i just checked the salary ranking for this season and Dwight is the 5th highest player on the league right now. that's just flat out ridiculous. i don't know if i can even say with confidence that he's a top 5 in his position, let alone the entire league.
i just checked the salary ranking for this season and Dwight is the 5th highest paid player in the league right now. that's just flat out ridiculous. i don't know if i can even say with confidence that he's a top 5 in his position, let alone the entire league. mistake correction
As Barkley would say "if you left him in a gym alone and told him he couldn't dunked, he wouldn't score 10 points"
Nothing if he was at those numbers, but he is not. My worry is in tying up 20m or more per year on a declining player. DD
when we get dwight, he is already declining, when a player relies soly on athleticism gets hurt or injured badly, usually he declines, see Amare stoudamire and Ben Wallace we will never win anything with dwight unless we use him as just a rebounder and occasional lob target
No player will be elite playing alongside Haren. That's why KD and Russell started and Haren was coming off a bench.
I disagree, 09 Orlando Dwight would be elite playing alongside Harden Ideal players to play around Harden: PG: Top tier defensive player, able to knock down the 3, run off screens and pass SF: Top tier defensive player, able to knock down the 3, run off screens and pass PF: Top tier defensive player, able to knock down the 3, set screens and pass. C: top tier defensive player, rebound, set screens and run the rim.
you have names for these players? just curious, and i respect your posts. imo harden doesnt "deserve" all these players. offensively, he's not even as talented as, say, mcgrady. that's why i say he's the wrong piece to build around as the #1. it looks to me that, just like brewer only know one thing (fastbreak aka 1-on-n, n = 1,2,3,,,) on offense, harden is only effective playing iso the hero ball. even when he wants to pass the rock, his assist/turnover ratio isnt so impressive. he'd be a fantastic #2 option on a title-contending team, tho.
The problem with Harden so far has been his unwillingness to play and put effort off the ball plus put effort all the time on defense. Which means to build around harden you're going to have to get guys who play good defense + play really well off the ball. The sad part is, we don't really have any players like this, except possibly Capela, who is always active and moving/finding space.
The perfect superstar in the NBA right now for Harden is probably a Durant at PF, where Harden is the primary ball-handler but the second highest scorer. Durant handles the ball a lot, but he plays really well off westbrook too finding space, getting open for quick catch and shoots, etc.
just for the sake of bball discussion on a boring monday,,, what if we swap harden with cp3 with the clips, and maybe trade ariza with their 3... will that make the clips a true contender? miami and sas have won most of titles since the kobe-shaq lakers, and now we're seeing gsw. sometimes i think a good model to copy is either a true big-3 (which we dont have and is rare), or a team without over-reliance on one superstar despite of having one on the team (the team-ball concept). under either, defense is a must. personally, i prefer seeing the sas/gsw model. that way, you kinda hedge your bets. in case you have injuries to one or 2 of your major stars, you still have a chance to compete.
Gotta keep Dwight to send the right message to future max free agents. Pay him appropriate value. 4/80 or 5/100 may seem high but it won't be in a couple seasons. It'll match his value. Dwight is still a top 3-5 defender in the NBA. IMO, he's undoubtedly the top defensive center in crunch time still. Get him in the playoffs where the play is rougher and a lot of physical contact is not called and all of sudden his defense starts shining bright. I wouldn't have a problem giving him 5/100. I would shudder to give him 5/173 however.
Here I'm gonna post some stats of players Unassisted vs Assited %'s If you notice how high Durant's Assisted % is, most of his FGs come from Westbrook passes. Check out how low Harden is compared to some other elite players in the NBA. Granted a lot of these guys play in better "systems" than us, but it goes to show that if Harden wants to take his game to another level, he needs to develop this part of his game because it makes him less predictable. Harden Durant Curry Lebron George Kawhi
I'll take a shot. PG: Lowry(?) / George Hill SG: Harden SF: Paul George / Kawhi PF: Draymond Green C: Drummond / Capela / Whiteside (not top tier defensively but OK) So basically you need close to 5 all stars. Yeah not happening. Got to do with what you have.
i agree. but will he? or better yet, will he be able to (even if he's willing to)? i could be wrong, but my judgment is a "no".
I think if you swapped Harden for CP3, it would make the clippers one of the best teams in the NBA. Harden would have no choice but to play well off the ball because Griffin is both efficient at creating offense and an excellent passer. This is part of the reason we thought getting Lawson was such a good thing because he could create offense for Harden thus making our offense less predictable but the early results show Harden isn't really interested in working off the ball because he usually just stands around.
I think he'll figure it out. He has to if he cares about winning championships. He reminds me of Kobe those years Kobe had no one to pass to, but he eventually figured out that playing team-ball is better. They also got some good players/passers in Gasol and Odom, but still. But I want to repeat that quote, I'm not sure who said it, but they said we aren't going to win a championship with Harden and Howard as our two best players. I agree with this, Harden needs to get better. Howard is a role player at this point (especially on offense, think Deandre Jordan) so we need more help.
I think you guys forgot about the playoffs the last two years...he's definitely elite defensively and is a huge part of why the Rockets made it to the WCF last year...and our best player the year before in the Portland series.
i cant figure out why the lawson addition has been so mysteriously negative so far. tbh, i think when harden said to morey "bring me help" after last season was over, he only meant someone who can dribble and control the ball when he gets tired from having the ball in his hands all the time and is experiencing high turnovers. he never meant or even thought about playing off the ball. but again, i am just spectating...
