http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/rockets-open-season-style-night-dazzling-debuts I think the above is a great piece by Jason with a great quote from Morey reflecting how it feels to watch the newcomers last night. Harden, Asik, Lin, Delfino and Smith all really did their bleeping jobs very bleeping well.
One of these days Morey is going to be kicked out of an arena during a game, and it will be hilarious. All three high-profile picks ups looked good yesterday. I haven't been this excited about the team in some time.
I want there to be a documentary about Daryl Morey with ample game footage of him if this is what he's like.
Yes that's why we have Morey...To trade away valuable picks, most talented players(Lamb) and doom Rockets to mediocrity.
So all the other praise in the article has been shared and repeated by many on this board. These quotes however were really interesting to me and good reads. Very good praise for Harden from Prince. Those kind of quotes from NBA players are the kind of things you like to see. The players in the NBA know that the "Harden got his numbers against backups" meme is bogus. The quote from Frank was also good. The rest of the guys on the team played well when he tried to take Harden out of the game.
The Vegas footage of him seems appropriate to put here. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PRj4YdMqW_8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Yeah the backup thing was silly. As if teams sub out 5 starters at a time, any one who said that I have to seriously question how much NBA they watch. Especially considering that Harden finished games with the Thunder and thus played against the opposing teams best players and also hot players for that night. Detroit is not a horrible team either, bottom 10 team sure...but they are not a team you sleep on. They have a really great young front court though.
Wow I just realized our entire lineup that put the game away in the 4th wasn't even on the team last year.
I sat right above the player tunnels with a friend on Martin Luther King Jr Day 2010. Morey had to remove himself from the arena after becoming upset that the team was struggling to beat the Milwaukee Bucks. He was dropping several F-bombs and was extremely pissed off, then he proceeded to shove a guy who we thought was an usher at the time, later it was confirmed to be Gersson Rosas.
It has been since a healthy Yao that this team has excited me as much. Harden and Lin work very well together after two days together. I think it will be very hard for Harden to keep his energy level that high. He takes very few stupid long threes. He seems to either be at the rim or behind the arc.
The important thing to know is that Harden will only be as good as the "others" allow him to be on a regular basis. Meaning, the other 4 players on the court with him need to be able to knock down 3's consistently, and Lin/Parsons need to be able to continue to drive into the painted area, draw in the defense enough to create open looks for Harden. -Asik, is going to keep doing what he's doing. He's is (bleeping) solid, and is going to be a very irreplaceable part of this team. That being said, Smith/Patterson/Aldrich/Jones or someone has to really step up their game and "Play Big" when Asik isn't out there as Bill Worrell would say. Also, the bench must improve dramatically from what we saw last night. They need someone who can facilitate the offense when Harden/Lin are off the court. I do not think Royce White is capable of that right now IMO. So before people start clamming away about how McHale is holding him back, realize that he's nowhere near ready to get that kind of role on this team. -I look for McHale to try and use Parsons more with the 2nd team and allow him to really facilitate the offense. Parsons is going to be much better in the future, and I have confidence in him running the show. Still, they are going to need somebody to really step up.
