Buh-bye Ben, Hellooooo, Harden!!!

 Last Thursday, as the clock ticked away from the trade deadline and we were all about to turn back into pumpkins that had to hang on to Ben Simmons for another half a year at least, the Sixers pulled off a miracle and traded Ben Simmons for NBA MVP, All-Star, and Kobe's favorite player of this era (RIP Kobe), James Harden.

James Harden is so ridiculously good at basketball and deserves to have a true shot at a title with Joel Embiid. Now, he has that opportunity. 

Ben Simmons is terrible. He single-handedly lost us that Atlanta series last year in the playoffs. That was absolutely unacceptable and he really did show his true colors. Somehow, he made everyone think he's a good player even though he can't shoot, and won't shoot. James Harden is an insanely huge upgrade to him in every way imaginable, even if Simmons had decided to keep playing through this season. Which he hasn't.

Despite this reality, the national media seem to be obsessed with Simmons all of a sudden and think he's the missing piece to all of Brooklyn's woes. So ridiculous. The collective amnesia is crazy. Stephen A Smith and Charles Barkley both think Brooklyn came out on top of the trade and Philly lost out. 
They forget how awful Simmons was during his entire tenure with this team. He was absolutely miserable. Can't shoot. Won't shoot. Atlanta literally fouled him on purpose so he'd miss free throws. And he did miss and he did lose the games for us.

It is such a relief to be free of that man and no longer have to worry about him just lingering in the background as the Sixers continue to win in spite of his absence. Two games after the trade, the Sixers have won them both, including against the second place Cavs. Embiid had a triple double, the first NBA player to have a 40/10/10 triple double since Wilt Chamberlain in the 60s. He's crazy good. You could joke around and say the Sixers don't even need James Harden. But that's just joking because Harden is a 3x NBA scoring champion, a former league MVP, perennial All Star. He's an absolute beast and will make things so much easier for Embiid. 

And that's the thing that the national media seems to forget. In all their analyses, they are focusing on the Nets gaining Simmons, or the Sixers losing Curry and Drummond. The reality is that the focus should remain on EMBIID. He's this year's MVP. He's having a career year. Probably the best year he will ever have. Harden's here to help. And he will. He will only make things easier. This is the Joel EMBIID show. And now he has the perfect complement in Harden to facilitate, mentor, and ease the burden. 

Good things don't happen to us very often in Philly. Other teams in the "hot" markets get all the key free agents. This time we got exactly what we wanted, and needed. The national media may try to wet blanket the good vibes in the name of "balanced" reporting, the in reality, the Nets were a dumpster fire, and now they just traded for he who was the biggest dumpster fire in league. 

Sixers come out way on top, and everyone knows it. Ask any actual Nets fan, and they'll agree Ben Simmons is not the solution. Any opinion otherwise is pure delusion.

Now Sixers can start EMBIID, James Harden, Maxey (who is incredible and keeps getting better every game), Matisse, and Toby. This is an incredibly potent starting five that no one would want to match up against. They got Danny Green and Georges Niang poppin 3s off the bench. BBall Paul and Millsap can spell Embiid. But let's be honest. In the playoffs, EMBIID will play as many minutes as he needs. And he will absolutely kill it.

Just unbelievable we did it. We finally got that elite, elite ELITE player in Harden to complement EMBIID. It's on peeps. It's ON.