[CBS SPORTS] Great article about CP3's fit on Rockets

Whether that actually works is the question, but D'Antoni notes that Paul's versatility will help him thrive next to Harden.

"He's great on and off-ball, and off-ball is James' natural position," D'Antoni said.

 

Golden state's planet revolves around a different sun/star?

 

Off-ball Harden or playoff HArden which is better?

 

It's going to be very weird to see James play off ball after pounding the air out of it for the last couple of seasons. I'm so curious to see this happen. I think it's for the best, but I still just don't believe it.

 

The quote from DAntoni just reads odd to me. The beauty of CP3 is that he can play on and off the ball, and we saw how effective Harden was as point guard. I feel like he should have said that James' natural partner should be playing off the ball. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it (it's been a long day).

 

Still waiting to see some off-ball effort from Harden...

 

Who else was going to run the offense? Bev? We had no choice, if we wanted to be successful. Now we have Chris freaking Paul who can run the offense. Harden can play off the ball and play his role last year when CP3's on the bench. Why won't it work?

 

CP3 is going to average about 15 assists per game next year ... Maybe even 20!

 

Not going to happen unless Harden let him control the ball as much as harden did last year. even then it's still nearly impossible

 

CP3's is the point god. that's his natural position. He has elite ATO%. As good as he is off-ball, Harden is better.

Harden's natural position is SG. He was elite at it. As good as he is as PG last year, CP3 is better.

I guess all MDA is saying CP3 will be brining up the ball and initiating/directing the offense more often than Harden when they're together on the court.

 

see what happened the last time harden played with elite playmakers like durant and WB?

 

It's gonna be fun watching the pair play together. The whole league will be watching the Rockets to see how it turns out. I hope they'll be watching an offensive juggernaut, with a Rockets defense cranked up a notch. That's what I'm expecting, given luck with that which must not be named. Yeah, it's gonna be fun!

 

It's crazy that almost every article I read about the Rockets no matter how positive it may be always finds a way to **** on Harden's defensive effort. I don't think he will ever shake the perception that he is a terrible defender no matter what he does.

 

media conspiracy

 

great read

 

It's not just "perception" - Harden really is that bad on defense. His poor defensive play is the result of a combination of poor effort mixed with his total lack of defensive awareness (mostly due to his tendency to ball watch and lose track of his man). Add to that our team's practice of switching everything (which teams exploit by using Harden's man as a picker) often leaves him at a disadvantage, and you have a superstar who consistently performs terribly on defense.

I wonder how James would do with a defensive "coach on the floor" like Battier. Beverley and Ariza are great perimeter defenders, but I don't think they vocally directed the defense the way Battier did. Perhaps Paul will do this, and if so, we might see some smarter defense by Harden. But I'd be surprised to see Harden play any harder on defense.

 

I think the biggest problem is not that James can't play off ball. It's the lack of trust he had in the teammates he shared the ball with, especially when the game got intensified. I remember the time when he forced himself to give up the ball to Lawson until he realized that Lawson sucked and can't help them wining. I saw he played off ball pretty well with Irving and Curry, he is smart enough to move to the right position for C&S or cut. CP3 is another player he could/should trust.

 

It's gonna be Like Lebron and Irving the last few years. Whoever gets the ball or is closer to the rebounder will grab it and go.

But I expect out of bounds after scored cp3 will bring the ball up 75% of the time.

Harden is still gonna get 12 min of pg play every game when he doesn't share the court with cp3.

I expect cp3 to play an extended version of bev rotation with him coming out At the 6 min mark and and harden staying in the rest of the 1st and than cp3 playing with Gordon for the first 4-6 min of the 2nd with harden on the bench.

I'm curious to see how MDA staggers harden and cp3 while also giving them a lot of time on the court together.

And if we get melo I expect even more rest for the big three but also staggered minutes were prob only harden will ever play by Himself since he's the youngest. But Melo imo will always be on the court with either cp3 harden or both.

 

I think CP3 will play off ball quite a bit. Harden will do it at least 1/3 of the time.