[ESPN Zache Lowe] Ten things I like and don't like, including Chris Paul playing fast

Where are the folks who claim Lowe hates the Rockets? Are they ready to admit they were wrong or will they persist in whining about fake things?

 

Yeah, not sure where that idea comes from, Lowe is actually one of the few guys who says/writes good thing about the Rockets most of the times, if you expect him to says only good things or if you think he's a hater just because he went with Leonard for the MVP well...

 

INB4 complaints about whiners in regard to Zach Lowe.

#MediaConspiracy

 

Rockets are getting a ton of pub.

 

I love Zach Lowe, but I'll never forgive him for leaving Harden off of All-NBA teams two years ago.

 

I can see Lowe debating the alternative defense to that play.

"OK, I'm dribbling fast. Look at me go! Oh, here's Clint setting me a screen 35 feet from the hoop. My guy is fighting to go over! Wait, there's an ocean of space opening up, now, as Clint's man is late and everyone is on a shooter. I know what to do here. OK, I'm dribbling fast. Look at me go!"​

 

He puts thought into his selections, probably more than anyone else, which is all I care about. He doesn't need forgiveness.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/15198958/nba-awards-ballot-part-2

With apologies to a bunch of dudes -- Isaiah Thomas, DeMar DeRozan, Jimmy Butler, J.J. Redick, Khris Middleton, Kemba Walker, Reggie Jacksonand others -- the final two guard spots came down to Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, John Wall and James Harden. Wall's work was probably underappreciated, even with the Wizards collapsing into the lottery. He hit 3-pointers at a league-average rate, and dragged an injury-riddled, overrated supporting cast as far as he could.

But his shooting from inside the arc dropped off, and he didn't bring the same intensity on defense as he did last season.

Harden was a tougher cut, especially with Houston eking out a playoff spot thanks mostly to Utah gagging a couple winnable late-season games. Harden does everything for a broken Rockets offense. He's derided as some sort of bearded clown, but clowns don't play 82 games and lead the league in minutes -- a ridiculous, unsustainable load that contributed to his drop-off on defense. He edged Lillard for a spot on my All-Star roster just two months ago.

But over those two months, Portland surged, while Houston continued spinning in mud, a miserable group loafing through entire halves of basketball. Even during their late-season playoff "push," they lost to the freaking Bulls and Suns at home, and let the pitiful Lakers hang around for 40 minutes.

Losing and melodrama sapped this team's spirit. Harden didn't poison Houston's culture, but he also did nothing to mend it. He showed up out of shape, in part due to a lingering injury, lazed through defense, and too often froze Houston's offense after one action. He's a great passer, but too many of his passes -- even his assists -- come late in the shot clock, after a double team locks him in jail.

Thompson blazed from January through March, and blows Harden away on defense. The Rockets would be worse if you flipped them, and shoe-horned Thompson into Harden's grueling No. 1 option role, but Houston is a mediocrity as is. In a coin flip, I have no problem defaulting to the team that just won 73 freaking games.
​

 

Yes and his reasoning was hot garbage. Really really bad. His reasoning based on this narrative is why awards voting in the NBA is so bad. I expect a lot more out of Zach Lowe than this Skip Bayless hot take.

 

The power couple look so happy.

 

zach has always been a harden defender. but hated us when dwight was here ( for good reason)

 

This will kill us.

 

This. ^ "I'll never forgive him" is a little harsh; maybe hyperbolic? "I'll never forget" is more like it for me.

I generally go along with Zach Lowe, but his attitude toward Harden is jacked up, and the only reason he's showing our team any love now is akin to us having a CP3OF.

The "Harden Rule" might as well have been called the "Zach Lowe" Rule. Sorry to all the purists who hate seeing their favorite players made foolish by James Harden.

 

So you'd be totally cool with a player drawing those kind of fouls routinely if his team wasn't the Rockets? That the player is the star of our team doesn't play into it at all? I find that hard to believe.

As for Lowe's distaste for Harden's exploitation of the rulebook, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.. We should expect others to accept that the rulebook needs to be adhered to in a consistent fashion. Not that they have to like aspects of the rulebook that can be exploited in a "cheat code" manner.

 

Lowe himself was never the issue.

I've addressed this on here before, the issue is Lowe's BFF Kevin Arnovitz who hates Harden. Arnovitz and Lowe do podcasts together regularly and Arnovitz pumps his sly anti Harden rhetoric.

 

And yet Arnovitz (and Lowe) put him ahead of Westbrook, LeBron James, and Steph Curry in his MVP vote last year ...

Seems to me that its more about them valuing defensive skill / effort in individual evaluations rather than "hating" on Harden.

 

Interesting point about switching on defense causing mismatches on offense after a miss. Of course I've seen it, but never really thought about it as *strategy*. Huh.

 

They’re just hooping bro...

 

lmao he had a whole segment last year on how Harden was the best PG in the NBA.

 

Yeah, that's not true though. I'm subscribed to The Lowe Post and have listened to more than a few Lowe/Arnovitz podcasts and such "rhetoric" does not exist.

It's a stretch to link to a single tweet from 2014 that got 36 likes as evidence for widespread anti Rockets bias. I mean, come on. That's silly. And hell, even if Arnovitz doesn't care for Harden's style - who cares??? Bill Simmons, for example, criticizes Westbrook's playing style. Is that evidence for a widespread anti Thunder bias? Of course not.