An NBA lovefest continues
We always knew Daryl Morey and James Harden had a strong relationship, but Harden's new team-friendly new contract in Philadelphia suggests we might have underestimated how strong
It was roughly a month ago, right after the NBA Draft, that Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey proclaimed his relationship with James Harden to be a "lovefest."
We finally got an inkling of what that means from Harden's perspective last weekend through an interview The Beard did with my pal Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports.
"I told Daryl to improve the roster, sign who we needed to sign and give me whatever is left over," Harden explained to Haynes.
Lovefest, indeed.
The Sixers' midseason acquisition of Harden, which looked especially questionable in May after Philadelphia was dumped out of the second round of the playoffs by Miami, can no longer be branded disastrous after Morey re-signed Harden at what amounts to bargain terms.
Harden was holding a $47.4 million player option for next season after the Miami series and was widely expected to use that option as a springboard for a multiyear deal — either building off the option or starting anew — worth in excess of $200 million. He wound up settling for a two-year deal worth less than $70 million and which features a giveback of nearly $15 million for this season that enabled Morey to sign P.J. Tucker and Danuel House after trading for De'Anthony Melton.
Quite a haircut for someone known to let every strand of his chin coverage dangle to its full capacity.
As covered previously in this cyberspace, there is a suspicion in some corners of the league …
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Question of the Week
I watched a lot of NBA TV this month. More than usual, probably, because of all the summer league games it was airing from Las Vegas.
If you watched a lot of NBA TV, too, then you saw numerous Nugenix commercials starring Frank Thomas and Doug Flutie.
I want to believe in the various settings for these commercials, because they do amuse me, but I have to ask: Does anyone ever run into The Big Hurt and Flutie at the driving range?
Dot Dot Dot (🏀🏀🏀)
🏀 Hearing about the level of latitude James Harden says he granted the Sixers in his contract negotiations reminded me of a little-known tale stemming from Miami's attempts to convince LeBron James to stay on South Beach in the 2014 offseason before James decided to go home to Cleveland for a second stint with the Cavaliers. That summer, Miami's Pat Riley and noted Heat front-office strategist Andy Elisburg hosted …
This is an excerpt from my latest NBA column. To read it all and receive full access to all of my work, please click the link or the orange button to subscribe.