F that... Just trade his butt to Memphis for Tony Allen... Allen is a GREAT defender... Than you and the rest of the fans will have the exact team you want
Naw There are just too many teams in the league that have superstar vs. coach issues (most just so happen to be in the North East). The Rockets need to solve their issues out the right way. Its not a drill sergeant & cadet relationship here. Its an NBA superstar & NBA coach... much more complicated, and takes much more difficult work other than just yelling and punishing people if they dont do exactly what you say. McHale has a tough task to deal with this type of situation... however it will be alot more tough for him, and could ruin his career as a head coach if he resorts to punishing his star players like a 12 year old. Trust, respect, and great communication are the ways that truly great NBA coaches get what they want out of their star players. That's something that is earned over time, and is a great art with great NBA coaches.
Wow, I'm looking forward to the GS game if for no other reason than to see how Harden does guarding Clay Thompson...a guy who runs around a lot and likes to shoot, and can put up 30 on any given night. And then the Orlando game should be interesting too, with Aaron Afflalo and that rookie kid Oladipo, or whatever his name is. C'mon Harden, time to put your game face on, because they guy you're gonna guard is the guy who can singlehandedly beat us.
Bogut hardly ever scores over 20 and will be guarded anyway by Howard. David Lee won't dare post up or attack the paint with Howard and Jones in there, and so he'll be relegated to just outside shooting. Curry will be guarded by the legendary defender, Patrick Beverley, and Garcia will be on Barnes. The GS bench is meanwhile depleted by injuries and won't contribute much. That leaves Clay Thompson...
Hey lets bench the best offensive player we've had since healthy McGrady!!! ...... Come on guys this is just one bad game. yes his defense is terrible but he just had a 37 point game against the jazz. We're a bit banged up, no need to freak out... we're still 5th in the west which is impressive considering everyone on this forum thinks we're playing terribly
I'm not so sure if his "not playing defense" hurts us more than his "slowing the game and dumbing the game" recently. Without him, we move the ball fast, get much more rebounds and much better shooting possibilities. It's a different game. Spurs was the only exception. He needs to be benched until he is completely in shape again. Similar to the Lin mistake we did in the last playoff game. A half-sick super-star on the field is worse than a benched superstar.
/\ Wait, one bad game????? Are you kidding me? Is this the first Rockets game you've watched all season? It seems to be spiraling downward as the season progresses--Harden's D, I mean; maybe it's his sore feet.
Or we can beg the Pacers to trade us PG. Seriously. All you excuse makers for Harden better not of ever railed in TMac, or even gone aling with the chuckle fest that was Iverson and the infamous "practice" quotes. I mean AI was payed to only play O only so he obviously didnt need practice. Oh and please watch 5:11 mark of that video again. Watch Harden sabotage the play. As a Ricket fan that should dusgust you.
Rockets beat GS 3 out of 4 times last year because Curry and Thompson play no defense also. If Harden can find his shooting like in the Spurs game and someone else can provide consistent scoring, I believe we can win this game. When Harden is on, he is a bigger threat than anyone on GS besides Curry.
Yea... Pat Bev has been doing a great job on point guards... Him and Garcia have been locking down everyone... And teams have been scared as hell of going in the paint against Howard... So by what you are saying _ since all of the other players are such great defenders and the coaches run great defensive schemes _ it's all on Harden... Gotcha...
This... And truthfully _ when Harden and or Lin or on (offensively) there are hardly any teams out there that can D them up... They can make a top flight defensive team like San Antonio _ look like the Rockets defensively. Every time the Rockets win _ other teams message boards look like this one with fans crying about defense...
Not sure what "benching" means. IMO - i just want him to NOT START. It would amount to a benching of the first 5 minutes of the first quarter. He'll probably wind up playing 35+ minutes anyways. It's a statement and public shaming more than anything..
Everyone here is really quick to forget that Harden basically won us that San Antonio game. Without him how many games do we win this year? not enough to get to the playoffs. I agree that it was childish of him to not speak to reporters after the game, but he's only 24 years old... Complain about him 3 years from now if he's playing the same way. He's our star for at least the next 5 years whether you like it or not. Frankly we could be in a lot worse situation than we are right now (see Brooklyn, New York, Chicago, Memphis, Minnesota, etc.) Give these guys some time to gel before calling for our best player to be benched
we should be trying to keep our superstars happy... not publicly shaming them. People on this board don't realize the importance of chemistry and messing with the lineups does not help
Now that's a coach. Seriously. Outside of Xs and Os, that's the coach's job. If Harden says he's kinda resting on defense so he can go on offense, the coach should tell him "I decide when you need to rest, and when that happens, you can rest on the bench. As long as you are on the floor no less than 100% is expected."
My "benching" would be for one game. Akin to Arian's "benching" a couple of years back. They got Ben Tate? We have Lin (well not right now....) Harden's subsequent actions could speak volumes for the type of player he wants to become. It's also disciplinary (if lack of effort or caring is the actual problem).
Tony Allen is a more realistic trade... Could probably get Z-Bo too... That gives you the lock down perimeter defender you guys want and an All Star caliber power forward with a post game (which will cover up for our "super star" center on offense) and he's a good defender too... Two birds one stone... And they still have Asik they can move to get another player for... That way Harden want be here to disgust Houston fans like yourself. And it gives the Rockets a very formidable team by adding two serious veteran players one of which who has a ring... And I loved Iverson with Larry Brown by the way... And no way in hell is Tracy in the same category as Iverson. Iverson got his team to the finals with a freaking broke tail bone... His @** was hurt _ literally... Lol... Tracy breaks a nail and he's out for a week...
