And water is wet, what's your point? He is not elite, and he does not possess the skill set to play with a big man, like Asik. He may be competent in the post, but at what cost? Houston's speed. it would be different if we had Dwight Howard or someone of that ilk, but Jefferson is not that guy. And even if you do argue that he does possess that skill set, he's obviously not at a high enough of a level of as a player to warrant Houston stymying their high-octane offense for.
So you would change our offense for Dwight Howard but not Al Jefferson despite the fact that Jefferson is a far superior offensive player? Ok...
You balked when I compared Jefferson's post effectiveness to that of Dirk and KG. I was simply showing you that the comparison wasn't as crazy as you thought. Out of curiosity, what skill set is necessary to play with Asik?
I keep telling you that up-tempo offenses don't win championships, and you either ignore it or bring up Lebron and the Heat. Last time I checked, Lebron wasn't on our roster. So if our goal is to win a championship, we need to prepare for the playoffs when the game slows down.
Yes, but you'r getting a little too detailed. I believe, the rockets might change there system for a superstar. I don't belive they'l change it for a borderline allstar that completely disrupts the offense built around harden. Meantime...smith is also a borderline allstar, but he on the other hand fits with the offense built around harden pretty well. Smith>Jefferson for us.
SEE ALL ABOVE Smith is more of an all-star going forward and need filler than Jefferson. Go take a look at Harden's face in the post-practice video/interview when he was refering to what T-rob brings (aggression, rebounding, running the floor, etc.). Harden was excited about having those elements and said that it was something that they did not have and needed. Is T-rob ready to meet that need, thats yet to be seen, but J. Smith is that already and more. Its flat out a team need (even with T-Rob) and a desire of the best player and coach (see McHale's post-practice interview). J Smith is the only AVAILABLE player that can bring that. NOT JEFFERSON. I can see Jefferson going to a team like the Spurs though.
Do not confuse a player's politically correct statement with their actual opinion. It is like Morey saying that at the last draft he was trying to move up and get Robinson. Not.
Just about everything you said is wrong. It's pretty clear I'm not going to change anyone's mind, but I can take comfort in knowing that Morey understands the importance of a post game. There's a reason we went after Gasol and Nene.
This is getting exasperating, but I will indulge you a bit more since I started this. First off, I "balked" because Al Jefferson is no where near the level as players as Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett. He may have a specialty in the post, but that's about all he does at a high level. Can he play on the perimeter or stretch the floor like Dirk or KG? Can he play on the high post like Dirk or KG? The answer is an unequivocal NO As for what skill set you need to play with a guy like Asik, you need someone who can play on the high post and do it at a high level. And even then, the only reason to do this would be if we changed the system to a half court set. Which we should not and will not do because we are playing around our superstar's strengths. And you keep mentioning that Al Jefferson is light years ahead of Dwight in the post, but where Dwight lacks a natural offensive game, he more than makes up for with his Dominant defense and athleticism, this is pre-injury of course, hopefully you get the gist. Jeez
That was way before he had aquired harden though, the player the offensive system and team is being built around. Don't look now, but D-Mo is starting tomorrow. Maybe we already have your beloved post presence in the making
That was before Harden and the new Space and Pace offense. And thank the gods (and Stern) that trade & direction did not pan out.
Like I've already said, a pure uptempo style won't win a championship (unless we have Lebron James or Magic Johnson). In the playoffs, the game slows down, and when that happens, you need to have an effective half court offense.
Yeah, except I've been a Rockets fan since the late 80's, and I've never stopped posting since I joined Clutchfans. But don't feel bad. Everything else you said is spot on.
The beautiful thing about Harden's game is that he's so good that he can thrive in an uptempo system or a half court set, because of his ability to shoot and play the pick and roll at an elite level. The only reason I am against going that route is because as constituted, we do not possess the pieces to play the half court system at a high level. The only effective way to do that would be to find an elite power forward who can dominate in a multitude of ways. The last thing we need is a rotation role player or a specialist. So if we don't possess the pieces, the next best move is to find someone who can immediately bolster this teams ability to play fast. If we landed Smitty, we could be the modern day Phoenix suns, but with this extra wrinkle: we'd have an elite interior defense and we'd have a superstar who could get to the free throw line whenever he wanted.
James Harden has not proven himself to be an elite pick and roll player. You need to accept the fact that Josh Smith is not an elite power forward. Not even close. Sure, he's great on defense, but in terms of the total package, he's above average. Not elite. And he's never even been an all-star which is pretty damning considering his game is all about flash. You've repeatedly stated that the Rockets would be a top 4 seed with Smith. If he makes that much of an impact, why haven't the Hawks been able to consistently get a top 4 seed in the weaker eastern conference? They had Horford, Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, and Teague. If you look at his advanced stats, they're underwhelming. A PER of 17.7? Not elite. Offensive win shares of -0.3? Laughable. The problem with this "next best move" is that it will cost a lot and won't bring us significantly closer to winning a championship. Instead of improving areas where we're already strong, we should be improving areas of weakness. We'd be an inferior version of the Suns. The Suns were so effective b/c their pick and roll featured Nash and Amare. We don't have anyone close to Nash's caliber, and Amare is a significantly better finisher than Smith b/c of his ability to shoot the mid-range jumper.
I take comfort in knowing that Morey likely won't be going after a player that has seen his best days pass him by which is the case for Jefferson. I am not a Josh Smith fan at all but I would gladly take him over Jefferson at this point.
For the money, and for this team _ D-Mo, Robinson, and Jones are a better option. I think the Rockets should stick with what they got and wait to spend that money on a truly elite player which Jefferson and Smith are not... Or try to keep gathering assets so they can trade for LMA or Love, or maybe LeBron may want to team up with Harden.
I think it depends on the guy... maybe I'm off base, but he doesn't seem like a Jerry Rice type of hard worker, so its certainly possible that he starts to tail off physically at 29-30...and once that process starts, he is screwed. Throw in a couple soft tissue injuries and this guy will be garbage. Now if he's a harder worker than I'm giving him credit for AND stays healthy, I could be wrong. But I don't want to take that gamble for anything more than $8M per year...and that contract ain't happening.
