coming at
you with some solo James hard Talk. First and foremost, though an announcement,
Hardwin Knox has left Blue Wire officially, which is in part why I'm
putting up this short podcast, and I'll probably cut this out before I post
it on YouTube to make sure that there are no problems with the redirect that
was processed. We are back where we I don't know if we started there,
but we were at Spreaker a few years ago. It was just a
better fit for us. Let me know if you're consuming this on YouTube and
it didn't hit your podcast feed, there's any issues. I'm trying to work
out any just sort of wartz that might be. Hopefully there is a nun
but we are super excited. You will be hearing ads on the podcast again,
so download them, listen to the just that's how we're going to try
and remonetize this thing. So we're very excited. Wish Blue Wire and all
the podcasts that are still there the best of luck. But yes, and
then also, hey, if you're new around here and you're listening to this
for the first time on Spreaker, subscribe to us and share the episode Spotify
Apple Podcast. Definitely subscribe there. That helps us out a ton. Leave
ratings and reviews. That means a lot, and it helps us climb up
the charts Apple specifically, if you leave a rating and write a review,
that can very much help us. If you haven't done so already, sub
on YouTube like comment on all the videos helped juice the algo, especially early
on when these things first go live. We'll be rolling out also as a
we'll continue roll out the rest of our off season grades. That one will
be if you're listening to this and just throwing this up on a Sunday,
we have Central coming out on Monday. We will do the rest of the
will do the entire West, actually, I think throughout this entire week.
But follow us on the socials as I skipped over that at Hardwood Knox on
TikTok and Twitter, at Hardwood Underscore Knox on Instagram. Am I believe that's
oh, purchase our merch. I'm wearing a nice little bone colored, seriously
un serious shirt. That is another way that you can support the podcast,
in addition to downloading every episode, and if you've done all these things.
One do this anyway, join our discord link to that's the podcast and YouTube
description. Help us help more people get in there. Just the discussion it's
even going on right now there. We're talking Raptors fan bases that we like
the least. I have not necessarily chimed in on that souse. I don't
want to single out any team, but talking about grudges necessarily that fans might
hold against other teams or their fan bases. There's a deep comma going on
about that. So and we're talking about unhinged Darryl Moray, I think everything
blacks and Discord just said because of the cap space the Sixers might have.
So yeah, get in discord. Links in the podcast and YouTube description and
if you've done everything else, even if you haven't done anything else, share
the episodes, send the link, share our videos that we're posting on TikTok
and Twitter, on YouTube, shorts and Spotify not Spotify, Instagram, just
to help the out goals on that. Tell people about us, shout outs
recommendations on social media. I will find them, retweet them. But thank
you whatever, appreciate it all. So continue helping us grow the community as
we begin yet another era in Hardwood knocks over at speaker, let's talk James
Harden in the Philadelphia seventy Sixers for Shams and Woe and Sam Amic of the
Athletic as well. They've had not competing news updates, but it was it
was updates. It was a material update. So if anyone hasn't seen,
would reported that the Sixers have ended trade talks with the disgruntled James Harden and
that they are going with him into training camp. Conversely, Sam amckh had
reported, and I believe some even Woad or maybe it was Sham's, reported
that James Harden won't show up to training camp. Sam A. Mckhad reporting
that didn't refute that, but said it's not clear whether Harden will show up
to training camp. If he's still on the Sixers, he still wants a
trade. The Clippers remain his preferred destination. This is not significant in the
sense of you don't stop trade talks like the trade talks are never done.
If there's a team that wants to make an offer for James Harden, they
can call the Sixers and make an offer for James Harden. So this is
just very much a leverage play to get the information out there that no,
we're prepared to go into training camp with him, and we're prepared to make
this awkward. And normally I would say that they're bluffing in most cases,
but we've seen Daryl Morey do this before, and not two years ago,
basically with the Ben Simmons stuff. And I would argue because James Harden,
Yeah, some of his playoff on evenness is fresh in the minds of everyone.
He's coming off a year in which you could say, hey, he
was fringe all MBA. Most of the catchall analytics had him as a certified
on MBA player. There's value there. He's headed into free agency, but
you will get his bird rights, you can't extend him whatever. So it's
just I would expect Daryl Morey too if he needs to or doesn't get the
offer he wants, let's this leak into training camp, and then that becomes
the issue of Okay, James Harden picked up his player option. Is he
gonna hold out a training camp. Is he hurting himself more than he's hurting
the Sixers in that regard? Not necessary serily, because worst case scenario,
you could sit out next season, then just free and clear leave on the
open market. But if he wants to get the most money possible because the
teams he wants to play for ergo and the Clippers are not going to have
max cap space next summer, you need a trade almost And so yeah,
you could hope the Sixers would facilitate a sign and trade since you would be
there on your own free will. But again, the Clippers are not set
up to complete a sign and trade, and the Sixers clearly aren't interested in
I wouldn't even say the bare bones package. But from all the reporting,
even if the Clippers put everything on the table, you could trade up to
a first round pick. Terrence Mann is in there a bunch of expirings,
it doesn't feel like that would get the job done. And this is going
to get very ugly, insofar as you don't think it's gotten ugly already,
because maybe this speeds up negotiations. But if you're the Sixers and you're prioritizing
cap space next summer or this monster return, you're kind of limited in the
scope of offers you can accept, and so the Clippers can help you with
the cap space element, but that also kind of means you can figure it
out later. But maybe the single best asset that you would have in that
trade is Terrence Man. Are you gonna want his eleven million dollars or whatever
it is on the books? I would absolutely take it if you're gonna accept
that offer. But if you're just gonna get a first round pick and Terrence
Man for James Harden and then a bunch of expirings, that gets tough to
say. Okay, is next year more than a gap year for us?
At the same time, we have not heard, at least in droves of
other teams that are going to be interested in James Harden. The Knicks were
loosely linked to him at the beginning. I doubt they would throw out a
godfather offer for him. We kind of heard some Miami noise, but that
was, you know, it's in the middle of the Dame stuff. And
that's another aspect of this that could be holding up the James Harden negotiations is
Miami specifically, but I'm sure there are other teams out there. You want
to see where Damian Lillard goes, because he is going to be the bigger
get right now. He's not going to be a free agent, and I
think I don't want to say that he's outright the better play I think he's
the more proven playoff performer, that's for sure, and I think you can
make the case that he's the better player. That's an interesting one, Harden
versus Lillard. The playmaking for Harden is better than Lillards, but just Lillard's
outside shooting and him being more familiar playing off the ball, I can understand
why that would appeal to other teams more. But we're also talking about two
players where the scope of their trade requests, demands, whatever you want to
call it, are one team. So are either of these two going to
open it up? And that's what James Harden could do. I don't think
Morey's necessarily and the Sixers are listening to James Harden's request. Yes, the
reporting says that they've tried to talk to the Clippers, and they've had discussions
with the Clippers, but this isn't kind of like I mean, it's the
same thing with the Blazers is they've made it clear that they're going to hold
sort of this open court when it comes to shopping these guys. But the
reporting has been so sparse on what other teams have actually called and made offers
that This is why reports like this come out, is that maybe Daryl Morey
and the Sixers are trying to drive up some not eleventh hour interest, but
because the offseason is not necessarily over yet, but just throwing another wrinkle into
the equation, a curveball into the equation, to see kind of what can
become of this. And I don't I still would expect Harden to be on
the Sixers for training camp in part because which is why this is going to
get ugly. And I guess this is the long about, long, roundabout
way of getting to the point of this podcast. The Sixers want to do
something so specific and aggressive that I don't know that there's a team out there
right now at this point in the offseason, when cap space has been spent,
when teams want to see who they are, when you also know that
James Harden is really so far only communicated a desire to play for the Clippers
that is going to come in and be like, hey, here's expiring contracts
and enough draft equity so that you can go turn around and get another player
so that James Harden's departure doesn't culminate in a gap year for Joel Embiid,
who that looms over everything of all this where I think it's kind of accepted
within NBA circles and even among MBA intelligenza and just podcasters that the Sixers are
probably a year away from like the Joel Embiid reckoning and his trade request.
He can see what they do next offseason or what the team looks like.
At the same time, if you're Joel Embid congratulations to him, the newly
married Joel Embiid, and you're watching all this, could it technically if you
think James Harden's going to show up out of shape, disgruntled or not at
all, does that accelerate the trade request here? I don't believe it does.
And I did say on a previous podcast to hold myself accountable, that
I could see it doing that. But if you're James Harden, you're sitting
here and you're watching what Daryl Morey did with Ben Simmons, you lived through
that and what he's saying he will do essentially either directly or indirectly with the
James Harden sweepstakes, let's call it. You don't want to request it trade
now? Because he's not sending you anywhere, or the offers is gonna be
so high that you're gonna have to come into this season anyway. You don't
want to have to deal with any blowback from fans or just the trade request
looming over your head as you go into two training camp. So I do
not believe anymore that this is going to I didn't give enough thought at the
time. I don't think this accelerates the Jowell and Being trade request timeline.
I think what the Sixers get is an opportunity to make whatever they can out
of Harden, and then you go through next offseason and you see what becomes
of this team. I don't know what becomes of this team, though.
I don't see how you trade James Harden and are better off in any way,
shape or form, because what you need to do to be better off
is to either parlay him into a star or you need to get enough assets
to then turn around and trade for a star immediately. And I know that
a lot of people speculated would they be a team that rolls the dice on
Damian Lillard. Let's just let's assume. Let's assume that they would be willing
to do that. You're not getting Damian Lillard for James Harden. He doesn't
fit anything with the Blazer's timeline. Now you could rope in a third team.
We haven't seen the third team suitors for James Harden. So are they
going to send you enough to where you can turn around and then trade for
Damian Lillard? And the problem there is, whatever they give you, are
you still include Tyrese Maxie in a Damian Lillard trade? And does that necessitate
a fourth team all of a sudden or is that part of the third team
structure. Well, you're not trading Harden and Maxie to the same team,
So if that's the same transaction, there's a fourth team. Because I don't
Maxie's about to get paid. He's a really good player. Maybe Portland would
have interested him. But you have Scoot, you have Anthony Simmons, you
have Shayden Sharp. It's already crowded with Damian Lillard, and changing him out
for Tyrese Maxie in a contract year, you can't look at that and say,
well, we'll just parlay him into someone else. So he's not going
to be a part or at least going to the Blazers and any Damian Lillard
trade, and then you have to sit there and ask yourself, Okay,
are we without assets or imminent meaningful cap space if you take on Dame or
Tyrese Maxie, are we better than we are right now? With disgruntled,
hardened Tyrese Maxie in the one first round pick we could trade around Joel Embiide.
I don't know. I think there's a chance that the Lillard Embiid dynamic
is better then the Harden and bid dynamic, especially in the playoffs. I
think James Harden's passing is really important here. Joellabi does not need a creative
passer. Him and Damian Lillard will be fine. The rest of the team
though, when you look at some of the supporting casts around them. If
you're losing tires Maxie and his drives and what the chaos he's gonna create.
He's not an exceptional passer. Put it's someone who could just offer and react
to the defense that's reacting to him. Damian Lillarcus still do that. But
if you're losing both James Harden and Tyris maxically get Damian Lillard. I don't
think you're this better team, especially when you in my mind, you're not
gonna have enough at F assets left over to turn around and make all these
other accessory moves or let alone a meat and potatoes type of move. And
I don't know what the Sixers vision here is. People talk about cap space.
I've seen it floating around that the Sixers could get two MAX slots thrown
carved out. No, not two real max slots for next summer, which
are as of right now, the max the low is max slot for next
summer is projected to be thirty five point five million dollars. Yes, they
can get to that. They can get to almost seventy million in cap space.
That's still not both those maxes and you're also not giving out Those are
maxes reserved for restricted free agents essentially, who are not going to leave their
teams. If you're maxing out and restricted free agent who's worthwhile that you want,
the other team is going to match them. Most of those players,
I mean, look at you know they didn't even read restricted free ac they're
signing extensions. So you're not going to have dual max loots. But you
can get to sixty plus million. Sixty five plus million. I had the
mat in cap space maybe that even goes up a little bit if the salary
cap projections increase for next summer specifically, perhaps they agree to raise it a
little bit more in anticipation of the new TV deal a year or two down
the line from that, what is cap space getting you? Now, it's
getting you a Fred van Fleet type of player. And I've seen og Ana
Noby mentioned as the name they could go after. That is not the guy
O g Na. Nooby's a really good player. I think I've probably downplayed
his value on this podcast a couple times. I don't think he's not bad.
I just don't think he's a star. He's a really good player.
You don't plan your entire future around him. And so I'm starting to think
that the Sixers have less leverage here when all is said and done. And
I also understand by the way where Harden is coming from. If the reporting
is true that he wanted you know that, if Mori only wanted him to
sign a one plus one, that's a even if that's full max money,
that's a tall order. I also get the Sixers perspective. Harden's apparently disenchanted
because they didn't offer him a multi year max deal. Guaranteed money. So
if we're talking three or four years, his three year max three years and
one hundred and fifty about his four year max would have been four years and
two hundred and four point seven million. It's a lot of money to commit
to James Harden at this stage of his career. So I understand the both
sides of it from that, but I also get if you're hard and why
you wouldn't want to sign a one plus one and why you're pissed off now.
I don't know if opting in was necessarily the best decision for you,
because you kind of lost control of this season. I don't know how it
ends, but it feels like it's going to end very poorly and overall.
While I do think the Sixers have less leverage, I think Daryl Morey has
an iron stomach for this shit, and it would not surprise me if James
Harden is still on the Sixers heading into the next season. You can tell
me he shows up out of shape. You can tell me he doesn't show
up at all. You tell me he shows up and plays his ass off
because he's trying to attract I don't know, trying to prove a point,
or maybe he's trying to attract other suitors. I don't know if there's a
no brainer team out there, get in the YouTube comments if you made it
this far, or a discord, what's a team that you can see coming
out of nowhere, not Miami, even not the Clippers and trying to make
an offer for James Harden. This is going to get very ugly, folks.
I think that we're going to go. My guests would be now that
he's on the Sixers heading into training camp, because Darryl Moorey is not going
to accept bottom dollar for him, and even some of the offers that have
been floated that the asking price that he wanted for Tobias Harris makes you think,
well, what is he going to ask for with James Harden? And
so even if the Clippers offer everything they can, I don't think that they're
going to move him, and they do have to wait, Well he could
just leave next summer. You'll get the caps based endscape and like the good
Sier teams still aren't slated to have all this cap room, and many of
them might not want James Harden, depending on where they are in their development
or players already in place looking at New York with Jalen Brunson, they don't
They're not gonna have max base and he's not gonna go back to Brooklyn or
something. If they somehow get off Ben Simmons, this is going to get
ugly. I'm not necessarily sure how it ends. But while I don't read
too much into this reporting like the trade sweepstakes are not done, the Sixers
are not actually shut down talks, this does lead me to believe, though,
when we really just step back and kind of look at this, now
that things have paused, James Harden's gonna be on the Sixers to start the
season. This is going to get very ugly, and we should probably brace
ourselves for just like I don't even know what like we need to brace ourselves
through anything just feels on the table. But maybe someone does come in and
give up, they have a slow start to the season and give up a
ton for James Harden. Maybe he somehow finishes the season in Philly and then
we're like we're doing kind of all this all over again next summer. If
he's trying to facilitate a sign and trade somewhere else. I don't know how
this ends, but I will predict how it continues. And that's with the
Beligus. That's that that we kind of yet to see at this point until
next time. And has always shout out to Frank heel Tina and remember to subscribe