Harden - and how to build a championship team around him

I doubt Harden has much better efficiency than T-mac in the half court which is all we did under JVG. Do you not remember how boring those games were? The first to 80 points won the game and T-mac was still getting his. Is Harden this good offensively playing in another system? He's a Morey player. Get to the line and shoot 3s. McGrady was shooting a ton of deep 2's and Morey would have been around to tell him to just take another step back buddy. He wasn't there to tell him to cut back on the constant heat checks which killed his efficiency. Is Harden a better offensive player because he's more efficient than Kobe? T-Mac and Kobe were heat check guys who shot a ton of deep 2s and took bad shots, but you're kidding if you don't think they could change their style to fit a Moreyball system.

None of this matters though. I never called out Harden offensively. I called out his defense. Defend that.

 

I don't agree with your premise that Tmac as a great defender. He was at times, but much like Harden, got lazy due to the offensive burden he carried.

 

It isn't even about being lazy, its about not even being in shape

 

I agree with DaDakota. 3P%: Warriors (1st--.424), Spurs (2nd--.393), Rockets (16th--.351). Rockets are better than last year's .348 (3p%); but have lacked the stretch 4 (Ariza is not the answer long term). D-Mo has been missed for this Houston team this year.
Not sure the 76ers w/ Iverson had the shooters from 3................................
1999-00: 3P% (.323), DRtg (4th), ORtg (25th), Pace (18th)........................
2000-01(NBA Finals):76ers: 3P% (.326), DRtg (5th), ORtg (13th), Pace (19th) 76ers 2001-02: 3P% (.299), DRtg (4th), ORtg (23rd), Pace (25th) ..............

Of course it is a different era.....theory should still work. Space and Pace.

 

Meant to cite this post.

 

Houston Rockets: 2014-15 (DRtg 8th) 2015-16 (24th), 2014-15 (ORtg 12th) 2015-16 (8th)
2014-15 (Pace 2nd) 2015-16 (7th). Defense is dog crap this year....offensive rating is better this year; but we all know the experiment of Capela/D12 was a spacing nightmare.

Rockets: 2014-15 Pts/gm (6th--103.0) 2015-16 Pts/gm (6th--105) 2014-15 Op pts/gm (17th--100.5) 2015-16 (29th--106.8)

 

The Rockets were 5th in adjusted net Rating last year and 19th this year.

Quite the drop. And yes mainly on defense. They were actually #5 in adjusted drtg last year

 

You know, I still haven't heard a good explanation--not on this board, not from Morey, not from the coaches, not in the media--why so many players on the same team suddenly "regress" all at the same time.

 

Simple.
Rockets as they are currently built depends on Harden.
Harden was an MVP candidate last year because he made everyone better and helped them maximize their potential.
This season, Harden hasn't had the same positive effect.
Not a knock on Harden but the "regression" is probably closer to the role players real talent and skill level.

 

You build a championship around him by convincing him to play defense....

 

Good Luck!!!!

You would have better luck with convincing democrats and republicans to come together to pass a bill or budget...

T_Man

 

You seriously comparing once in a generation athletes to Harden? Both Hakeem and Jordan had incredible stamina and could run for 48 minutes if it was required. The only other player that comes close to them is Westbrook (overrated defender but plays at the same pace for 48 minutes).

Harden will never be an elite defender. He'll always be at best average that's why you protect & hide him on that side of the floor like the Warriors do with Curry or the Spurs with Tony Parker. We did an excellent job of that last season.

 

$$$$$$$$

Harden got paid.
Brewer got paid.
Beverley got paid.

Ariza did not but perhaps realized he is underpaid and locked in so an effort decline.

Lawson is a head case but who knows. When alcoholism is involved it can be anything.

TJones just sucks. He didn't regress just everyone finally realized what became obvious in the playoffs last year. DMo injured.

These guys got "fat and lazy" with $, other non basketball things. Draymond got paid and got better.

It's about culture. This is as true of a business, a school, etc as a sports team. Culture permeates.

The Rockets culture is diseased. The best way to fix it this offseason is by getting the right head coach in place.

Last year the culture was about "f you we can do this and were the real mvps" which worked as far as it possibly could. There was t enough talent. But the culture noisedived in the offseason. And they clearly need more talent.

 

If that's the case Morey has flat out failed.

he keeps saying how he looks for high character guys and values chemistry.

If getting paid results in players not giving a ****, those are not high character guys

 

I don't know how it's possible to measure that.

 

As for this thread... I think the way to build a chip around Harden is obvious - find as close to a Draymond Green the PF as you can.

The center position as Dwight plays it is dead. Guys like KAT are the future and he's the center version of Draymond, effectively. Get a guy like that. Keep Ariza. Find another Beverly. Like if you could clone PBev that's fine. He's not amazing but he hustles every night and you'd think one of the two of him would be on. Replace Dwight with a cheaper d and boards type center. Have a bench filed with as many versatile 2-4 guys as possible, but really SF and PF since backup 2 isn't the most important backup. This lets you play small as necessary or big as necessary.

That's the NBA today and that's what would work with Harden. Shooting a lot of threes and a top 5 % would help... Though I think at or a tad higher than their current % is fine.

The issue here is step 1. Who is that Draymond Green like player? The guy I'd love is Blake Griffin but virtually no way to acquire him.

 

I'm sure there is some cherry picker who will put out a bunch of stats regarding this. Let's just wait.

 

I think he has DEFINITELY failed in this regard. Clearly. Obviously. He's been all about arbitraging on court value. We "stole" Lawson, right? Except this is not a high character guy (or not a 'professional' basketball player if you know what I'm saying) and perhaps that persona in the locker room has rubbed off

TJones is clearly not a high character guy.

Dwight is a super nice guy... But the happy go lucky act is now on try 3 of not working. And not that there's a definitive correlation but the guy has how many kids by how many different women... Which he continues to be happy go lucky about?

DM saw the Warriors and thought I just need to add one guy and keep these "friends"'together. And it obviously didn't work because of the culture that he kept together.

"High character" guys I like on this team = Ariza, Terry, PBev, Capella, DMo

I think Harden is mold able to character. He's amazing talent and he takes to leadership and direction. See the Olympic experience For him. See him at all star games. See how he is happy to let JSmoove be aggressive even when the dude is bricking 3s.

 

Harden doesn't have to be an elite defender. But he gave effort on that end of the floor consistently last season. This year and in 2013-2014, he's not/didn't. That's a huge problem.