Huh? Harden running the team is part of the reason for our disappointing 1st round exit. We need a point guard to run the offense and slow the tempo when things get out of hand. Example, had we had Rondo handling the rock instead of Lin, we win 2 of those games easily. Those idiotic turnovers towards the end of games won't happen with a elite PG. Collison ain't elite though
If we can get an elite PG to run the offense, it will reduce the team's reliance on Harden and enable Morey to trade him for Kevin Love.
As long as James Harden is a Rocket he will dominate the ball. Yes it would be better if he didn't do it as much, but it doesn't matter because it's never going to change. Just like Howard is keep going to demand touches in the post, Harden is going to demand ISO's. The organization can do nothing about it because for a team like ours to have these two guys is a blessing. What we can do is supplement them with the type of players our core needs to maximize their talents. Howard is a great post player. Harden is an even better ISO player. Howard can't hit FT's. Harden can't play D. This is what we have, and we have to build around it rather than waste time squabbling over it the last 3 years of our window to win a championship. It would be beautiful if Dwight decided to play more PnR and Harden decided to play D and take more of his shots non-ISO. Let's be realistic - the number of times players have shifted gears like that in these circumstances is rare as f***. So right now what we really don't need is a guy to come in and need to dominate the ball like Rajon Rondo, who wasted a year of Celtics' possible title contention because he believes that as long as he holds the ball the team is better off. We definitely don't need to pay that guy max money when what we really need is Patrick Beverley, and someone off the bench who fits well with the second unit. We don't need a starter who wastes a year or two of our window because Dwight freaking Howard and James freaking Harden should learn to tweak their games. We don't have the coach to get it done quick, and we don't have the veteran team to adjust to it quick. So instead of dicking around for what is potentially one of the last times this organization will have two players who are best at their postition, let's accept some of their flaws and maximize their potential to win a championship. Even on the most selfless day for Harden and Howard, we do not need a pass first PG in the starting line up and we do not need to pay that player the max. We would like it on the team for the right price, sure. But do we need it more than a compatible PF? A compatibel PG? A defensive SG/SF? No, we really really don't. Because if we want a selfless guy who can create offense, we have an awesome player called Jeremy Lin who is among the fastest players in the league and dominant in the PnR. How's that working out for us? Now imagine if Lin was more passive and worse at hitting from 3pt range but played better D. Is that going to be the difference for us? We need to be wiping the floor with our first round opponents. It's not Lillard's 3 that killed us, it's Aldridge's 40+ pts in the first two games and the lack of a bench to take advantage of Portland's weak bench. It was Chandler Parsons guarding Lillard btw, not even Jeremy Lin or Pat Bev.
