A fresh Harden is the key to our championship. Every summer he is gassed from carrying the team throughout the season as Chris Paul just had no durability. I think what Westbrook gives us is an ability to get easy buckets on fast break plays that saves legs and takes the pressure off of Harden. I think Westbrook wasn't as good as people thought he was and he's not nearly as bad as he's been talked about as well. Obviously we're all hopeful but having someone to carry the load during the season and get hard fast break buckets will save Harden's body as we enter the post-season immensely. If Westbrook can cut hard, rebound hard, defend hard and hit some shots to keep defenses pure, it will be a killer combo. Gordon, PJ and Harden are great three point shooters but Harden needs to up his ability to catch and shoot and play off the ball and slash which he did plenty in OKC. I trust D'Antoni to create systems for highly flexible players and pushing the tempo to maximize their skills. Capela lobs and running the floor, finding shooters, and Harden's continual evolution to most dynamic scorer we've seen in a generation I hope will pay dividends as the game is faster, more versatile and more dynamic than ever.
I absolutely hate it when James Harden brings the ball up Full Court for 42 minutes a night. The spins, crossover, sometimes turnover in the backcourt plus his laziness, or exhaustion in walking the ball up just annoys me. In the playoffs James Harden had a dribbling counter with Full Court dribble and ISO dribble, that can destroy himself. With Russell Westbrook thank goodness he will run the ball full court, just a faster dribbler in the full court than James Harden, James is more of a slow motion dribbler, slow spin, slow dribble in the Full Court. James Harden will save tons of energy by not bringing the ball up every possession, the playoffs are about having Star Players sharing the same scoring production, (30 points each) and lesser workload on James Harden, lesser Leadership role, Russell is a better Vocal Leader, Emotional Leader than James Harden.
I’m sure if you watched Westbrook you’d love the out of control dribbling, bad passes and horrible shot selection. Not to mention the missed layups and non-existing defense. With all the things you said about Harden we still somehow won 53 games, I’m just saying a 60/40 split is better with Harden handling 60% of the time. leadership is the most overrated argument in sports. Westbrook’s leadership has never gotten him crap just like CP3.
For defense why not incorporate Thibedeau's scheme? Westbrook is so athletic that he can be the steal first guy when any option to the middle of the court for the opposing team is obscured.
I don't know. When Pippen puts on his "basketball talking head" hat, my impulse is to check to see if I still have my wallet.
Since when did Beverly ever create shots for himself or anyone for that matter? He was a very capable spot up shooter from 3, but that's all the offense you'd get from him. Going on with the rest of your post, you're right about Russ. He's truly a star offensive player (who actually can create shots for himself) and a capable defender in stretches. His athleticism and size helps us overall. Also, the Francis comparison is intriguing. Not only is Francis the last pg we've had to compare numbers-wise to Russ, but their games are very similar in some regards, just like JVG has stated before.
I generally tend to agree with that. This is one of the few times what he said seemed like it might actually make sense. And coming from someone I don't think is a big Rockets fan...ie, his first instinct would probably be to say why it wouldn't work. So I looked a little more objectively at these.
Understand that position. Think it's a little different here. D'Antoni is the perfect coach for him, I think...at least coaches the perfect system for him. That also demonstrates that Westbrook is capable of adapting...he changed midway through. I think they'll both handle it a lot...but good to have another option who can. Rockets playing at a faster pace, at least sometimes, is a good thing. Also, having someone else who can drive to the basket is a good thing.
I just remember it being a massive struggle for Chris Paul to put points up on the board last year. Like it was a serious grind for the guy to get double digit points. When he did put up 20 or more points, which was rare, it was a very very very hard 20+ points. Not to mention all the time he missed due to injury. I think Westbrook will be a MASSIVE improvement and now that the Warriors dynasty seems to have ended, I think the Rockets should be the front runners to win it all this coming season.
Beverly is a low level shot creator (ie Lowry, Dragic, Lin etc). I was not insinuating that he was a preimer shot creator.
beverly isn't even in the same level as those as far as being a shot creator. he never was. he was here for his defense/intangibles and 3 pt shooter. nothing has changed for him
That's what he was needed to do. So if the Rockets, at the that time, needed Lowry to be a spot up/ defender, that's what his role would 've been. Beverly can create, just like Yao would create shots when he was in the paint. Creating isn't just crossing over. I like to think of it as breaking down your man then kicking out. Beverly, as his assist would suggest, is a capable creator but not a proficient creator.
its not that its what they needed him to do. its the only things he could do and still do. beverly has never been a game to game capable creator and still isn't. yao created shots bc he demands attention and extra men. that in no way is relative to beverly
If Harden gets injured, and WB has to carry the load.....spells problem. Those transition points and rebounding won't be enough.
We should let Westbrook carry the load in the regular season. That should get us at least 50 wins. Then, once the postseason starts, unleash the Beard. A 16 game rampage in the playoffs by a fresh Harden would be all we need.
Mm, I just don't think that title or category is part of his game. Spot-up shooter, agitator, on-ball defense, energy-guy, sure. But he very rarely ever initiated plays or created shots for others at any point of his career, unlike those you listed. Lowry and Dragic can make plays and create shots at a fairly high level and have done so for years, as evidenced by these past finals. However, Beverly always hands the ball off to another playmaker and spots up, albeit fairly well.
Could run the orginal team out there in 1st , and rest them in 2nd with this whole new team. Then in 3rd mix them, and come 4th you play whoever got game. 1st unit Harden Team : Rivers/Gordon/Harden/PJ/Capela Westbrook Team : Westbrook/Thabo/House/Anderson/Tyson Green(SG,SF)/Hartenstein(PF) - Fillers Thats your 12?
