Love him and his impact on that 2nd unit, but he is injury prone as hell. He's 32 playing a game dominated by kids in their early 20's. I know we really only need him to be healthy for the playoffs but can we really count on that?
We have to limit his minutes, and also consider rest days for him on back to backs. The Rockets should look to adding another guard to their rotation, if they don’t trust the guys currently at the end of their roster.
The same Chris Paul that was just the player of the week and was a large part of the winning streak? Yes, we can count on him. People need to relax.
Rockets have to save Harden and CP3 from themselves. You can tell CP3 was pushing hard to continue the winning. Harden is going to push through whatever injury. It's on MDA to trust his own coaching and players that are deep on the bench. Kerr and Pop use fringe NBA talent in their systems and continue to win. MDA just has to roll with players even if they make mistakes and coach them up not keep them on the bench. 7-8 man rotations are ridiculous this early in the season. Now is the time to see who can play.
What does him winning player of the week have to do with his durability? I'm not questioning his talent I'm worried about his availability throughout the rest of the season and playoffs...
Paul one of the greatest PG's I've seen, but I don't think we should keep him if he does get injured before/during the playoffs. I don't want another Yao/Tmac thing going, it's just too much for me. I started watching the NBA because of Yao, but the injuries, it's just too much to take especially when we have a championship level team.
Morey has a tough decision to make. Save flexibility for the deadline in the hope of reeling in a bigger fish and risk MDA running his stars into the ground or get another rotation piece now. MDA is hard to shop for in some ways because he won’t play a guy that he doesn’t completely like or trust.
You're questioning his durability after be publicly stated he was OK to play and it was the team holding him back during that first stint and he leaves last night in the 3 quarter. Not sure how "I know we really only need him to be healthy for the playoffs but can we really count on that?" isn't and over statement then.
Of course it does. You know who else comes to mind, Anderson, Nene, and Gordon. You asked if we can "really count on CP3" and my answer is still Yes we can.
CP3 has always been a bit injury prone due to his style of play and size. We knew that when we got him. He’s gonna miss some games. It’s just the way that it is. What bothers me is there seems to either be a lack of talent out of the 8 man rotation, or D’Antoni has trust issues. Either Morey needs to do a better job of finding upgrades to the Bobby Browns or D’Antoni needs to start inserting them in the lineup on certain nights when guys are out. Because either way the main guys are going to get burnt out and run into the ground again like last year. GS relied on guys like McAdoo etc for the past couple years. Morey or D’Antoni need to address this issue sooner or later IMO.
We're all nervous about the durability of Nene, Gordon, and Anderson too. I simply think it would be smart to add another guard for a just in case scenario.
We need a Tarik Black type guard. A guy that doesn’t really play except when one of the 3 guards is out. A guy that MDA has at least a little trust and faith in. Because 40+ minutes isn’t going to cut it and if you listened to the MDA interview after the game; you can tell and hear that he knows this as well. Also, while not ideal since he is practically a super max player, I’m not against the idea of regulating cp3 on b2bs. It may be something worth looking into and that makes a 4th guard that much more important.
I think that is the tricky part. If a guy is good enough for MDA to trust him he probably would have a hard time accepting a play every now and then role.
If only there were a savvy veteran who was once an All-Star level PG but is currently out of the league and doing nothing. Someone about the same height, weight and relative appearance as this guy, perhaps:
