REMINDER: paul pierce: 4 all-nba team selections, 0 first team tracy mcgrady: 7 all-nba team selections, 2 first team (with less healthy years)
probably no, it's a lateral move with high risk & low upside. I doubt the Bulls would agree to such a trade either, it's a lateral move with high risk & low upside for them as well.
Lol no. Watching Harden ISO all game will be better than watching Butler ISO all day. This team has more problems than Harden.
I wonder how that would go having Harden and Butler on the same team. I'm sure Butler wouldn't mind watching Harden slacking on defense or anything.
So where do you pin last season's winning on? The problem with pinning the whole thing on a single guy, be it Harden or McHale, is that it does not explain both seasons. We got the whole bunch back from last season. The only significant difference is Lawson. It can't be because of Lawson.
In any event, there isn't a player in the league outside of possibly Curry, KD and Kawhi...who aren't getting traded anyway, who wouldn't get trashed on this site once he started playing for these current Rockets. People here would complain about Boogie because of his attitude, constant ejections and turnovers. Butler has already called out his coach...who's to say he won't stop at the FO? What if Jimmy feels that no one in the organisation can match his intensity and work ethic? Klay can't create anything off the dribble and that he coughs up the ball when pressured. Not to mention the fact that he also, like Harden gets caught sleeping on D. Love: just an ineffective as Harden is right now on defense, except Love is actually trying. Hassan: attitude, turnover rate and the fact that he's basically a black hole...not to mention his free throws. Paul George? You guys would have been hollering for his MVP in November, then wanted him gone after Decemember when he was hitting 36% from the field and 37% from 3. Drummond: 37% from FT. 37!!!! Westbrook? A beast but constantly goes away from the game plan, gambles on defense and can shoot his team out of a game. No player in this league is perfect. We have a certified top ten player in the league, Top 5 even when he is playing his best ball. We waited for years for a top tier player to choose the Rockets and he has. The team just needs to be built to suit his game, cover for his mistakes and play to his strengths (which is why you build AROUND a player) and to fit the modern NBA. That means as many two-way players as possible who can hit an outside shot consistently, along with a defensive plan that caters to their strengths and masks their deficiencies. I get it, it's frustrating as hell watching him seemingly loaf out there, but he's a 26yr old all-NBA first teamer, All-Star, MVP runner up and conference finalist and he' still figuring things out. Let's cool it.
Malakas has one of your quotes as his sig... "Harden should have been DPOY last year" ...I think that tells us all we need to to know about your objectivity...LOL
I'd hope he would mind! Then no point bringing anyone else in that cares about the teams performance! OR maybe Harden would put in more effort on defence if a: he doesn't have to carry the majority of the offensive load and b: he has other elite players in his ear to push him (kind of like Thibs & Coach K at Team USA).
I would...And not because I think Butler is just outright the better player. Harden is a much better creator.... but I would do it just to move on from Harden.
The idea is to get a player of butlers talent to play with Harden, not trade them for one another which would ultimately help the Bulls more than the rockets. Butler is a Allstar level guy and top 20 player but at his best he's not even close to harden at his best. Something's up with JH this year hopefully it changes but you can't trade a guy who's as good and proven as Harden when he's only 26 and in his prime with many years to come, not to mention under contract for 2 more years after this one. It would be one think if JH was over 30 but he's 26, gotta keep him he's to good and when he's on like last year he's as good as any player in the league and we all know this its not debatable. Jimmy butler has never reached those heights, maybe he will but I doubt it and I'm wouldn't be willing to find out when we know for fact JH can lead a team and battle for a finals appearance. We all forget that last years WCF against GS was extreamly close even though we lost in 5 and it mainly has to do with Harden. He was flat out the best player on the court in 3/5 games playing against the mvp and best player in the league.
Harden's defense, turnovers, attitude, and style of play has become so infuriating that I am ALMOST to the point of willing to trade him for a player like Butler. Butler is a good player, but Harden is better. If Harden gave a hoot on defense it wouldn't even be close. MAYBE would consider a Butler + Noah/Rose and of course Brooks trade, but I wouldn't be willing to part with Dmo, Capela, Howard, or Ariza.
It's an interesting question, not worthy of it's own thread, though. I don't think it's a far off scenario. Chicago isn't going to trade Butler for anyone of lesser talent. Harden would be an upgrade for their team. While Butler would be downgrade as an individual scorer and creator on offense, he would be an improvement for us defensively and on offense as a team. Harden usually starts the game in a passing mood, but down the stretch and at the end of quarters, he reverts to ISO mode. The end result is Harden takes very very difficult shots and we are forced to rely on our defense at the end of games, where Harden has struggled mightily.
