Tracy McGrady: CP3 wanted more movement out of James Harden. Harden didn't budge.

Exactly. Opposing teams know that Harden never fights through screens and attack that knowledge leaving the more capable rebounders on this team out of position.

 

And how does this fit into “our switching style is the main culprit for our poor defensive rebounding” claim?

Our big men were switched out onto guards on the perimeter MORE last year and yet we still dominated the defensive boards.

 

Probably because the personnel was better suited for switching. That notion isn't mutually exclusive to the fact that Harden still switches EVERY time regardless of context this season and many of our defensive rebounding lapses stem from Harden putting our more capable rebounders out of position.

So you readily admit that the team is less reliant on switching this season yet Harden switches all the time? Why is that?

 

So then it’s mainly a personnel issue? Not what you said.

Because defenders were well aware of Harden’s propensity for switching all of last season as well. And we dominated the defensive boards.

 

109 is still good for top 10 in the league. Not to mention, the Jazz defense woudl make anyone ANYONE look bad, dont kid yourself.

This is so ......You really believe what you are saying huh. Klay, the second greatest shooter of all time would be worse than Gordon in our system huh....looool. Alright man.

Alright are you for real, we adopted the switch defense for Harden, that is what you are saying,....that is non sense. thats not why we have it.

You are proving more and more that you are not objective.

 

Yes, part of the reason we install a switch defense is to mask Harden's defensive deffencies. The fact that he is the only perimeter player on the team that ALWAYS switches regardless of the context should speak for itself.

 

109 ortg would be bottom ten


And jazz defense would make anyone look bad? I thought the rockets offense was historic. Why doesn't the offense make their defense look bad?

 

Harden and Luc and Ariza always switched everything because those 3 are all capable of holding their own against a big man in the paint. This year Harden was the only one, so we minimized our switching from the other guys.

And I’m not even arguing against the fact we switch to help Harden. I believe that to be true. But we also switch to put him in positions he really excels at on defense. The post. As well as we feel it’s the best way to stay with GS’s shooting.

Your claim that it’s the stem of our defensive rebounding woes is just off.

 

He switches regardless of context all the time. He'll switch with freaking Nene who has no business guarding the perimeter and is one of our best box out rebounders. Harden switches regardless of context and yes it has cost us plenty of defensive rebounds.

Harden's paint defense is useless if he isn't stripping the ball because if the big man can avoid the strip and get a shot attempt up over Harden, he'll either make it or miss it but when he misses it, it often leads to a offensive rebound because Rocket capable rebounders are all out of position. This results in inflated defensive metric for Harden in the paint because it doesn't account for all the offensive rebounds it gives up which often lead to easy put backs by the opposing big men.

 

If you have the actual data on Harden giving up offensive rebounds in the post I’d like to see it.

Oh so convenient that holding his opponent in the post to the lowest FG% in the league means nothing because of this.

How can one guy switch constantly for two straight seasons and yet 1 season we rebound amazingly and 1 year we rebound terribly.

Switching? Or Personnel? Or fudge the facts, we gonna blame James regardless?

 

Here we go again with Luc. The guy literally only played in a handful of games. He shouldn't be revered or given credit for much of anything as a Rocket because he was barely one.

 

Is there any data that records how many offensive rebounds given up when Harden is guarding the paint? I actually would love to see it and am confident we do give up plenty of offensive rebounds when Harden is guarding the painted area because I've seen in plenty of times.

Is there any data that shows the offensive rebounding rate of missed fgs in the paint guarded by Harden

 

Harden in the playoffs throughout his career has had some of the worst for a player of his caliber
He was terrible in the blazers series
He has the record for turnovers in the playoffs the top 2 records 10 and 13
That game 6 he was benched in the clippers series (managed to win that but still)
Game 6 vs the spurs no kawhi at home
Game 7 Vs the warriors 27 missed 3s at home
Game 5&6 couldn’t close out the team out missing KD then lost a close out game @ home 3rd straight year ( curry 23 in the 4th)

 

He played 61 games 26 minutes per.

 

Thats what I figured.

You and that world class eye test. Never wrong.

Available data suggests switching has little to do with our rebounding, especially compared to the effect personnel has, but you have “seen it plenty of times” so it must be the main reason.

 

Last year's switching involved switches amongst capable perimeter defenders such as Luc, Ariza, Tucker's, CP3 and Harden(Harden is actually decent in iso defense situations).

This season, I forgot where I read this, but the team focused more in "smart switching" which meant that they wouldn't switch with our big men....except Harden. That rule doesn't apply to Harden and is part of the reason for our defensive rebounding struggles. It isn't the only reason but a large contributer. Capella who has weak legs and can't box out is another large contributer.

 

No it would not, go check the numbers.

It is, lets see how much worse the Jazz defense would do to any other team? They would even give GS problems, though probably not as much for us because of the tlalent gap.

Thats stupid. If that were true than we woudlnt have switched to traditional pick and roll with Clint this year. Switching has always been about GS not about Harden, omg. And see you can only speak about Harden like hes the main problem and nothing else.

 

Lol are you serious that rule diesnt apply to Harden he’s one of the best(not lying there are numbers that back it up) post up defenders on the league we want guys to post up Harden. Just want to add Harden is one of the best rebounders on the team as well. Oh wow would you look at that, you criticize someone else besides Harden.

 

Do those missed field goals from Harden's paint defense lead to defensive rebounds or second chance opportunities for the opposing team? Because I guarantee you that if Harden is guarding the paint, our taller more capable rebounders are out of position.

 

Here's the link to team ORTGs.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2019_ratings.html

If a good defense can make harden and the rockets offense look bad, then maybe they should change some things. We should be making them look bad