Feigen: Rockets want Melo off the bench, may sign with Miami

I mean, you had the opportunity to sign back Ariza and Moute. Defense doesn't go 0-27. I think it's well past time that at least we, as Rockets fans and followers, stop perpetuating the Harden-is-bad-at-defense myth. He was not a liability last year. Melo isn’t going to win dpoy but he might average 20+ points a game. Harden, paul, Gordon, Melo, Capela can average 100 a game on their own.

 

If they keep Melo owner would pay 150m tax.If they get rid of him they would save 107m in tax. Is Melo worth 107m this year?

 

The Nets want draft picks.

 

I think it is alot more than that .... 107m in tax sure does buy alot of booze cocaine and hookers.....

 

actually no. if you want to be a great defensive team thats just what you need to surround Harden with. take it however you like. couldn't care less whether its a knock on him or not. the actually team as a whole is what matters

 

You’re starting lineup is CP3, Harden, Melo, Tucker, Capela. I don’t see how that’s such a negative defense that averaging 125 points a game isn’t worth it.

 

reality will set in soon if the rockets do grab melo, but i expect the rockets are smart enough to know theyre going to limit the minutes melo and harden play together. its not like this hasn't been brought up in countless conversations.

taking that bench role hell need to take should tell a rational person enough. 0 chance of beating GS if your team's defense isn't top level

 

In the wise words of JVG: "You gotta have bulldogs and knifefighters around your offensive superstars"

I truly hope that James Ennis is another one of those bastards we can stick in there to piss people off.

 

It's kind of funny (or sad depending on how you look at it) that you have to give up picks to trade Carmelo Anthony for Jeremy Lin. Can you imagine this happening just a year ago?

 

Yeah, in that starting 5 you have 3 solid defenders and 1 average. 1 out 5 being below average doesn’t make the whole team awful, particularly not in a switching scheme. This isn’t 1978.

The reality of Melo being a much better shooter than Ariza seems to be escaping you.

 

Can this hurry up and happen already.

 

its just crazy how this exact crap happened last year.. Waiting waiting (Crazy)

 

But is he really that much better a shooter than Ariza? He's been a 35% shooter over the last 4 years, and he had a ton of great looks last season.

People act like he's a great shooter, and he's not. He's much more in the McGrady high volume mold.

The whole point of a switch everything defense is having no weak links that can be perpetually attacked, so yes one below average defender is a big deal. The same way having Anderson in the game last year was immediately exposed.

 

That Anderson thing was only against the Warriors in literally game 7 when he hasn't played for like a month, getting torched by Curry 1 v 1 is not exposing anyone. We were fine all season with Anderson in the line up.

Melo will help in different ways on offense because Ariza is an automatic turnover when he dribbles more than twice.

 

If Melo killed the pull up 3s his 3P% would be much better. He's a much better offensive threat than Ariza in all facets.

However yes he's a volume guy which should be fine in Houston rather than OKC.

He also didn't get a ton of great looks last season, I have no idea what you saw.

 

the reality is you're disregarding defense and thinking that offense is just going to be dramatically better. he isn't even a better shooter then ariza. he just has added ways of scoring compared to him. And even then he's dropped off significantly with his decline. huge difference.

you're fooled into thinking harden morphed into something he isn't. its a product of being able to hide him in a much better scheme and situation. but i just have to keep remembering defense isn't really a strong suit on this board. if you're fine with a mediocre defense thats you. that's not going to cut it against GS.

this isn't a video game. it isn't 1978. really. melo is 34 not 24.

 

amazing how people pluck things out of the sky around here. they're clowning on ariza's shooting in the playoffs when they're trying to make a case for melo who shot even worse. the irony

 

We would be fine this season with Anderson in the lineup. We aren't worried about the regular season. Literally the only reason that series with GS was competitive was because we put zero attackable weak points on the floor for any sustained periods.Unless Carmelo shows much, much better defensive intensity than he literally ever has, he will be a liability against the Warriors.

Offensively, his entire career he's been an iso player, and here he will just be taking iso's away from 2 players that are better at it. He has also never been a consistent knock down shooter like people think he has.

He's never functioned in a system beyond isolation, and he's never committed to defense. Forgive some of us for being skeptical that the things we need him to do are things he never has.