1. He was pretty good as a Sixer.
  2. He did help Embiid get his MVP - so glad we don’t have to hear about Jokic going for his 4th in a row.
  3. He and Maxey really seemed to have clicked, and Maxey definitely learned a TON from him. No way Maxey is as good as he is right now without Harden’s mentorship. Not just what you see on the court with his stepbacks, but just listening to him on his pod and on others, he obviously got along well with Harden.
  4. He also hated Glenn Rivers, probably more than we did.
  5. He got Glenn fired.
  6. He took PJ’s contract with him.
  7. By opting in and then getting traded, he got us Batum, RoCo, draft picks - all things we wouldn’t have gotten if he’d opted out (not to mention PJ’s contract).
  8. He did create a circus with all that Morey stuff, but at camp, he was super chill and never caused the Ben Simmons-style craziness. Totally helped get the trade done.
  9. Nick Nurse is the perfect coach for this team, but he was not available to hire before this year… and again, without Harden I think we’re stuck with Doc this year. In some ways, the timing was just perfect for us to have the team and coaches we have right now.
  10. He never said anything bad about the Sixers fans, Philly, players here, etc - if someone’s going to take potshots at someone, and if that target is the GM, then I’m fine.

So yeah, the saga actually really helped the team escape some bad contracts and gave us real chances for this year. Harden deserves our appreciation when he comes back, not boos.

  • flanneled_manBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’m sure someone can find it but there’s the badass quote from Jason in the Kelce documentary about being Philadelphian; fighting for your worth, being unapologetically yourself, and generally just not giving a fuck. Harden offered none of those things because he had/has no sense of self; he’s always looking for something better, brighter somewhere outside of himself. Philly isn’t going to cheer for him just because his departure brought us something in return; we lament him because he just didn’t fucking “get it”. Sure, we joke about Muscala “bringing us” Maxey-- but the reason we love Tyrese isn’t because we lucked our way into him-- it’s because he fucking works his ass off to prove himself to us, and everyone else. So, no. No amount of bullet points is ever gonna make me cheer James Harden-- if anything I want to boo him harder cause I know he’s fucking ego can’t take it.