When it's working, Morey ball is a blitzkrieg. When it's off or the officials are doing the Foster Brothers, the Rockets look absolutely clueless. Morey ball needs updating, the best shot is the shot that goes in, including mid-range. Brodie adapted i.e. limiting his threes and was lauded for curtailing an inefficient aspect of his game. Beard is extremely capable of reintegrating his lethal mid-range to his arsenal and limiting his threes when it's off. According to DM, Beard is the cerebral type, likes to discuss basketball etc., so what's missing?
From what I understand after hearing Morey and Dantoni discuss this stuff over years on interviews, podcasts, etc, is that they don't consider midrange to be a good shot unless you can shoot it near 50% or higher. Harden has been a 39%-43% midrange shooter even back when he was considered "deadly". He was never very good at it, percentage wise. I know it looked good and we remember it fondly, I'm just saying from a percentage standpoint, he has never been good at it. Not here to argue that he shouldn't take them, just trying to provide some info.
That's like saying a NFL team should always execute passing plays and never run the ball if they aren't great at running. NFL defenses would adjust and just blitz the qb all day.or drop all their LB out for coverage
I don’t care what we do as long as we win.... however, is the supporting cast good enough even if we add more mid range? Maybe it will help James, but our talent level around him will still be same. We have a couple of guys that play big minutes who have been awful most of the year. EGO was statistically, literally the worst player in the league early in the year and I’m not sure much has changed since. Pj gives us nothing far too often and his defense isn’t what it used to be. I love how he competes but it’s time to upgrade.
I wish somebody would ask him why he’s abandoned it. I wish somebody would ask him why it doesn’t even cross his mind. All the greatest scorers had a reliable midrange game. Harden has one, but acts like he doesn’t. Harden is a big guard. He should be getting easy mid-post catches and going to work. it could be a way for him to catch his rhythm when u see Harden warming up, he usually starts off with shooting a bunch of midrange jumpers...it’s not because he’s actually gonna take them in game because we all know he won’t...it’s to find a rhythm with his shot before he moves out to to the 3 point line Why he can’t he apply this same concept in-game?
After not taking them hardly in game for the past couple of seasons he's going to need an entire off-season of retraining the footwork he used to have in the mid range area.
The reason teams run the ball is because of the downs system in football. The goal on offense in football is not to get the most yards per play, the goal is to get first downs, and eventually touchdowns. You don't go for the most yards/play on 3rd and 1, you typically go for the play that has the highest probability of getting that first down. The goal on offense in basketball (outside of late game situations, or other specific scenarios) is to score the most points per play. The goals are completely different. If the goal on offense in football was to average the most yards per play, teams would run the ball much less, possibly never. As I said in my first post, I'm not arguing that Harden shouldn't take mid range shots. I just hate the comparison to running the ball in football.
So you are saying teams don't switch between run and pass plays to make defenses guess instead of hedging their bets on one type of play? Of course there are other reasons why teams run the ball such as trying to gain really short yardage. But that also is just A reason. There are multiple reasons and one of them is to make defenses not make easy predications and just have all their LBs drop in coverage. Right now NBA defenses allow Harden to freely operate in the mid range area while packing the paint. He's not even an explosive finisher anymore. That means the mid range game would be so useful for someone like him a la CP3 who also lost his explosion but having that mid range game makes defenses not hedge all their bets on guarding certain zones.
yep, not gonna happen. Instead Harden will keep jacking up those 3s until he gets traded or retire here.
No, I'm not saying that. This is undeniably a huge part of football. I'm just saying this possibility only exists because of the downs system. If the goal was to get the most yards per play (as it is in basketball) I don't think teams would run the ball to open up the passing game. There is merit to this. I have very mixed feelings on it.
Thats the part analytics cannot measure is how you setup your opponent . I don't mind all the threes if their good threes ut you need the midrange to sag the defense into the paint
Love the flashback video. Harden was crazy good in 2013. But he didn't face the same level of defense that he does now. He also doesn't get the same calls from refs. Even with that said, Harden's offensive production and offensive efficiency are both far than back then. Bottom line, if Harden played more like he did in 2013 he would score less and be less efficient. Harden doesn't even get space when he's 5 ft behind the three point line, so he wont get space or even single coverage inside the arc. Its weird that with all his 3pt bricks he actually only shoots 2 percentage points lower on 3's while attempting 6 more 3's a game. He actually shoots more 2pters now than he did in 2013 per game and makes a better percentage now that he has cut out those flashy midrange j's. I hate it when James bricks a bunch of 3's as much as anyone, but remember there were games when he bricked a lot of mid-range too. I think its crazy a guy is putting up better offensive numbers than prime Jordan and people are saying he should change his style. Maybe Mike should have moved his fadeaway to behind the arc and he would have been as good as Harden on offense.
He really is and it’s becoming more and more obvious this year specifically especially since he rarely moves without the ball. Hence my contention he is declining maybe not some radical falling off a cliff super obvious deal but he is very predictable now and teams are keying in this now more then ever
It’s crazy to me because RUSSELL didn’t let the “system” stop him from shooting midrange jumpers. Neither did Chris Paul. In don’t understand how he just completely took it out of his game. **** the analytics. That midrange has been open and he needs to take ‘em
