Someone needs to talk to Harden. His project this summer is to develop a catch-and-shoot off the screen. And do some running drills.
I'm pretty sure he's fully capable of doing this .... IF asked . He was a great off-ball player in OKC . You'd think after getting CP3 , the coaching staff would want to utilitize that part of Harden's game . I also think that harden choosing to slow down the pace is a myth . We were a high pace team under mchale and in MDA's first year . It wasn't until MDA started thinking about 48 min of HOF pg that we slowed things down . Harden in transition is unstoppable . I have no idea why we started slowing down . But , I don't think it was James' call . After all , we played pretty fast (relative to league) even when we had to feed Dwight to keep him happy .
our pace has been pretty consistent the last couple of years. I don't think this is really something new. playing with pace has been this team's identity for quite some time
Our pace relative to the league has been dropping . To me "pace" is a bit of a misconception A lot of times coaches and players use it in a way that means "imposing our will" Like when CP3 says "we played at our pace" he doesn't mean a specific number of possessions per 48 .... he means we were the aggressors and the other team was responding . The statistical pace also has to do with how other teams are playing . If both teams are trying to play fast the "pace" of the game will be higher but the stat won't tell you which team was more aggressive . In a given game , one "pace" stat is generated for both teams. When's the last time you've seen James go coast to coast? Remember how often that happened in 14-15 ? IMO MDA is more concerned with space than pace and therefore instructs harden or Paul to mozy up so shooters have time to be in position. I remember a lot more fast breaks during the mchale years than I remember the last two with MDA . All this to say , we aren't a high tempo team anymore and I think this is an active decision by MDA
yeah a ton of teams in the league decided to speed their pace up. I've grown so use to houston being a bad fastbreak team that it just became a norm to me.
Right . But we weren't always a bad fast break team . Especially from 12/13-16/17 But the rest of the league has increased their pace of play and now it seems we are the team trying to slow the game down and be deliberate . IMO this is a big mistake . You have two of the smartest guys in the game in James and chris . They should be able to make fast decisions .
How is it not Moreys fault? I believe 100% the rockets would win if they implement more unpredictability in the offense. Eliminating mid range puts a huge amount of pressure on the shooters. Defense know how to game plan every year... If this was even a quarter of the variability of the suns days they would win with the talent today. But if you guys want to keep wasting prime years of players on hoping next year they make shots, then so be it.
probably a mixture of the ball being in the hands of harden/cp3 more often. and also the players on the floor with them. most of which aren't particularly known to get out on the open court and finish
Yes , I think our ( lack of) athleticism on the wings hurts us here . I know he's dogshit now, but 12-13 parsons was a pretty good player who could run and finish on the break as well as make the right pass. Ariza was old . PJ is old and not a super athlete. Ennis was our attempt to get running i guess. We need youth and athleticism BAD and i do blame morey for that. But i also blame MDA for not giving our young guys more run over the years.
yeah parsons was probably our last wing that was versatile and athletic enough to be a threat off and with the ball. ever since then its been guys who are more limited placeholders surrounding our guard play.
Actually it’s the opposite. D’Antoni tried to get them to play faster but they wouldn’t listen. Harden/Paul like to slow it down. Now he’s regressed to going on record saying he doesn’t even coach Harden. How can a supposed offensive genius possibly have nothing to give a player as talented as Harden offensively? He’s a trash one-way coach with no balls. The Kevin Martin of coaches.
Agreed However our more recent forwards have also been way better defenders. Just goes to show you how rare it is to have a guy who can do everything, especially on the cheap.
You dont see adjustments because you guys dont actually pay attention. you know what, nvm, Im not going to bother with this anymore.
