What debate? Anyone who doesn't think James Hardin is the future of this team as opposed to Lin might as well line up at the Brooklyn Bridge. They'll gladly buy it.
OP doesn't know what he's saying. Trade Lin to the Bobcats? He would have to be a backup there (Kemba is the starter) and we would have to get Sessions back in return. Sessions next to Harden wouldn't work out.
No, but our lack of offense other than handing the ball off to him doesn't help anything. Especially with the players we have put around him. Not to mention, he isn't good enough ( yet) to play like a Kobe or LeBron and lead a team every night.
Harden is not the problem. The coaching staff trying to inflate Harden's stats at the expense of everything else is. Harden is good, but he's not a gamechanger you can win with at the expense of everything else. Let's take Lin out of the equation altogether for the moment so we get no LOH blaming every ******* criticism of the obvious fail of Harden-centric ball on LOFs. Where is the ******* exploitation of post matchups when defenses roll with anti-Harden smallball? Eh? Stay away from post plays because they don't generate assists for Harden? Seriously? The coaching staff is killing Harden's efficiency by sacrificing everything else to inflate Harden's numbers. It seriouly needs to stop.
Agreed. McFail is an utter joke and arguably the worst coach in NBA history, which is saying a lot because you have Butch Beard and Kiki and Isiah with stints as head coaches.
Rockets don't have good post up players. D-Mo is best and he is 4th or 5th in line for PF minutes. Rockets are not trying to inflate Harden's stats. The coaches are trying to use Harden to create double team so the rest of the team goes 4 on 3. Rest of team isn't moving and is not hitting three pointers well enough. Right now, sometimes Harden versus the world is better than 4 Rockets against 3. Harden is the most efficient scorer on the Rockets despite everyone in stands knowing he is getting ball. Harden is the second best creator for others behind Lin. It is not Harden's fault the other players aren't moving and making themselves better options. It isn't Harden's fault that the other players aren't knocking down open threes at a league average rate allowing opponents to stack the paint.
What Post players do the Rockets have again? Asik Posting up is a risk for a turnover...Patterson is not posting anyone up, if he does he'll likely fade away. I thought that is why everyone wanted Cousins, Love, or Aldridge? I thought the reason everyone wanted a big PF even like Jefferson or Millsap because we really do not have any players that can operate in the post.
This is my first post, I've read this site for a while. This thread infuriates me for a variety of reasons, although I agree with some of the points. This isn't a Lin or Harden thing or a coaching staff trying to bump Harden's stats thing either. I also can't get on board with the idea that you can't win with player x dominating the ball. This is how I see it. Lin isn't the best player on the team (i'd consider Harden, Parsons, Asik, as better right now, alot of people would add to the list). He wasn't the best player on the New York team either, even with Carmelo out. Chandler was the best player on that team and is in my opinion still the best player (probably not a popular opinion). I would consider Asik's ceiling as Chandler. Dominant defender, good pick and roll finisher at rim. However, none of this means it would be bad for the team for him to dominate the ball at least some of the game. Nor does it mean that you couldn't win a championship, with him as your starting PG. He is a great PnR PG. He gets rebounds. He plays massively underrated defense imo. He needs to learn to hit open threes because long term that will be part of his role if he wants a long term. He needs to learn to be more active off the ball. But it is very hard to learn new things without being encouraged by being allowed to do what you are good at. This doesn't mean he is 'the future' but it is something worth exploring whilst the team is young. I would stagger their minutes. Harden plays 36-40, Lin about 30. Any time Harden is off the court, Lin runs the O. They'd play about 20 mins together and for half of that time Lin would run the offense. This allows Harden to take a break, to spot up sometimes (he is great at this), to get the ball on the move(he is good at this) to avoid double teams, and to give the D a different look. Lin would play to his strengths for most of the time he is on the court and the other 10 is him developing his new skills (spot up shooting, slashing). He could also possibly develop some PnR chemistry with Greg Smith. Now the obvious question to this is "why bother?" why not just get a PG who can bring up the ball, pass it to harden and hit open threes. Now, I can understand this argument, but I few possible benefits worth exploring. 1 I can see a benefit of having 48 minutes of great PnR guys on the court, asuming Lin can learn to do other things. 2 It will be very helpful for Asik's potential (who I'd consider an essential piece) to have two elite PnR guys. 3 Harden's current role under utilizes him imo. He could do with sometimes just spot up shooting and slashing. I'd rather have all of his game. Anyway, sorry for the long disjointed rant. Lin might not be in the future of this team but i think it should be attempted to see how it would work. I also think the argument has to get away from LOH or 'you can't win with this guy'.
