Jrue would have fared better against us, but Harden was regularly their best player in the first two rounds, they don’t win those series without him. Safe to say Cavs made the right choice.

Why are people blaming old Harden for everything when Mitchell and Mobley should take over the team?

Jrue is better defender but i doubt they get past toronto with him

Jrue would seem to be a better fit next to Mitchell. Moving off Garland for a more defensive minded guard makes more sense to me.

The memes of Harden are funny and Brunson was him, so I get it, but these takes are so overblown. Jrue was replaced by Payton Pritchard in Boston. He is a secondary playmaker, not a primary. That puts the burden of scoring and shot creation on Donovan. Please look up the Cavs’ playoff offense with Harden and Mitchell on the court together, and then the offenses with Mitchell on the court and Harden on the bench and then vice-versa. If Donovan isn’t scoring, he’s not providing that much for the team.

This playoffs just proved that Mitchell cannot turn it on and just score at will. Therefore, if you take this exact team and add Jrue and subtract Harden, they don’t even get past the Raptors.

Harden was integral to beating the Pistons, no way would they have made the ECF without him

sounds about right

I thought Mitchell was supposed to be the engine?

There isn’t a team in NBA history that was one playoff choker away from a title.

Ooh that would have been an interesting move for us. I like his fit with us. Definitely could have used his 3p shooting but I’m not sure he’d elevate quite to the level that we would have needed him to, considering what Jrue provides for us outside the box score.

When you have the chance to get either harden or Jrue, choose the one who has been the missing piece on two separate title teams

I wonder if this was the big “splash move” at the deadline that almost happened El Cheapo keeps referring to. Some of the fanbase thought he was talking about Giannis but this makes more sense.

Yea, this was a very bad decision. Jrue struggled offensively in the 2022 and 2023 playoffs when he was forced to be the the primary ball handler AND primary on ball defender. In 2021 and 2024 when he wasn’t having to carry the ball handling responsibilities (Giannis and Khris were both doing that for most of the time and then Tatum and White helped on that in 2024), those teams won the whole damn thing.

The Cavs already had a ball dominant guard in Spida. The Cavs should’ve traded for Jrue. 100x over

Idk man I watched Jrue Holiday get absolutely abused by Jimmy Butler and people still hype him up like crazy. He was a really solid player back in the day but Jrue stinks.

And they were correct, as good as he has been for Portland

With that said, I still think it would’ve been the right move, because Mitchell could really use a defensive guard next to him if they were going to move off Garland

the following comment thread is pure AIDS, highly recommend just ignoring it

They were right

Why acquire a guard with a championship pedigree when you can acquire an all time playoff choker?

And harden is a reliable offensive engine in the playoffs??

Yea? Harden is a much more reliable scorer, even in the playoffs. And more reliable than Garland was too

Presumably Portland would have been adding assets, though maybe not signifcantly. Jrue is 7.5M cheaper next year with a player option the following year for 37.2 (probably similar or cheaper than what Harden will get)

ultimately

Why would Portland do that?

With Dame back next season and having Scooot, not sure why Por would be interested in Garland.

And they are right.

Holliday would have been a waaayy better fit.

I would have taken Jrue. If your team isn’t good enough to win with Jrue are you a real contender?

Harden is only valuable if he is your best player. Jrue is valuable if he’s not. Jrue is the right choice. If your team isn’t good enough to win with Jrue, you need to improve your team. Get rid of one of your bigs then. No reason to have duplicates.

Roster construction is as important as anything in championships. If your roster is constructed well enough, adding Harden is a bandaid not a solution. He isn’t a championship caliber number 1. May have never been one.

This always makes me think that your number 1 has to be a two way star or your roster has to be a few years behind in the Supermax to % ratio to win.

Look at the Warriors, they won when Stephs deal was small. Not saying it’s always like this but it’s certainly mostly this way. Your number 1(max contract) must be a two way player. Not just average on either end. They need to be above average on both ends.

That being said it is possible to win with your number 1 being average to below average on defense. It takes an insane roster around them. SGA, Jokic, Steph, Dirk, and Billups.

When they were number 1s they were able to win and not be above average on one end of the floor. When you look at their rosters. It’s very deep and well constructed. They also won when their contracts were friendly. (I assume don’t have time to look it up)

Let’s not trade for a two time champion and instead a career playoff choker.

They gave up on Darius too soon in my opinion. Dude could ball, he just struggled being the man behind DMitch. I think he was better off going to a team where he can be the man, I do not think he has a tremendously high ceiling, but there is little to no doubt that he would have served as an upgrade from Harden.

Ooof.

Why is it harden’s fault they traded for him?

Neither would have brought them over the hump anyway. What takes then to the next level is Mobley improving offensively

The article is paywalled so I can’t see, but did the blazers even offer/want to get off jrue?

He seems to be a big part of their plans there to instill a winning culture

This thread is a BBIQ test and … yeah.

“Defense wins championships” is a cliche and cliches exist for a reason.

You’d think a decade-plus of evidence would make some of y’all re-think your PPG supremacy but, nope. Points can lead Harden to the conference finals, but points can’t make him win.

Never forget that Rich Paul bragged about telling Garland that he will be traded a year before.

A great example of clients are at Klutch Sports disposal and not the other way around.

Foolish. James is a weird dude with nice skills.

Harden really had them humming in the regular season.

Portland fans kicking themselves rn

ive said it like a dozen times here but even with the benefit of hindsight, it never made sense for a team trying to make a deep playoff run to trade for a guy who historically struggles doing that. jrue probably would have been better for them

The Cavs wondered about Boston’s appetite for moving Derrick White

kma lmfao.

Damn, when the Cavs got eliminated I had a convo on either this sub or the Jazz sub about how a bigger defensive minded guard like Holiday would probably be the ideal fit for Donovan. Idk if it’d be enough to get them much further, especially with DMitch’s inconsistencies, but it for sure would’ve been a more interesting move than Harden imo.

“Ultimately settling for James Harden”

It should be worded like that

Cavs are just dumb.

Holiday provides on court and lockeroom leadership and was a lead guard on 2 championship teams…AND a top defender. A much more reliable playoff performer.

James is none of those. Cavs are too analytical for their own good and it costs them in many ways.

Man Jrue would have been so perfect for this team too wtf they high on in Cleveland?

What a bunch of boobs

fools