Millsap and Howard have made peace and are really gelling with DS right now. And they have outstanding coaching. I like that team. Will be following them in the playoffs. They could make it to ECF past both Boston and Toronto.
TS% isn't everything. Anderson isn't burdened with having to create his own looks or create for others on this team, Millsap does both. What does tougher conference have to do with anything when Ryan's only scoring 13ppg on mostly spot up shots? Anderson is extremely fortunate to be on this team, his role is much easier. Compare his four years in New Orleans to Millsap's four years in Atlanta. His TS% of 54.4% there suddenly isn't so sparkling compared to Millsap's 55.2%. Not to mention Millsap's assist averages are triple Anderson's, but I guess assists don't count for offense.
Anderson will be near useless in the playoffs. Millsap is a serious upgrade. But in the end he doesn't matter and doesn't make a championship difference. So you can make the move so long as you still have an opportunity to upgrade again next year.
Stating that Anderson will be near useless in the playoffs is a ridiculous statement. You can never have enough shooting and Anderson can get his off from just about anywhere on the floor. Anderson will have open looks, teams will be keying on Harden and Harden will find him. How many open looks did the team get last year? Quite a bit, they just didn't have guys that could knock them down with any regularity. No way do I want to go back to that mess. Anderson is not a perfect player, but I couldn't really care less. If the Rockets could upgrade, I'm sure they would, but he's perfect for this style of play. I think the team would be fine if we could get a secondary ball handler/creator/shot maker and a big.
I get his point, but can also see the reverse point. Which is, if they were both on the market, then the Raptors can easily just say to one or the other, here's our best offer, take it or we'll go to the other team to get that PF. And the trade deadline is still weeks away. Plus, Millsap and Ibaka are different players. Ibaka has been slowly declining, is unconfirmed on age, and seems to be a bit more of a flight risk in the offseason. Millsap is old, but is performing as he has for years, if not better, and one might assume if paid he'd be happy to stay on whatever playoff team he would end up on. Hawks clearly aren't getting great value for Millsap. For the Hawks its about keeping him and letting him maybe walk for nothing, or getting an Ibaka like return for him. It's certainly understandable why they might say keep him... but its an organization that lost Horford for nothing and traded Teague away for the ability to draft Taurean Prince... so who knows what they want to do or if it will make any sense.
Anderson's stats go down by more than 50% to a lousy 5 ppg in the playoffs. It's proven. It's on paper for anyone to see. But even worse is that it's not hard to figure out why. You just hug him. Guard the 3. He literally cannot do anything else. Harden makes no difference to this. It does create 4 on 4 and so there will be some spacing benefit to the others, but you just traded 3 points for 2 at best, you are down one player on offense. Just doesn't work against an intelligent opponent especially when Houston relied on those points all season, and he gives you no defense or rebounding, so he's dead weight come playoff time and forces to the Rockets to become something they haven't been all season, a 2 point crawling creature.
LOL what? All Anderson has to do is spot up and shoot open 3's. The Hawks depend on Millsap to create his own shot and for others. Anderson isn't anywhere near the offensive player Millsap is. Anderson does nothing but spot up. Millsap can shoot from outside, he has a sweet mid range, and he also bang in the post. Not to mention his almost 4 assist per game. You have to be a total noob to basketball to say Anderson is better than Millsap on offense or defense.
A lot of truth here. I think Anderson is better than 5 ppg for us in the playoffs but your points are valid. Defenses are going to take away the 3 and put long athletic, physical defenders on Harden. Must playoff opponents will have a monster center to help pnr defensive effectiveness. And they'll gladly give up the pull up to Harden who sucks at pull ups while taking a ton of them. The problem with all three of our perimeter starting shooters is that none of them can do much beyond catch-and-shoot. They play right into Harden funnel. Without Gordon on the floor with Harden we have nobody else that can take the basketball and make a play or cut back door. We will be fully exposed and gutted in the playoffs without a series upgrade at the 5 defensively and without more playmaking and multi-faceted offensive threats around Harden that have more game than just the spot-up. It really would be best to move Anderson and Capela for a great defensive 5 and other perimeter shooters/playmakers but I seriously doubt Morey can get it done without Harden obstructing and stopping the deals from going down. Harden has not experienced enough sting from losing in the playoffs yet to allow us to move further in the right direction with the roster. He's having this marvelous individual campaign that is clouding his judgment on what we need to do to win it all. He'll have to get stung back to reality with another tough playoff exit before we can move forward. (And I really wished I was wrong about this. But I'm not. I can tell from his rhetoric that he's simply not there yet. Still too immature.)
Millsap can create and make something out of nothing. It doesn't matter where he is on the floor, he can score. On top of that, he doesn't mind playing physical. While Anderson can only do one thing, and can't do it by himself. He has to be set up 99% perfectly otherwise he won't throw a shot up. Dude's scared of physical contact and is indifferent to certain game situations. I'd love Millsap but no chance realistically
He's also old and wants to get paid 30M. I said it before if Millsap was all that **** how come Atlanta is not a consistent ECF threat? Being able to create and do something doesnt matter when ur shooting just 54% TS. Thats his career low btw he's 31 and on the decline.
Hawks and Millsap went to ECF in '15, same as James Harden, in less seasons with the Hawks than Harden on the Rockets. Millsap is a 4 time All-Star including this season, and well earned. He just gets it done on both sides of the floor. He's underrated on steals and blocks. If its using an advanced stat to give value like true shooting, Millsap has long been an advanced stats darling. But yes, Millsap is an upgrade though still a bit of risk comitting money to him him when his performance has dipped a little. Gives reason for age related decline.
If you have some sort of insider info, please share it with us. The rest of your post was right on key but you ruin yourself when you insert this tinfoil hat BS into your posts about Harden obstructing things. Do you realize how crazy that is, man? Be better than that, BBholic. You're one of the better posters here when you stick to the facts while avoiding the speculation side of things.
After reading numerous threads and countless posts on this board, I have come to one undeniable conclusion: Quaalude usage is rampant amungst our members.
Dude, Harden is next to Les in personnel decisions. Everything gets run by him. They don't make a move without his approval. I don't know where you've been. But this has been going on for awhile. They've even confessed it. He's involved in every roster decision.
Nothing wrong with him believing in his guys. And tbh there's not really many options out there to be made that would greatly upgrade Capela and Anderson. You have to remember that this is Hardens 2nd year really having his own team. Dwight might have stunted that department of his growth. This team needs another superstar/allstar or two my Gordon level players to really challenge GS. However I do think as constructed we can hang with any other team in the wcf and that's enough for me this year.
I think we need at least another all-star to compete with GS at all. They have two MVPs, two more all-stars, and Iggy and Livingston off the bench. We are too reliant on Harden to create for everyone. He's amazing, but he's still human and has energy limits. Every time he goes to the bench we have to pray the bench can step up. Two stars, surrounded by smart role players that can shoot and defend, are good enough to compete with anyone. My hope is that we can add another playmaker this offseason. It sucks that we're so outclassed by just one team in Golden State. We are better than, or can compete, with every other team in the league, even San Antonio.
