Tracy McGrady: CP3 wanted more movement out of James Harden. Harden didn't budge.

What were the stats on our role players against the Warriors in that series? I'd be interested to know if those role players were performing as they should or were they collectively chucking bricks like I recall.

 

Exactly

 

we need more/better forwards. we need more/better forwards. we need more/better forwards. we need more/better forwards. idk how else to say this. we need more/better forwards.

 

Paul averaged as many turnovers as Eric "Stumbling and bumbling" Gordon! Paul was damn near as likely to give the ball to the Warriors as he was a Rockets player.......and that doesn't even consider his inability to beat ANYBODY off the dribble.

 

So u weren’t expecting better play from CP0 during that GS series? The least he could do is show up after Harden carried his ass all regular season as he missed his usual 20 or so games. Was the CF narrative not that he was saving himself for the playoffs? Well, the playoffs came, and he was subpar.

Harden can do more, but he pulled his weight. He was the best or 2nd best player on the court depending on how u viewed Durant for most of the series while dealing with his fcked up eye. We had much bigger problems than him starting with CP and Clint as well as bad defensive rebounding and an inability to get key stops.

 

Yes.. We are all in agreement that CP3 is aggressively washed. That isn't the argument.

 

Paul's assist to turnover ratio: 1.9

Harden's assist to turnover ratio: 1.4

Not a huge difference, especially when you consider one guy has the ability to get his own show whenever while the other probably couldn't beat Bogut off the dribble. Now I think some of Paul's deficiencies can be masked with good coaching, but Mike's already said he doesn't coach.

 

"my bad CP3; it's hard to move around effectively when I've been carrying the entire franchise on my shoulders while you were out. But yea let me go ahead and move around some more"

 

We need for ball movement (we really need better players and coaches) but Paul didn't really make a case for more touches with his on court production. I will say that his rebounding numbers were fantastic. 7 rpg for a PG is excellent.

 

he only had 5 less turnovers than Harden while not even having half the offensive burden

 

That's just pathetic. Analytics would say to not pass him the ball.

 

So we are all in agreement then. You guys continue to whine and cry about how washed CP3 and the role players are. The Rockets future will always hinge on Harden and his willingness to do a little more. a tiny bit extra. I KNOW IT ISN'T FAIR, I KNOW HE IS ALREADY DOING A LOT, but what are you going to do? Just get it done..

 

I think the issue is that we expected Paul to at least be CP3 level for the playoffs if not "Point God" level. Turns out he really wasn't even average for most of the playoff run. We've already seen that Harden can't do it alone and Paul was supposed to be the piece to at least help out. He really didn't do that though. While it's true some of that is due to poor coaching and lack of ball movement, the majority of Paul's struggles can be placed on Chris Paul's shoulders.

 

reiterated here earlier today. also stated that unless someone better than him is coming to houston, then the ball is going to be in harden's hands regardless. you'll likely end up in the same exact situation and that's games coming down to the final moments even with better talent outside of getting a kd/kawhi/lebron

 

stop putting all this focus on the tiny bit extra that Harden can do when everyone from Morey, MDA, CP, Clint, etc is fcking up all around him

CP and Clint were straight garbage for most of the series...that’s 2/5 of your starting lineup and 2 of your 3 highest paid players, but here we are grilling Harden who was 1 of the main ones who actually showed up along with Tuck and EG

 

The problem is with this kind of reputations not many if any star player will be willing to play with Harden.....

 

Harden can't do it alone but they can still do it together. As much as CP3 has diminished in ability, Harden has improved. Rockets were still right there with the role players playing like trash. I never said it was Harden's fault for CP3 not playing up to par. It's Harden's fault for not wanting to exert the energy necessary to win.

 

Harden's the easy target because he's the team's best player and definitely has some flaws. It's easier for some fans to nitpick his mistakes than accept that this team has some SERIOUS issues because fixing Harden's minor issues would be a lot easier than correcting the franchise's problems as a whole.

 

Harden is the best player in the league IMO. At least Harden has the ability to be the best player in the league. Rockets played like trash and it was still close. Harden's ability is enough to make up the difference. Stop whining.

 

Can they though? Paul is only going to get worse. If he wasn't even average this year, how will he look after another 82 games? I'm of the opinion that Harden could do every single thing you are asking for and this team STILL wouldn't advance because the other pieces just aren't good enough. Throw in Mike D'Antoni's "coaching" and you have a real disaster on your hands. At some point, the franchise has to stop hoping Harden's talents will cover all of their sins. I thought teams supported each other. Where was Harden's support in the Golden State series?