CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers have some questions that need to be answered as they head into the 2022 offseason. One of those questions is what they will do with James Harden.
The Sixers acquired the superstar at the February trade deadline and he made a big impact as a guy who was an elite facilitator and an organizer on offense. However, he wasn’t able to be that guy to lift the Sixers to the next level that they thought they were getting and that was a big issue in this season.
The Beard did say that he’s committed to the Sixers and he will be here for the 2022-23 season and beyond. President Daryl Morey and the organization now feel the same way.
Morey on Harden’s future
“That’s the plan is to have him back. That’s been the plan since the trade. Obviously, we have to work with his representation and that’ll be between us to figure out how that works.”
Morey on the plan for Harden on the floor
“I think we all know he’s a very skilled player. We’ll figure out how to use him.”
Morey is looking ahead to a full offseason with Harden
“He’s an incredibly talented player just like Joel (Embiid), just like Tobias (Harris), and I’m excited for Doc (Rivers) and his staff to have a whole offseason, work with the players, and come up with the best plan for the roster we’ll have which we don’t know exactly as we just mentioned the bench and how that’s going to look. Which players on the roster we’re going to feel like the core going forward and which ones are the ones where maybe we can get an acquisition that might help. Once we have that in place, I’m excited for what the coaching staff can come up with it versus, obviously, because of our circumstances, you know, having it all come together in February, makes it very difficult to try and figure out how to unlock all the different skills of the players and how they can work together.”
Morey on Embiid’s comments about Harden not being the Houston version of himself
“I think a lot of what Joel was saying is that I think I knew it, but until you have a guy on the team, you don’t know how good of a passer he is. I think a lot of what Joel was seeing there was someone who was a better passer than he expected. I think James did a really nice job finding guys maybe getting the ball to Joel and others on the team more than he might have anticipated based on what they understood, but look he’s a great player. I think we can we can unlock him more we’re excited for going forward but, he is a very good passer. So I’m glad that Joel pointed that out.”
Morey still believes in Harden’s ability
“James is a great player. I don’t think we need to get into—he has the ability to score, pass, yeah. He’s a very good player. We’re excited for the future.”
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