Yep...he's doing the melo thing and going home to play...Denver got like 5 players for melo...what can we get from LA?
A coaching change with the right mix of players can lead to a championship. A coaching change without the right mix of players will only lead to some improvements or system changes but it won't lead to a championship.
My theory is you can't come close to wining jack**** with a puppet head coach who can't coach offense, defense, rotations, anything and a GM who emphasizes a style of play on his lap dog.
If that's true, he needs to get over himself. Morey is not trading Harden with his bargain contract which runs for another 2 seasons after this one for anything on the Lakers or Clippers roster unless Doc makes Blake Griffin available which ain't happening.
At what point do you accept such a lousy attitude and alck of effort? I don't care if his shots are not falling, that happens. But to show total lack of effort, hustle and to just throw in the towel at the first sign of adversity is unacceptable My feeling is if Durant doesn't sign with Houston (and having Harden is the best chance of that happening no matter how small it is) and Harden continues the same effort / commitment or lack thereof, Morey will not be hesitant to look at potential deals.
The Rockets need to play better defense. But the bad defense is a symptom. The bad defense is the lack of effort. And the lack of effort stems from getting down/frustrated/pouting when the OFFENSE doesn't click. So fix the offense, fix the defense. The OFFENSE is basically the SAME offense from last year. Harden looks a lot slower (less explosive) and teams have caught up on how to defend his 1 on 1 play. The ONUS is on McHale and staff to DEVELOP an offensive system. They have FAILED to do this. They have FAILED to integrate Lawson and his talents to augment the Rockets offense. Getting Lawson, was supposed to reduce the TURNOVERS. They have not, and those turnovers lead to points the other way and lead to once again...the team down/frustrated/pouting. Again, develop a motion offense with more cutting, passing and moving the ball and trusting each other. And less 1 on 1 and heat check ball. Fix the offense, fix the defense. Benching Lawson in favor of Terry (or Bev when he gets back) to me is more about maximizing Lawson's game in the 2nd unit. By giving him more freedom to attack. He needs to get a lather. And being the "spot up guy" in a Harden 1 on 5 fest isn't ideal.
Crap. That's all they have crap. Russell Randle and Clarkson. B to C level prospects that won't amount to stars more likely. But I don't believe Harden is trying to force any trades. If he was there would be plenty of leaks from his agent. That's how this thing is done, first through "leaks" that put pressure to managment.
I don't quite see how having Lawson come off the bench makes that much of a difference. Harden plays 38mpg. Lawson 31mpg. There will still be significant overlap of their playing time. If the idea is that for those 10 mpg Harden sits Lawson will always be on the court, I guess it will put more of the ball in Ty's hands for 10 minutes, but seems it would be better to look at the larger portion of the game...
I'm not saying you never trade Harden, but to me that's an absolute last resort. He's spent his entire career under players' coaches like Scottie Brooks and Kevin McHale. Maybe it's time he was coached by someone much stricter who demands more out of him and holds him accountable. MJ and Kobe were great players before Phil Jackson arrived. Under his guidance, they became Hall of Famers with multiple championships. Does anyone think Tim Duncan would've won 4 1/2 titles under Bob Hill? Look at how hard Pop rode Tony Parker for years in order to mold him into a great PG. I think Harden desperately needs that right now. He's a great player, but he could be one of the best ever at his position with a little guidance which he's never gonna get from McHale. Hell, maybe his little temper tantrum to start the season is him subconsciously begging for that.
Game 6 was just running with who were hot, don't give me that as an example of McHale disciplining his star player.
What the team missing is the "glue", Parsons. Parsons can motivate/kiss up DH better than anyone else.
I have to disagree. Sitting your best player in an elimination playoff game is EXACTLY what disciplining a star looks like. Harden was on the bench for the whole 4th quarter, right? If we had lost, this board would have gone apeshiit over the move. Harden would have lost it. But we won and it was a good decision. People can find plenty of things to criticize McHale for but you can't say he never disciplined Harden. That was an elimination game!
Personally I don't think McHale sat Harden in that game to discipline him, he wasn't playing well and he went with the hot hands and the guys who were hustling at that time because nothing else was working. You don't discipline your star player in an elimination game IMO.
Great post, Deuce. Adding to the theme. 1. It feels to me like there's trust issues with Harden and the coaching staff on the defense. I'm not for sure just fixing the offense will fix that issue. Perhaps....perhaps...they started fixing it today. But if Lawson is telling the truth and not making up some bologna just to throw everybody off (players can and do do such things) then perhaps some of the defensive problem will work themselves out. 2. As to your point about bringing in Lawson to help with our turnover issues, that is the thing that is flying under the radar and needs to be emphasized. if we ain't gonna use him and his strengths to help us in one of our greatest weaknesses then pray tell why is he here?????? Surely....we didn't acquire him to be a 3&D guy, to try to do one of the things that he is worst at (defend) and another thing that he is average at (spot-up shooting) and eschew what he is best at (penetrating, dishing, taking care of the basketball). But that's exactly what we're doing...and then after Harden turns it over we got little Johnny (Ty) running back to defend in transition. Absolutely stupid. We did have this discussion before with Lin. The big difference with Lin though is Lin wasn't a low turnover guy. Lin was a great penetrator/disher but he was as high turnover as James. But Ty is different. He is a great penetrator/disher but very low turnover. Soooooooooo......the solution for the starting unit is to let Ty run the show from up top. Then you change the rotation. Let Harden go to the bench first for a breather. And when the opponent brings in their second unit...you run Harden back out there to chop them up and give Lawson a breather. Of the 2 players....Harden is the obvious choice to play off-the-ball. And if you can't find ways to exploit Harden in the triple threat off the ball after you've run pick-and-roll with TY, then I don't know what to say to you. You're not going to spread the floor any better for a pick-and-roll then to have Harden, Ariza, and Thornton all spotted up at the 3-point line and Lawson in pick-and-roll with Dwight. Who are they gonna leave to help???? They can't. Lawson will pick them apart and take care of the basketball to boot. Why in the world this hasn't happened is totally beyond me. 11 games in and we're still waiting for Lawson to be given the keys up top with James in the game. As to your point about the league adjusting, you're dead-on with that one too. They have adjusted. They have adjusted to James, collapsing on him and they've adjusted to leaving Ty and our other poor shooting power forward open. They just slough off and help and our offense gets gummed up. Lawson catches....can't drive. Has to shoot or swing it. Same thing with Terrence. Harrell doesn't even spot-up at the 3-point line. It's plum stupid. There's plenty of minutes in the game for Harden to run pick-and-roll up top with Dwight and Capela. And the way to get him off is to let him run the second unit when the opponent brings in their second unit. Oh....Lawson....another forgotten understated fact....he's very good at drawing fouls just like Harden. You wanna make hay?? Let Lawson get the opponent in foul trouble early in the quarter and then let them stare down the gun barrel at a fresh Harden running downhill at their bench players with them in the bonus. Just 2 seasons ago, Lawson's FTR was over 50%. The man knows how to play the point, distribute, finish, take care of the basketball and cause all sorts of problems for the defense in pick-and-roll action. Those are the ONLY THINGS he's excellent at. The rest of his game either totally sucks (defense) or he's average at (spot-up shooting). The player that needs to adjust the most is the team's best player. That's why it ultimately comes down to the best players doing their jobs. Everybody else has limitations. Harden has the ability to play off the ball and thrive at it. If he's gonna take 10 3's a game, he'd better take about 6 of those 3's spotted up, wide open, and catching and shooting off the Lawson penetration. Harden needs to understand and do what is best for this team to win. Otherwise get Lawson out of there altogether, bring in a true 3&D point guard to play alongside Harden...and go get us a backup point guard that can run the show for 15 minutes a night when Harden sits without paying that backup point guard $14 million. Because if all Lawson is is Harden's backup playmaker.....he for sure isn't worth no $14 million on this team.
Bbhollic is a smart dude when he sets down his t jones pitchfork and puts that witch hunt on hold, I likes that post
