Yeah....except for the Harden taking a few games off bit. In fact, simply replace Terrence with Harden in the above lineup. Let Ariza and Harden switch back and forth on the forward matchups. And see what this lineup will do going forward. If Lawson is going to be in the rotation we've got to get the best out of his game. That means you run him as the primary playmaker when he is in there. He is very efficient with the basketball. Let him create, dish, and finish. And defensively Harden is much, much better off defending a 3 or 4 than 2's. Warts and all, the best 5 guys on the active roster right now are Harden, Lawson, Thornton, Dwight, and Trevor. They've got to get primary minutes with your bench being Terry, Brewer, and Capela. Those are your top 8 guys. You have to slot Terrence and Harrell in behind those 8 because those 2 guys are simply awful defensively and we have to resort to gimmicky zone defense to even have a chance with them out there. When you go to the bench, you move Harden up top with the second unit. The second unit has been getting killed, killed, killed. Move Harden up top, replace Lawson with Terry, and run the PnR with Terry, Ariza, and Thornton spreading the floor. Capela backs up Dwight. When you've got to give Ariza a breather, gotta bring in Terrence or Harrell for a few minutes at most and switch to the gimmicky zone. We have a huge personnel issue on this team. We've only got 14 players on the roster. And we've got 2 guys out (DMo/Bev). So that brings us down to 12. And on top of that Dwight and Ariza are dinged. And we've got 4 guys who are either rookies or basically rookies playing in their second seasons (Harrell, Dekker, McDaniels, Capela) who really aren't ready to be rotation guys on a championship contender. I know some would argue on Capela. But Capela has been pressed into action because of injuries and the fact that we simply do not have any other players on this team that can play the 5. Capela is improving and displaying a lot of potential BUT he's not ready and his cracks are showing, especially defensively. We desperately need a backup 4/5 in the mold of Smith that can push Capela into a secondary defensive role with the backup unit where he can thrive much better. That brings you down to 8 guys and of those 8 guys, Dwight and Ariza are playing dinged and Terrence has been dinged already and isn't really a difference-maker anyways. Throw in an over-the-hill Terry who CANNOT defend and another point guard (Lawson) who CANNOT defend and this is what we have, folks. For the sake of winning games, we really need to add a player to the roster. (This is why I really thought we should've signed Harrell to a minimum deal and avoided the hard cap.) But for whatever reason (probably the hard cap) we aren't right now. While I'm not the biggest fan of McHale's coaching......there is NO COACH that can fix these guys and make them play .700 ball, not even Phil Jackson, Pops, Auerbach, or Van Gundy. It's the wrong mix of players to run the system we want to run and do what we want to do because we have too many youngsters who have to develop before they can help us (Dekker, Harrell, McDaniels, Capela) to go along with too many one-dimensional players who either can't shoot at all (Brewer) or can't defend at all (Lawson, Terry, Terrence, Thornton) on top of our injured guys (DMo, Bev, Dwight, Trevor). We're stuck with limping along with this bunch until we can make trades and/or some of these guys heal and come back. By then we can only hope that the upper echelon of the West hasn't simply walked away from us and left us in the dust scrambling around to get to 5-8 seed in the West (the most likely scenario).
I agree. It's hard to say that Morley is wrong for doing this but I feel he's built this team to sustain a competitive edge for years vs going all in for a Championship this year. This is evident by signing Harrell and KJ to long term deals. Add in Decker and you have 3 people who are not going to contribute much this year. Add in our injured of Howard, TJ, Beverley and DMo and our rotation is down to the 7 guys mentioned before. We were suppose to be stacked - but it seems only on paper. Reminds me of my fantasy football team.
You can not bench Harden, you need use Lawson as a point guard, or as a sixth man. Harden need play his shooting guard role, and play with a heart.
Yes, agreed. I think this is most likely a step-back year. We have to face facts. The odds of us beating the Warriors in a 7-game series if we were totally healthy is virtually nil. The Warriors are very, very, very good right now. With our current personnel, even if healthy, we cannot stack up against them. We need the definitive 3rd superstar and then things will fall into place better. That 3rd superstar might turn out to be DMo. I don't know. I'm not convinced by a long-shot that DMo is the guy. But him along with our young prospects plus our other assets could very well get us that 3rd guy at some point either later this season or at the end of the season or in free agency. And then we can get the 4th guy in free agency next season if everything falls right for us. Or perhaps we simply sign our 3rd superstar, re-sign Dwight to a reasonable long-term deal, and then DMo becomes our 4th guy with Trevor the fifth guy and on down the line. But I think we should be realistic about this season. It is most likely a "step back to leap forward" type of season. This mix of players cannot compete for a championship no matter who coaches them. And they're going to struggle to just get in the top 4 in the West. Once again, just keeping it real for you folks.
It's not about collecting "superstars". Dmo will never be one and its a TEAM game as shown by the warriors and spurs.
Warriors have 3 superstars. Draymond is a bonafide superstar. That man is a nasty man that can and will do anything to win. He's a superstar and if he were our 3rd guy, then we would be the Warriors and they would be us. Don't tell me he's not a superstar. He's a one-of-a-kind nasty basketball player. He's very special. It is a team game. And the Warriors are unbelievably good at it right now because they have multiple superstars with multiple talents who play together. That team game is mostly held together by a superstar glue man who will do anything and everything to win, including playing the 5 against guys that are 5-9 inches taller than him. And he kills them!!! Draymond is a superstar.
and they're surrounded by ridiculously solid/consistent guys. Iguodala, Barnes, Livingston, Bogut, Ezeli...
But isn't that exactly the basis for the Rockets 'Read and React' offense?! Part of the problem is that the guys who are supposed to be doing the reading are illiterate and don't know how to react. The Rockets rarely take the best shot available, instead settling for contested jumpers. We saw this at times last season, where they just played miserable, however, those games were much fewer and more far between than what we have seen this season. Something has to be done though, and I think you start by either giving Lawson a larger role as the primary ball handler (even though he has been pretty crappy himself), or have him come off the bench for a few games. At this point, though, I don't think you bench Harden, however, I think you keep him on a short leash based on his effort.
Exactly right. Iggy is a former superstar who would start and be a star on any other team in the league. Bogut...another former ALL-STAR and still one of the top defensive bigs in the game backed up by another top-notch defensive big in Ezeli. This is all on top of their trifecta of Curry, Kay, Draymond. And we haven't even gotten to Barnes and Livingston. Warriors are in a different galaxy from us right now. We're fooling ourselves if we think we're going to win anything without acquiring another player that is either better than or just as good as Harden and Howard. And even then....it still might not be enough.
Never seen green proclaimed as an elite player in the same realm as lebron or Westbrook and not in convo of top 10 players in the game. Thompson is only considered a top SG because the SG pool isn't strong aside from harden and derozen.
chandler, I didn't name lebron or westbrook. I said he's a superstar. You are attempting to deny him that status. DWIGHT HOWARD and CARMELO ANTHONY are superstars. DRAYMOND is most definitely in their class (coughcoughhe'sbettercoughcough). Do I have to list other superstars that he's in the same class as? Bosh, Griffin, Dirk, LaMarcus, etc. etc. etc. If you don't believe Draymond is in their class then you haven't been watching the games. Draymond wipes the floor with them and bests them more often than they do him. Dude, he wipes the floor with Dwight. Let's be honest here. Draymond is a bonafide superstar. And the Warriors are crazy good because he is.
Jesus, not this crap again. The Rockets don't need a 3rd superstar to be competitive in this league. The Hawks won 60 games last season with no superstars. Hell, the Rockets themselves won 56 last year with essentially one superstar since Dwight missed half the season and didn't exactly play well the first time he returned from injury in December. The talent is fine. Maybe not to compete with the Warriors, but don't tell me it's the lack of a 3rd superstar that explains their 108.5 PPG allowed. That's 3rd worst in the entire league(only the Pelicans and Wizards are worse). Don't tell me their point differential of -7.7 is because they need a 3rd star to pick up the slack. The only teams with a worse stat than that are the Pelicans, Nets(whose sole win is against the Rockets, BTW), and Sixers(who have zero wins). These numbers are horrendous and completely inexcusable. There is a ton of talent on this team. Even if guys are struggling with their shots, there is no justification for them being this poor on the defensive end. Right now, they're one of the worst teams in the NBA. Don't let that 4-7 record deceive you. No team with James Harden, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Ty Lawson, and Marcus Thornton should be one of the worst in the league.
The Hawks.....DID NOT MAKE IT TO THE FINALS...much less win a championship. Too many posters here seem to be happy trying to hit 60 wins, "being competitive", and making the playoffs. I don't know what you're thinking. I'm interested in winning a championship....sonny.
The coach does not have a gut to bench Harden. If he does this, then he is preparing to be fired if thing is not going to be worked out.
this sounds like a straw argument. the cavs or the spurs didnt win it all last yr., either. does that mean only gsw's model was legit?
The problem is he and Dwight have been the best performers on this team so far this season as they should. The rest of the team has been that tragic. Dwight's struggles are because of the backcourt. Even then he hasn't been that bad given the circumstances. Trade for a starting PG and we'll see immediate results. The defense can only be fixed that way. We'll see the offense come around as a result and more fast break opportunities. The game will get easier, the team better together. Can or is Morey willing to deal Lawson now?
