Daryl Morey was confident. Very confident. It was late March and Morey, the 76ers’ outspoken GM, stood outside a Philadelphia practice and explained why he believed the union of Joel Embiid and James Harden would work. He spoke of basketball IQs. Of Harden’s first partnership with an elite big. Of the pressure a playmaker like Harden could take off Embiid.
“We were very confident,” says Morey, “that it would be a good fit.”
And it has … sometimes. Philadelphia won eight of its first ten after Harden was acquired in mid-February. He scored 56 points in his first two games. He handed out double-digit assists in four of his first five. In 21 games with the Sixers, Harden averaged 21 points, 10.5 assists and 7.1 rebounds, All-Star numbers. As SI's Michael Pina noted on Wednesday, when Embiid and Harden share the floor, Philadelphia posts monster offensive numbers
