As good as Harden is, I never thought iso bball is winning basketball. But instead of coaching and building towards a different direction, we go and get someone like Westbrook in the offseason. No one knew what the results were going to be. Maybe good, probably bad. It was going to be a sh*t show but we were all just hoping for the best. So everyone just calm down and enjoy the ride!
Haha I've been editing it constantly. I just added them as you posted. There's so much wrong with the last 2 seasons. It's like a switch was flipped and Morey turned in to Isiah Thomas. I think people constantly harping on the coaching are missing the forest for just one tree.
The overall performance should come as no surprise to anyone. We downgraded on both sides of the ball compared to last year and have found a way to be just as injured. These are the results. We aren’t doomed, but a 17/18 type performance in the regular season was never in the cards.
Harden’s time of possession, number of touches and passes per game have been remarkably steady the last 3 seasons. Paul or no Paul. Yet another post focusing on the exact opposite problem the team actually faces. Piss poor defense. We had it for year one of CP3. It wasn’t about Harden having the ball less, passing more or even all this leadership horse **** I keep reading about. We had a bad ass offense AND a bad ass defense and that’s why we were great. Last two years the offense has remained awesome and the defense has become mediocre. Plain and simple. It’s not Harden. It’s not leadership. Its not coaching. It’s lacking the right talent.
This is the bottom line. Look , they just arent a good team top to bottom , they are top heavy and after #6 on the roster things go downhill in a hurry. That's to be expected when you dump every potential asset you have to improve on ducking the luxury tax. The list of assets thrown away by this franchise since the end of the 65 win season is .... disheartening. Start with Ariza - even if you didnt want to retain him , you had no way financially to replace a guy who plays 40 minutes a night other than his bird rights.. Sign and trade , trade him later in the year .... dont just throw the asset away to stay under the tax. Ryno & Melton > Brandon Knight & M.Chriss > Shumpert Minus 1st round pick and 2nd round pick > Bird rights expire. Ennis - second round pick. Russell Westbrook Trade not expanded - that was $10m in additional salary you could have taken on , if not for immediate improvement a trade 90 days later. Brandon Knight and M.Chriss TPE's about to wither away on the vine - could have brought in two players early totaling 6.8m between them with the idea of combining them 90 days later. That an incoming salary of 8.5m .... sure would be nice to have right now. Haven't spent the MLE in TWO YEARS!! That's not just the NT-MLE of ~$9m but the little MLE of ~$5.5m .... That's two contracts that aren't on the roster. Wasted assets. And you guys wonder why this team isn't very good ? When you are capped out , you cant improve if you are throwing away every asset you have and replacing them with minimum guys. They just don't have enough good players. There's a reason 8 guys on the roster make the minimum, they aren't very good.
The problem is 2 players make over 60% of the cap. Most starters make 10 - 15%. There is just not enough cap space to field a respectable team. Then we need a bench, too. Plus coach won’t consistently develop young cheep talent. He wants older veterans—> Which leads to short rotations—> high usage rates on older players —> injury—> longer time to heal —> holes in an already short rotation.
The roster management since the 17-18 season has been nothing short of embarrassing. Rockets set themselves back for years.
Just need to coach Restbrook how to shoot and coach supporting cast how to defend. then everything will be fine.
Daryl Morey deserves a few General Manager of the year awards for having accomplished all of the above in a span of two season AND keeping the "contending" status. Run it Back to Back on Crack.
House, Tucker and Rivers seems poorer than last year. Harden seems get a new gf and shoot not accurately
They had the assets to fix all those personnel problems .... they chose to duck the tax instead of shoot for a championship. Look at how much GSW went over the cap to win those chips. Dan Gilbert footed luxury tax bills of $11.37 million in 2014-15, $75.87 million in 2015-16 and $78.78 million in 2016-17 during their runs. You don't get many chances at championships , when you do you have to make the most of them. https://hoopshype.com/2018/11/16/how-many-times-has-each-nba-team-paid-the-luxury-tax/
I agree with you. Players have been hesitant (rivers, tucker, house). Not sure what the issue is. They get paid to play. There’s no time for self doubt. Small ball hasn’t worked. The team simply gets out muscled in the paint by opposing bigs (valenciunas, Steven Adams, Whiteside). Tucker plays big minutes guarding bigs and no real advantage with a guard at the 3 and house at the 4. Unlike the Hampton 5 warriors lineup Rox lineup simply isn’t talented enough. Also seems the team plays horrible after back to backs. Possibly due to big minutes and short rotation.
It makes sense... think about what we are starting around Harden. PG: can't space SG: super star SF: afraid to shoot PF: afraid to shoot C: can't space Brilliant! People are blaming Dantoni but this is not a Dantoni team. This is Shaq on the Suns.
The problem is that there is no pushing guys to improve... MDA is permitted to run his stupid short rotations and no defense.... while typically just running his game plan without deviation or adjustment... MDA isnt gonna step at Harden or WB about anything - so you get what you get... which is still really good - just not all it could be... The majority of the team is permitted to recess into the background while we iso and/or run the James harden show... and they never come back to full engagement... Its lack of fire, lack of accountability, lack of a consistent team effort... A few attitude adjustments and we are true contenders - but aint nobody gonna make those adjustments either...
This is an excellent post by @Corrosion. Look, Morey didn't just all of a sudden become some bumpkin GM. He has hits and misses like everyone. But the LONG LIST below tells the tail of decisions that are INFLUENCED by Tilman Fertitta's financial goals. Goals that are not driven on WINNING. So here we are. The bench depth is not there. There are not mid-tier salaries available to make moves. There is no flexibility. When you are throwing away assets like picks to shed salary.....just SMH. You have a GENERATIONAL MVP star in James Harden. In his prime. If you are not *all in* right now, then when? When??
