Kawhi has a more complete team with Green, Lowry (willing to play off the ball and take shots), Ibaka (able to play the stretch 4 and C) and they have Marc Gasol coming off the bench and Siakam who's been a pretty darn good rotational player. Don't get me wrong, Kawhi is a better 2 way player than Harden is but the Raptors are definitely a more COMPLETE team than the Rockets. They also have ball movement and don't depend on the whistle as much for efficiency. Did we forget that Durant AND Klay +/- Looney are all injured and out?
that's not really my point, stopping Giannis was a team effort, my point is Raptors can put Kawhi on Giannis and but cannot do that with Harden if in a hypothetical Kawhi and Harden switched teams. Raptors are good enough that they don't need someone like Harden to be a playmaker, Kawhi brings length, defense and significantly better rebounding and rim protection that Harden cannot possibly match if they switched teams in a vacuum.
I can appreciate other players being good and doing well. Don't see the need to put our own guy down in the process. "Dance with the one that brought you. Stay with the one that want's you."
Dude we're waaay to damn small. And MDA likes to go smaller and they can't rebound or win 50/50 balls. When Capillow decides to play soft, MDA defaults to a small lineup. The roster is flawed and that's Morey. Harden is still too damn careless with the ball , which drives me nuts. Tilman needs to put up or shut up. There's enough blame to go around.
Just watched a play where he literally posted up iggy, backed him down, turned around and just shot over him. He made it look Durant east.
Kawhi and KD when healthy are the best players in the league right now imo. Kawhi isn't the play maker Harden is but Kawhi has more clutch moments in the playoffs and is on the brink of leading his own team to a championship. It is what it is.
100% correct. So who is at fault? Is the problem Morey or MDA??? I really struggle with this. Morey traded a first for horrible Shump and that was the end of Faried. Was that trade done to appease MDA, who has loved Shump for years or was MDA told to play Shump since it cost us so much to get him and he was the big trade deadline deal mgmt wanted to sell to the fans and season ticket holders?
Lol, every team gets better by having an elite playmaker, EVERY TEAM. If the Raptors had Harden, so many of those guys would have wide open 3s and layups making their offense much more efficient. Yall really overrate Leonard.
They already have wide open 3's and layups? They have the warriors scrambling for most possessions with their offense. Now tell me if Harden can defend and rebound like Kawhi
The narrative on this board is so messed up. Harden is clearly the best player in the league. 32 games in a row with 30 plus points. A league leader in steals. These two other guys play on absolutely loaded teams!!! Durant and Kahwi would not be where they are if their next best player was P.J. Tucker!!!!! This is so insulting to all that Harden has done for Houston. Keep in mind that he didn’t sit out and played with only one eye for multiple games. Harden should be compared to Michael and Kobe, both of whom did not win championships until they were given competitive squads and accompanying all-stars.
Harden rebounds for sure, but as a guard, he gets those loose and long rebounds while Kawhi can get in there and crash the glass.
Please quit blaming Harden for the failures of Morey and MDA. After reading this board, now I see why players like Durant leave OKC for a ring.
if ISO ball doesn't work against a healthy Warriors team then nothing does because the rest of the league hasn't come close to beating the Warriors over the past several years other than King James, Green being ejected and the help of refs. Only reason Raptors are rolling is because the warriors are Injuried.The rest of the NBA needs the warriors injuried to beat these guys...it's been proven now. Blazers got thrashed with mid range 2 point plays. The warriors dynasty have been better than everyone else whether it's iso ball, mid range, 2 pointers, 3 pointers are whatever in this decade.
Kawhi also got to rest during the regular season while James had to go nuclear to keep us in the playoff race (apparently) Our management talks so much about the championship , but once those 82 game start .... we seems to only focus on the regular season and winning games NOW . Imagine if James took 15 games off over the course of the year for "load management" . Imagine if he didn't score 35 and instead was at 25 . Part of that is roster . Part of that is "system" . MDA is willing , even eager to give the ball to James like every play and let him create . The load isn't shared at all . MDA will just say to this critique ..." James wants to play" So what !? You're the ****ing coach man ... it's YOUR job to put us in the best possible position for the playoffs and protect your player from himself . 2/3 MDA years he was WAY over relied on James during the regular and post season . kawhi wouldn't be playing like this for MDA because he wouldn't be playing . MDA would have played him 82 during the regular season and he'd be dead by now .
