Unless said "ballhog" was doing a scrub (we will use the name La Lakota) and his team a huge favor by not passing the ball to human turnover machine.
While I take what Robert Reid says with a grain of salt, he took that year off for religious reasons. He comes from a very strict Pentecostal family. The NBA lifestyle was in direct conflict with his families beliefs. That's a legitimate reason to step away and think things over.
Is Harden a loner? Yup. Is he not a team player? Maybe. Does anyone outside the Rockets organization actually understand what's going on to a full extent? Not really. Don't throw out Reid's comments entirely, but take them with some salt here. I think talent and winning could fix a lot of the issues this team has, but yes, Harden does have some underlying ones as well. That's why this team is interviewing everyone under the sun for a coach. Heck, I heard DD might get a call next week. Don't expect a Thibs like deal though.
I know people who knew him back then. yeah, some direct conflicts that he willingly chose to engage in that others wisely stayed away from. He was about that lifestyle same as Harden. Harden would get roasted if he quit like that, bible thumper or not
It was Rudy T who convinced Hakeem to trust his teammates, kicking out to the shooters when he was doubled or tripled in the post. That was when the Rockets won big. Using your best offensive player to create offense for the team is a common practice. It is how you move the ball when your best player draws the defense that makes a difference.
It doesn't matter whether you like Harden or Reid. Your statement is extremely ignorant and biased. First, you are equating Reid's religious belief to "bible thumper" without even knowing the guy personally. Second, your are equating a lifestyle based on the desire of undisciplined pleasure to a lifestyle based on religious discipline. But this is the stuff for the D&D, for which I have no stomach. BTW, regardless of whether Reid should or should not make negative comments about Harden, Reid was one of the most disciplined defenders the Rockets ever had. He was on par with guys like Shane Battier. While he wasn't an elite basketball talent, he was the ultimate role player who was willing to do whatever the team needed him.
No, because that doesn't account for him not moving his body or the ball, or playing defense. JBB implemented nothing, as he held no one accountable. DD
Holy ****.... Are you for real? There is 1 guy in here trying to give some of you people,who literally just spout off incorrect bull**** post after post after post, some knowledge. And the response to your bull**** being rightfully called out for being horribly wrong is that? Good god.
Attacking Reid personally isn't convincing to me. It's pretty telling that ex Rockets are coming out and criticizing Harden like this
Look man, I have no problem with someone quoting factual info... I can do without the snide remarks, like: "If you think Iverson's game and Harden's are remotely similar then you either didn't watch Iverson or you don't understand basketball." followed by: "Ok, so you've now answered the first question...you obviously didn't see Iverson play. Iverson was a FT machine. He was routinely right at 10 ft per game. Iverson was also a high turnover guy too." ....Actually, I've been watching basketball since Phi Slama Jama and watched Iversons career... and I would say the ball dominance/useage rate was right in line... thanks for adding that they both had high turnovers and lived at the ft line... If you want to state facts - that's fine... but do it without the 'here are the numbers - so you're an idiot' tone... data can be interepted any number of ways and stats don't exist in a vacuum... followed by more snide remarks: "Interesting that you're trying to count Harden's turnovers as shots though. That makes a lot of sense. Do you not understand the difference between a pass or a shot? I guess you've now answered the 2nd question too." ....simply stating that hardens turnovers should be factored in to his productivity - once again, stats are not in a vacuum... continue on with snideness... "I apologize for quoting facts, I know you don't care for them." and some more... "Do you realize that nobody in the league even averages a single and1 per game? So your huge issue is something that happens at best less than once per game. Way to focus on the important stuff. The FT for a guy like Harden is equivalent to 86% FG%. No other shots even come close to that kind of efficiency. Maybe that's why Harden tries to rack up FTs... he understands math." ...so because nobody in the league averages a +1 per game, harden shouldn't try to finish at the rim? I don't see the logic there... and thank you, I understand math just fine... Now look, I'll be the first to admit that I get pissed and will spout off about Harden or whatever... but I don't feel the need to belittle and insult other posters who I am having an exchange with.... Look back, Deckard and I disagreed - and we were both civil about it... People would be far more receptive to the information you are offering, if you did not deliver it in such an attakative fashion... fwiw...
...and I looked it up and you are correct - Harden did get more +1 opportunities this year than last... I stand corrected.
Playing with Moses, Hakeem and Sampson probably had something more to do with success than Robert Reid. I think everyone can agree with that. Tony Kucok was a very good player, but no one is crediting him for any Bulls championships. Reid was a very good player, but he was never relied on like Harden is. So his comments are coming from a place he hasn't experienced. I agree with most of this, but Harden's defense was better in 2014-2015 than this year. His defense put him in the MVP conversation. It was missing this year. I think you are confusing how long Harden holds the ball with when he holds it. He frequently had his hands on the ball within 2 seconds of the shot clock expiring. It almost always led to a bad shot. That's not the same thing as taking the air out of the ball. Turnovers, defense, and late shot clock management are his weakness. Not ball hogging. I think a good coach will fix all of this with some offensive plays and developing a style on both ends. There has been no responsibility out there for several years now, but this year it finally stopped working. Teams figured out the Rockets offense and defense. The next coach will be responsible for straightening one or both sides out. I really don't understand how everyone is so focused on Harden right now when a commitment to playing as a team is the only thing that fixes any of this. The same team that saw the floor all year could be a championship team if they were committed to the game and each other. The next coach should come in and talk about no longer looking for easy fixes. Hard work and commitment are priority number one. It should be more important than free agency because free agency should be about assembling a set of players who work and commit. Focusing on Harden is a god damn waste of time.
What is Harden suppose to do and still win? When he sits, the offense sucks. When he plays ball distributor the offense sucks. The only way this team had a decent offense was with him pounding the ball looking for opportunities. That's how gifted he is. The guy plays more minutes in the NBA than anyone. He says at the end of the season, "I need to get better". He came in out of shape but he also came in injured with an ankle injury. He is young, He wants to win. And yes, he doesn't know how to lead because he hasn't had a coach yet that knows how to teach a 24 year old how to lead. Now he is 26 and still doesn't know how to lead. For all the people that rip on Harden this about this. Here is a guy who's not particularly known as being athletic or explosive. I saw this guy and I was confused why we paid him so much given his skills with OKC. The guy has improved so much in a few year, he wasn't a superstar when he came here that he is today. He has room to grow. For sure. But the criticism he gets is ridiculous at times. The comparisons to Francis and Iverson are hilarious. Harden is a special player. Give him the right coach, one he can trust, and he will go very far. He also needs some teammates who can shoot and let him rest on the bench a bit more. Maybe then he can spend more energy on D.
My sister asks me about this news, yesterday. lulz and sigh. Pretty telling what this type of TV story can do to someone. Whereas we just talk about it largely out of boredom, for her, it's something that will probably shape her opinion of Harden. This is a person who follows no sports and asks me about the Rockets only to see how much longer I'll be in Houston visiting. But since it's kinda gossipy news, and it was on TV, she noticed it. Sucks that a quote from Reid that is no different than "I blame everything on Harden" might shape someone's opinion. Worse, she now also thinks JBB did a tremendous job based solely on Reid's comments.
Here's the links. Note: both are filtered by games played > 50 and touches per game > 50. If you like you can remove those filters and Harden will move even farther down the list. AVG Seconds/touch http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pl...E*50&Season=2015-16&SeasonType=Regular Season AVG Dribbles/touch http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pl...E*50&Season=2015-16&SeasonType=Regular Season
That's a perception that many people on this board have expressed but it isn't true if you look at the numbers. As a team, each game we take an average of 5.9 shots with the shotclock between 0 and 4 seconds. That's 15th in the league. Here's the teams that shoot more shots than us that late in the shotclock: Uta 8.9 Tor 8.2 Cle 7.3 NYK 7.2 SAS 6.8 PHI 6.7 Den 6.5 Por 6.3 LAL 6.2 Dal 6.2 Mem 6.2 Det 6.1 Cha 6.1 Mia 6.0 Hou 5.9 As you can see we are pretty much middle of the pack.
I actually knew one of Reid's best friends from back in his days at Schertz Samuel Clemens HS and St. Marys's. His family put great pressure on him to quit the NBA. It's understandable why he would be conflicted over whether to play or not. Here's a really good LA Times article that covers his situation: http://articles.latimes.com/1985-03-03/sports/sp-32940_1_robert-reid
Aelliott has earned the right to be a dick. The idiot peddlers around here have spread easily refutable nonsense for far too long, despite repeatedly being corrected with facts. It's one thing to make a mistake, it is quite another to knowingly repeat false information to push an agenda. Thats the definition of a bad poster and frankly a bad fan. When those people are identified, a civil discussion and exchange of information go out the window. Contempt and condemnation are appropriate responses to people who do so. The bottom line is, if you say stupid ****, expect to be treated like ****.
