We don't draw up anything for Harden to play off-ball, but I do not think Harden's inability to play off-ball is the problem. I think it's Lawson's problem. Ty Lawson brings nothing to the table when the ball is not in his hands and he's out of rhythm when he's expected to handle the ball as 1A. He has no clue how to play a role.
However, I'm sure they thrive playing well together at the strip club where they're dropping $$ on hoes and bottles
I don't know about his scoring. I had always been impressed by his ability to attract contact (FTA's = 40% of FGA's last year) and still finish at a high rate for a guard (63.7% last year - better than Westbrook and Harden for example). Combined with his great passing abilities and vision, I thought of him as the perfect drive and dish guy for this offense. He isn't an especially prolific scorer though, so maybe he's not the best 1 on 1 scorer? He has shot well in the past, so this has to just be a slump, I hope.
That is very interesting regarding the athleticism differences of the two pairs. It's good to know the differences between Harden/Lawson and other pairs of drive and dish players who did work together, b/c I'm just dumbfounded this can't work. Don't know why he's not making wide open 3's. I believe he will based on his history.
I know everyone is down on Ty and he's not playing well, but everyone was playing awful. It was clear Mchale wasn't doing anything to get Ty involved. He would come out and say, "I need to find a way to get the ball in Ty's hands more" and then next game would be ISO harden all day. I agree he hasn't played well, but as a coaching staff, we haven't even tried to get the guy involved or play to his strengths. Ty should be coming off the bench, playing with Dwight, Terry at the two and Thornton at the 3. Have him run pick and roll with Dwight and make the defense choose between covering the pick and roll or leaving terry or Thornton open
Prime Wade was 10x the cutter and slasher both Lawson and Harden currently are. LeBron isn't as good off the ball as Wade was, but Spo eventually took LeBron off the perimeter and started telling him to post up more.
Mobley and Harden are both left handed Francis and Lawson both love the bottle thats pretty much where any and all comparison of the backcourts end
Ty should be starting and getting other teams big man, and pgs in foul trouble. Getting ariza and harden open 3s, and the big man dunks with oops or drop off passes. Instead our offense is still extremely iso friendly, turnover prone, and extremely predictable. It says a lot when a guy who averages 15/10 gets more TOs than assists. It means our offense is a mess. It starts with coach and james. Both have failed Ty, i genuinely feel bad for him.
Francis made great plays but refused to buy in to teamwork, it was just him and Mobley...................that was it, don't know why people rate him real high. He had the talent but never lived up to it
Ty's confidence is probably shot right now - he in tentative, probably disturbed by off-court issues and trying to fit in. Nothing worked out of the gate, my guess is that he freaked and over thought things/ choked up even more. Last couple of games they weren't even guarding him, just standing back 5 feet and watching him dribble. Oh dear. Basically the main reason it can't work is because Ty has been so craptastic to start. It's on him to get it going and take whatever chances he is now given. First step, beat out Terry as backup PG...
seriously, he should be able to beat out terry for backup pg. Terry's defense has been worse than hardens this year. Can't imagine that Lawson could be worse. This team showed glimpses of what the offense should look like in the okc game with these two. Drive kick when you get the ball attack again or in James case take the wide open 3. They both should never receive a pass from one another and then hold onto the ball before dribbling. That's what made lebron and wade so great. They wernt the best fit but there ability to catch the ball on the wing and immediately attack the paint while the defense was scrambling was great offense. I figured this was how harden and Lawson would play off each other. I never bought into the idea of harden running off screens like some here thought he would, when he said he would play more off ball.
My goal wasn't to compare the players. I am just saying that two ball dominant ball handlers can find a happy medium. And that was with a big man who could take a lot of touches as well. It doesn't have to look the same as wade and lebron. Good coaching takes good players and comes up with strategies to get them to coexist. Good, smart players that put the team first will adapt their games in order to get everything to fit together.
I don't buy it. I think you are posting for the giggles. It is not that common where both a team's PG and SG are elite at getting in the paint. Both Harden/Lawson and Francis/Mobley qualify.
