If you're a team that is interested in finding a way to make yourself better, James Harden is an acquired taste, and I've always liked that expression.

When I was a kid, I hated mustard.

You couldn't put mustard near anything.

I wouldn't eat it.

I didn't like the way it smelled.

Hot dogs see Brett stand in the street?

No, no, no mustard.

Hated mustard openly hated mustard.

Now I'm addicted to mustard.

I love mustard.

You could put mustard on a shoe and I would eat it.

That's how much I love mustard, So I acquired the taste.

James Harden is kind of like that, because if you're going to bring James Harden and here's what he's going to do, he's going to put up huge numbers.

He's going to make your games interesting.

He's going to sell tickets, but is he going to help you win?

That's really the question.

So if you're a bad team, I understand wanting Harden bad.

Get better, Just let him do all the things he does, let him dribble the air out of the clock.

Let him take step back threes.

He's a walking 30 point triple double.

But is there any evidence that suggests that a playing that way is a way to win and B that he is ever going to win when the games matter the most?

The answer to that both of those questions, is no.

There's no evidence that anyone, any team who's lead player plays like that is going to win anything of consequence.

You're gonna win a bunch of regular season games.

What are you gonna win?

The ones that matter to me, The answer is no.

And James Harden, We all know it.

The history is well documented.

He's very, very good in a lot of months.

But May is not one of them.

That's just the reality of it.

I don't mean that to sound nasty.

I It sort of came out of my mouth maybe a little meaner than I meant it to.

I'm just making a statement of fact.

His postseason performances speak for themselves.

So to me, the two places he seems to want to go Brooklyn and Philadelphia if you were the Sixers, are you trading Ben Simmons to get him?

Because for the life of me, I can't figure out why Houston would trade him to Philadelphia if they weren't getting Ben Simmons back.

I believe that Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid will never win a championship together.

So in that regard, you might say to yourself, It's worth the risk.

But honestly, I would say no.

If I were Philadelphia, I would try and figure out another way to get this done.

I might even just run it back again this season, as is with the new coach and hope he can figure out a way to make it work.

But if it involves trading Simmons, I'm not doing it.

And then, as far as Brooklyn, the one question you have is what is K D doing while Kyrie and James Harden are averaging 20 seconds of dribbling per possession, So is that trade being made without Kyrie being a part of it?

I don't know if you're Houston, you do not have your back against the wall.

Harden cannot make you do anything.

This is not Anthony Davis.

In the last year of his contract, they can trade him wherever they want.

Thio.

And they cannot trade him if they don't want to.

So he can't dictate the terms.

They can dictate the terms.

So if Brooklyn wants him, I don't know.

Caris, Levert and Spencer didn't witty enough to say Okay, I'll give you James Harden.

I don't think it is.

But if you're Kevin Durant now, all of a sudden, if you're looking at the possibility of getting Harden, we're keeping Irving, I think I'm keeping Irving now.

Kyrie needs to sort of get all this other stuff straightened out.

We just heard from Charles Barkley a few minutes ago if you're with me.

But if they work the off the court stuff out, I'd rather have.

If I'm k d.

I'd rather have Kyrie on the court.

As far as how the skills meld together, then harden so I believe Harden will get traded.

But I don't think it's a simple as people make.

It sounded.

I'm not sure either of those are the places he's gonna wind up, and because he is exactly that he is mustard.

He is an acquired taste.

I'm not 100% sure that's what either of those teams should want to do.

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