_Trade Harden? Which era do we return to: Yao Tmac era? JLin Hussle era? Steve Francis era? I guess with Less gone we can tank now That's it. Trade HARDEN and tank Tank for a leader. Rocket River
I think with an established system with a good coach like Rick Adeleman, a team led by Westbrook and Gordon possibly could touch 40 wins.
Very few people want to trade Harden. People who are criticizing Harden here are criticizing him from the perspective of ring or bust. If I accepted that this team is first or second round fodder and that Harden without an alpha to keep him in check will lead teams to decent regular season wins with no hope in the playoffs, then ya I would probably criticize him less. Yes, Harden has brought forth the best era of Rocket ball since Hakeem. Doesn't mean he doesn't have deep flaws in how he approaches the game. If I accept that we probably won't win a ring in this era, Sure I can enjoy routinely being a relevant team that makes the playoffs and enjoy watching regular season games but then again even that is becoming difficult. Watching this offensive system is just difficult to watch. Watching the same iso dribble plays over and over and over... I used to watch Rocket games so intentively, paying attention to every possession. Now a lot of times I just treat Rocket games as background noise because it's just boring to watch this team. It's boring to watch this team jack up 48 3pters a game and iso dribble all game long as some sort of genuine offensive system. Westbrook does inject some fun into watching the team though occasionally.
Might have to give Harden a few games off to recharge his batteries, record be damned. As it is, he looks spent, physically but especially mentally. Who knows, but this action might be just what the doctor ordered.
Why are we resting Russ all the time and not Harden? regardless of whether or not Russ plays, harden is playing 40 min and dribbling/isoing the entire time. there’s no logic, except that harden wants his stats
It doesn't help that Dantoni just forgot about the part of coaching where he figures out what the team does when iso dribbling isn't occuring. There is no offensive system in place where Dantoni can trust resting Harden. That's on Dantoni. When Harden is resting, the offense just turns into a bunch of far less offensively skilled players trying to iso.
Without him, you'd have money to surround Westbrook, Gordon and Capela with some other serviceable players. They'd win 45-50 games easily. Westbrook did that by himself a few years ago when the other best players on the team were an Oladipo he didn't mesh with, an offensive black hole in Andre Roberson, a still finding his offensive way Steven Adams, the ole defense of Enes Kanter, and a deadline acquisition of Taj Gibson. Inefficient stats or not, that's why he won the MVP that year. My concern for this year is whether Harden sulking is a sign he's not getting along with Westbrook now or if its the coaching or front office he's mad at. If it's Westbrook, they're in deep trouble. If it's the coach, they aren't going to get a lot better options - no established coach is going to want to come in an deal with two of the least coachable plyers in the league. If its the front office, outside of going into the tax, what they heck can they do. The asset closet is bare due to poor choices in pursuit of both tax avoidance and too-clever-by-a-half GM moves.
Also several high IQ switchable wing players. Hard to believe PJ used to be able to rotate with Ariza and Moute.
Well PJ is being run to the ground. It's not like we have a solid 7 ft back up center who could take some of PJ's back up center minutes. If we did, Dantoni would obviously play him right?
We miss Chris Paul's voice. Yes I know he's supposed to be washed and can't get by his man, but his voice was needed on this team. He held everyone accountable on both ends. He was loud, brash and annoying at times, but his passion and attention to detail were unmatched. I know that quite a few fans here think that leadership and heart are just make believe but they aren't. Those of us that really follow sports on any level know what it looks like. I hope that something positive comes out of the players only meeting. They apparently discussed "everything". Hopefully the lack of effort on defense was a priority. I don't blame Harden for his demeanor on the court. He is who he is. He's an offensive machine. It did help having CP, Trev, and Nene for that one magical season because they had strong voices, and help keep everyone in line. Russ does not have that type of voice, especially on the defensive end. He leads with his all out hustle and energy offensively, but he's not the type to get on teammates ass about missing assignments or failing to close out to an open shooter. MDA is a players coach. With the 17-18 roster he could sit back and let his vets keep everyone in line. They knew the system and gave the coaches what they needed on the court. Those vets are now either gone or too old, and they have been replaced with what we have now. Harden will be fine. Maybe the next coach can be the leader we need now that our roster lacks experience, maturity and talent. I can't blame Harden for this, because he was the same guy when were destroying the league a couple of years ago. Maybe trading for another enforcer to help him is the answer.
There's definitely some kind of voice missing where they could give no fcks about hurting peoples feelings if its all about winning. Whether you want to call that leadership or what not. doesn't really matter. every team needs someone like that if you want to win at a high level. There can't be a full collection of yes sir's. that will never work
lol you can coach your ass off but if you’re shooting 25% on wide open shots it doesn’t matter. Look what happened when Bmac hit a few threes. We need a consistent shooter period.
Asian Sensation wrote: "Quotes from The Never Ending Big Book of Harden’s Excuses by his delusional diehards. Coach’s fault, not enough help, maybe he’s injured, he looks tired, he’s out of gas, back to back game, leadership doesn’t matter, his teammates suck, league hates him, refs have an agenda, it’s just 1 game, his usage is crazy, cheap owner, he’s not getting calls, he needs more talent around him, he’s being double-teamed There’s always some rebuttal or excuse to deflect blame elsewhere for our failures.... anywhere, anything, anyone but absolutely not Harden. Never that. Anybody that holds Harden accountable for anything will be reminded of his next 50 point game, how we’re nothing without him and have their fanhoods questioned ..... usually followed by a personal insult." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great post! Couldn't have said it any better. Sometimes you can put things right in front of some peoples eyes... and yet... they still may not SEE IT.
I do not think so, this play of the team lately reflects badly on everyone. Never liked this - blind homer vs hater ....... there is always perspective. The team is not bad enough to draft someone special, not good enough to be a favorite. This is the kind of purgatory that is the most damning.
just saying on a pure-volume basis, there's a few posters here today that we don't usually hear from quite so much.
Over the last five games, fg 38-117 3pt 18-65 this guy is exhausted, injured, has to much pride to rest and always pays for it
