PHILADELPHIA, PA–The talk around the league continues to be the Philadelphia 76ers and their addition of star guard James Harden. While the future Hall of Famer is not set to play for the Sixers until after the All-Star break as he fully recovers from his hamstring injury, there is a lot of expectations for Harden in Philadelphia.
The Sixers now expect to seriously contend for a championship with Harden and Joel Embiid leading the way and it is going to be interesting to see what happens when The Beard finally does step onto the floor for Philadelphia. In terms of getting with Embiid, Harden expects the transition to be pretty seamless.
One of the teams the Sixers will be fighting with will be the Boston Celtics. The Celtics have won nine straight games after they drubbed the Sixers on Tuesday in Philadelphia and while the Celtics won’t see the Sixers with Harden before a potential playoff series, coach Ime Udoka knows how dangerous both players can be and what the pairing could look like.
“It will be a dynamic one,” Udoka said of the Harden and Embiid duo. “Obviously, two of the top players in the league. I’ve spent time with both of them over the past few years and James is a guy who’s used to having, not a dominant big like Joel, but bigs that he has made look really good. It will take some of the pressure off Joel and kind of spoon-feed him like he does.”
Udoka was an assistant coach in Philadelphia in the 2019-20 season and he was an assistant with the Brooklyn Nets in the 2020-21 season. He has seen both Harden and Embiid up close and he knows what they both bring to the table. The two of them are going to make life easier for each other as they move forward.
“At the same time, Joel will do what he does and it won’t have to be in James’ hands as much either,” Udoka added. “I think it’s a good complement overall. Two dynamic players who can both score at the highest level so it’s gonna be a formidable duo for sure.”
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