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Bam is to the Heat what Draymond was for the Warriors-- except Bam is honestly better. Which is crazy considering it's not impossible that Draymond makes the Hall of Fame.
Bam is one of the very few elite defenders of all positions, 1 through 5. Like, maybe the fastest PGs in the world can get by him, but other than that, Bam can stop them. Everything they run on defense doesn't work without Bam. Dragic, Herro, and Robinson are all net negative defenders... but they're nearly a top 10 defense in the NBA because of Jimmy and Bam.
I'd absolutely rather have Bam than Harden... and I don't just mean going forward, I mean this season. Boston is switchable. Milwaukee is switchable. Let's say you lose just Bam, so you're starting Harden, Herro, Robinson, Butler, and Olynyk? That's a bottom half of the NBA defense, easily. The Heat don't need more scoring. The Heat need their team defense to work.
Besides, all of this is moot to some extent, because the Heat culture is about intensely hard team-based work, and that's not Harden's vibe. Harden is an incredibly skilled basketball player, a future Hall of Famer... but he does not fit in with that culture at all. Butler is the perfect leader for that organization, and Bam is the future of that organization.
If you think you can make the money work and part with Herro, Kendrick Nunn, a couple picks, maybe Dragic too? Okay. Do that deal. But I would not trade Bam. This isn't some "don't trade for Kobe, we need Luol" stuff. I firmly think Bam is, in terms of trade chips and in terms of who you want to build your team around in the year 2020, like... if not a Top 10 asset, then a Top 15 one.
Bam's gonna do 18/11/5/1/2 this year, All-Star and All-Defense... and he's 23. I don't care what Harden brings on offense, I can't pull that trigger. I have Jimmy/Bam/Herro through 2023. They all fit my system, they play beautifully together. I'm more interested in free agents than I am in dealing any of those assets. My movies: http://russellhainline.com My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/ My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide
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