Do you really believe Kenneth Faried will make a difference?

yes but eventhough he is a huge upgrade we somehow keep losing games and we won 6 in a row vs tough opponents without cp3 and gordon and we were winning even without capela

its all about mentality of harden....if he is serious about getting a win, it doesnt matter what others players are around him

he was set on winning in golden state and we got that win... the next day in Portland not so much

 

Except it did, and we would have won the series (and championship) if CP3 didn't get injured. How do you completely gloss over that mentally?

 

You are glossing over the Warriors losing Iggy bro. You can say iggy is not as important to them as Paul was to us. But it's not true. At this top level of play...EVERY PLAYER in their death lineup is crucial to making the difference against our small ball lineup. Missing Iggy forced them to scrape more minutes out of looney/bell/west and overplay the big 4.

They were up 2-1 when an already dinged Iggy went down. I could actually make a better case that losing Luc was the crucial loss to our team that prevented us from beating them.

I have glossed over nothing. Paul and his injury history are part of the equation. That's why I stated last year midseason that we didn't have enough. We needed a third playmaker for that very specific thing. We needed MORE of what works against the Warriors that we didn't have. And we ran out of gas 2 yards from the goal line, including Trevor running out of gas in that last game because his legs were gone and we didn't have an extra one of him to replace him with. We were not deep enough. And I knew that early.

Now we're in much worse shape and have NO CHANCE to beat the Warriors as currently constructed. We have lost not just one.....but two guys who were crucial to our championship aspirations because of their skill sets, Trevor and Luc, and we haven't replaced them, while Paul is another year older, we're paying Capela big money, and Gordon has pouted with trade rumors.

Luc and Trevor were CRUCIAL to our success. They had length, they were good/great switch defenders, they could defend Curry, and they could defend in the low post, and they could shoot the 3 on the other end. Because of their skill sets they woild have pushed Capela down to 7th in rotation minutes against the Warriors and we would've had a chance. And if we had had that crucial third playmaker to go along with that third Ariza/Luc we would've beat the Warriors.

Now we've got Faried and Clark to replace Trevor and Luc. Neither player is of Ariza/Luc's pedigree and neither player can shoot. And we've got Ennis who is as dumb as a box of hammers. And we're screwing around with House because we signed guys like MCW....and Melo. None of those guys replace Ariza/Luc's skill set.

And the rest of the league has adjusted more and gained ground on small ball.

This isn't going to work. Capela, Faried, Ennis, Clark, House replacing Trevor/Luc isn't going to work. Second round exit likely. First round upset possible. Adv injury Rio Harden and we could result drop to the lottery. And we'll have to get some luck to even make the conference finals.

Something has to give here. Otherwise we're pissing away another MVP season from Harden.

 

Making a difference off the court too.

 

Pretty normal, if you have three games of GSW, Portland and Memphis (or other team).

You prioritize the GSW game as most important, Portland as 2nd most important. Nothing against Memphis, what breh!

So he is spending most of his energy, poise, stamina on GSW first and foremost and then on Portland. Against Memphis he would be in Autocruise mode.

 

I'm not sure why this debate is happening in this thread. But I can't stand by and watch it. It's only possible to make this "Iggy's impact equals Paul's impact" argument using words and rhetoric. The moment we try to measure proportion of offense and defensive effect they had on their teams, it will fall apart. Losing Iggy changed their defensive schemes. Losing Paul nullified that disadvantage and deeply crippled the Rockets offense even further than Iggy's presence would have.

The easiest way to look at it is that they had 4 all stars. We had one. Both teams lost their best non all-star player, and both teams suffered for it. But the team with less depth (Rockets) missed their guy more, and lost the series as a result.

Like the past 20 years of Rockets history, it will always be "what if". But this type of argument is "Hakeem didn't have to face Jordan!" level annoying.

 

They were winning the series before Iggy went out and he was dinged. When Iggy went out we went back up. When we lost Paul they won.

If both teams would have been healthy it would probably have been a toss-up. But that earare happens in the playoffs. Both Teams are typically banged up. And that's where depth comes into play. That is reality!!!!

We weren't deep enough. We lost!!!!

If both teams had been totally healthy there was a 50/50 chance we would still have lost!

They were the better team!!

Now let's move to this season. We've gone backwards. We CANNOT beat them running Capela and Faried out there for 30+ minutes.

Tell me.... What is Faried going to do against DeMarcus???????

Everybody needs to be honest. Faried does not get us to the Finals. If he is playing more than situational minutes in the playoffs then we will go down!!

 

Dude is a beast...the perfect pick-up. Can't wait for the playoffs.

 

What a great pick up.

DD

 

im still not completely sold since he is so undersized, but i need to see this team healthy.

 

move him to small forward if caplea back to guard durrant

 

So the Warriors only have to defend 3 players on the court? No.

 

Nice pick up!!!!!!

Nice!

 

Faried remains our best 3pt shooter.

 

This dude plays with the intensity of an intimidating 7''+ center.

Still can't believe the Nets, a team in the playoff race, had him rotting on the bench.

 

He can shoot 3, we can start him at power forward and move tucker to small forward and then bench Gordon. It is a realistic way to solve small forward problem. Don't give any hope to Shampert, this guy is Ennis level

 

Humongous difference

 

paging @basketballholic

 

I didn't know he could hit 3's

 

I'm still a believer