Just to address the weakest position the Rockets currently have, maybe have Harden move to PG? I see no reason James can't play PG. He practically already does, to finally own up to the accusation the LOFs had through the years that the team's real PG was Harden lol. However, I believe Papa's a better player and will be more productive than Prigioni(, though Prigioni's still serviceable, and maybe useful in special matchups) and it would be an improvement to give him minutes. Pap makes stupid mistakes but he's not raw. He's played organized BB before and his mistakes is owing more to NBA pace. He's young, has great size, and has shown skill in spurts. He's just to good to let him languish on the bench (y'know how McHale got it so wrong on Motiejunas). It's gonna be a gamble putting him in after such a long break, in the playoffs, but it's better to do it now than later. So this is a different approach to solving the PG issue.The long-held notion is that the Rockets should acquire a playmaking PG, which they tried to do by getting Dragic; but, ever since the acquisition of Brewer, arguably, the Rockets have had a glut at the wings. Papa's been the odd man out. Good news, however is that Brewer, unlike Trevor or Papa, can also play SG decently. Moving Harden into point, starting Brewer, moving Papanikolaou into the rotation while only playing Prigioni in certain matchups feels it will solve the PG issue and makes the team bigger, with Harden being the smallest guy at the starting line-up at 6'5. Proposed rotation: PG - Harden/Bev(when he gets back)/Terry/Prigioni SG - Brewer/Harden/Johnson/McDaniels SF - Ariza/Papanikolaou/Brewer PF - Smith/Jones C - Howard/Capela/Dorsey Didn't list Motiejunas since injured. Thoughts?
You already said it in your post, OP. Harden IS the PG. The whole SF/SG/PG classification really doesn't mean much in the NBA.
The NBA is typically just made up of Guards and Fowards now. The only difference is if the team was fortunate enough to have a Center (Dwight, Cousins, Jordan)
Actually, no. He holds the ball a lot but Prigioni, Terry still are technically the PGs and do bring the ball up, usually just to get it to James. So, what I'm saying is that they should just cut the middleman out and surround Harden with proper wings.
Brewer and smith are better off the bench That lineup actually takes away driving lanes cause teams will live with smith or brewer taking 3's over a 7 game series
Smith starting isn't really the main point of the post. I really just put him at starting because I think him and Dwight play really well together. I've seen enough passes between those guys but making the case that Smith should start is another topic entirely (though I guess we can talk about it).
In your proposed starting lineup Harden is the only dependable ballhandler, and please don't suggest Josh as one. You want another one just so you won't burden Harden with it for every trip up the court, you want where he can pick and choose when like in transition where he can attack the basket or feed others when doubled. It's the old argument with Kobe and MJ, and I know MJ did do it for a short stint, but PJ put a stop to that when he took over. I mean you have a supremely gifted offensive player (in MJ's case the best) and you want to burden him with bringing the ball up every time and initiating the offense?
You really don't want Brewer to bring the ball up and waste time and effort. If you want Harden to do it the whole game, you are insane.
I already addressed the topic of Smith in the starting lineup in another post above. I think Brewer's a decent ballhandler. All the PGs do is bring it up the court, anyway. None of them really penetrate. The SGs/SFs are just as good shooters. Where is this Terry that averages 19 ppg? But, no, Bev and Terry are interchangeable. In fact, it may be more appropriate to have Terry over Bev since it's questionable whether or not Bev will actually make it into the playoffs. It's a proposal for the playoffs, after all, that's why I didn't include Motiejunas who has no prospect of getting back in time for the playoffs. Anyway, I think too much has been made about Smith. Anyone at least share my sentiment that Pap should be given minutes?
Decent and dependable are 2 different things. Again you are burdening Harden with the bringing up the ball everytime, which you don't want your primary scorer to do. You bring up Curry, well the Warriors don't depend as much on Curry for scoring as the Rockets do with Harden. Curry may lead his team in scoring but Thompson is not far behind with 21pts per game. After harden's 27, the next Rocket is Dwight at 15.8 in this injury filled season. If the Warriors didn't have Thompson, I'm willing to bet they would alleviate Curry's ballhandling duties with someone like Livingston in the starting lineup. It's all about balance, and you are putting way too much on Harden's plate when you want him to concentrate on what he does best, which is produce points. Your best playmaker doesn't have to be your primary ballhandler. And you bring up Harden's size as an advantage at the pg, you really want Harden to chase around the quicker smaller pgs in the league? You can try to switch up with Brewer and Ariza getting the pgs, but I doubt they fare better against those matchups.
Harden != Curry Harden bringing up the ball every time is just bad. It will tire him out when they pressure him. What they have right now is fine. Thats why there will always be a PG to bring it up and then hand it off to Harden.
Steph Curry does it with an all star next to him. Starting Brewer and Smith would kill our perimeter shooting, kill our bench, and kill Harden. Dallas in 6.
Just to expound on this more, the core argument is that you already have a good SG that can play PG, the PG is by far the weakest link and you have a glut at the wings so it's best to maximize your assets by making the good SG the PG and giving one of the good wings minutes over the 39 yo PG that's, with all due respect, rather limited.
If your idea was actually good, it would have been done already. In fact in certain times of the game Harden is the primary ballhandler. But to do it over the majority of the game and think it will lead to success is NBA2k videogame thinking. Let Harden do his job and stop overstuffing his plate. I mean, you really think Morey and McHale will actually want/have actually thought about Harden being the starting PG and build the team that way in the future?
What glut? We don't have a glut at the wings. Harden/Ariza/Brewer. That's it. Papanikolaou isn't a rotation player at this point on a contending team. Prigioni can be and he fills a need, particularly if he can shoot his way out of his slump.
Prigioni? Really? What other team would take him in? We're forced to play him because of Beverley. You can make the same argument for Papa if he was on another team and their starter got injured. But I disagree, I think Papa is good.
