Google News Joel Embiid throws James Harden under the bus following 76ers' playoff exit
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 9141
Joel Embiid sounded extremely disappointed in James Harden after the Philadelphia 76ers' playoff exit, saying that James Harden is definitely not anymore the superstar he was during his days with the Houston Rockets. Prior to the trade deadline, the 76ers made an aggressive offer for Harden once it became clear he wanted out of Brooklyn.
The 76ers gave up a lot for Harden, sending the Nets Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond, Seth Curry and a couple of draft picks. The 76ers thought Harden was the missing piece they needed in order to win a championship. The 76ers' hopes of winning it all this year ended on Thursday night, after they lost 90-99 to the Miami Heat.
Harden scored just 11 points in Game 6 and went scoreless in the second half.
Embiid: Harden is not the Houston Harden anymore
"Since we got him, everybody expected the Houston James Harden," Embiid said, per ESPN. "But that's not who he is anymore.
He's more of a playmaker. I thought, at times, he could have been, as all of us could have been, more aggressive. All of us whether it was Tyrese [Maxey] or Tobias [Harris] or guys coming off the bench. "And I'm not just talking about offensively.
I'm talking about, you know, as a whole offensively and defensively. I didn't think we were good defensively as a team. They took advantage of a lot of stuff that we tried to do defensively. And then offensively just really everybody being on the same page, obviously, only having probably what, three or four months to all work together and try to figure it out.
Maybe it wasn't a lot of time. ... I don't think we played our best basketball." Embiid was playing on an MVP level throughout the entire year but another year of his prime was wasted since he didn't win his first NBA title.
