Anyone else get the feeling Morey is building a similar version of that team... with younger healthier role players and stars filling the roster... or at least see some of the comparisons.. A lot of people didn't expect much from that team once TMac went out for good... and if it wasn't for another major injury they may have been in the Finals or perhaps even won it all... that team was cohesive.. pieces fit well or completed each other and they had dudes that hustled... Harden/TJones= AB/Scola... two mediocre to average defenders overcome by.. :grin: 3 plus defenders in the lineup with above average to elite caliber defense... Bev/Ariza/Dwight= Battier/Artest/Yao TJones&Dmo= Landry&Scola(I know... not as good, but they've got room to improve.) Ariza= Battier/Artest Dwight= Yao Dorsey= Chuck? Harden= Healthy perimeter star/TMac (broken down by that season) Bev/Canaan/Johnson= remember they weren't as good initially as they became especially Lowry. I know these aren't perfect parallels.... depth isn't quite the same, but if you recall some of those guys improved a lot from the season prior(08) to the following and made a big impact.... Hopefully we see something like that this season... Perhaps?
we always had a scrappy team that fought hard each game those years. Now add Harden and Howard to the mix, two guys we were missing from 2009, and the results will be drastically different.
You're grasping at straws. What made 09s squad so great wasn't just the blue collar players but also their underrated perception around the league. The phrase used all season long was a team greater than the sum of its parts. After the performance last season with two top 10ish players in the league, I don't think this team would ever get confused with that phrase.
Old video, but still a good video of the 09 team! <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9_PoLB8_cWw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Harden is still here. If they can get to the 2nd round, screw it if our roster does not look super luxurious as the Heat were with the Big 3.
Yao >> Dwight ScoLandry >> Jones/Dmo Artest>>Ariza TMac>Harden AB/Lowry>Beverly/Ish We're a watered down version of the 09 team
The classic problem with Yao and Tmac. A healthy version of each was better than out current duo... but... they weren't healthy. So we're in decent shape as long as Harden continues to improve mentally. If this team shows the work ethic and chemistry of the 09 team, I'll be optimistic. Its cliché, but hard work > talent when talent doesn't work hard.
