Exactly. For those of us, like DD and I that have watched this team for years it’s on repeat and this downfall was telegraphed like it has been so many times prior. We value this organization and we have expectations. We want certain things and know that this team can achieve it. Voicing these obvious short comings makes these stupid ****ing stans attack nonstop . I actually just stopped posting here for months
The real problem with this team is that everyone plays out of position. Our SGs are playing PGs, SF's are playing C and PFs, non-existent mid-range game, and Rockets/MDA thinks that this exploits the opponent's weakness but in fact, it is exploiting the Rockets weakness even more. Other teams readjust, but Rockets dare not to.
Not to mention we literally CUT a developing center who was getting better at shooting the 3pt shot....Hartenstein just got CUT for financial reasons. MOTHER ****ER this team pisses me off. DD
He for sure shat the bed. He pouted all year. He then pointed his fingers at James Harden who carried his ass all damn year, while being incapable of scoring on Andrew Bogut. 2019 CP3 was significantly worse than the healthy Westbrook we saw for the vast majority of this year. We got to see CP3 vs a Westbrook that hadn’t played in weeks, coming off of injuries and the coronavirus. He clearly wasn’t, and hasn’t been himself. To be clear, I think a healthy and motivated (Non-sabotaging) CP3 is a top 5 player in the NBA.
This is who Westbrook is - there are no excuses he SUCKS in the playoffs because teams play harder, and leave him wide open to build brick houses. Don't be fooled by the regular season, lots of teams suck and COAST during the regular season, if you can't do it in the playoffs, then there is no reason to trade for him. Westbrook is a bust, he is a better Steve Francis a guy who relies on his athleticism and as it starts to wane his fundamentals are so CRAP that he falls apart fast. Welcome to the fall apart phase of his career. DD
Russell Westbrook is clearly not himself right now. Not the guy you want taking a month off, and hopping in game 5 of a playoff series. Hell, he has stunk it up in preseason for his entire career. First 10 games of every season RW plays are ass. His timing is completely backwards right now and it has very little to do with LA. He’d look dreadful against some WNBA players at the moment, and that is just how he is and how he has always been. Remember how bad his decision making was to start the season? His mid-range jumper? Remember when he started to find his spots and his teammates a few months later? Welp, a combination of factors has brought him back to square 1. To generalize his play of late in an effort to sum him up as some kind of scrub is disingenuous. (RW has historically amazing playoff +- numbers, btw.)
I agree with you - it's been a good run. We had our shot but the current roster is going nowhere. Everything is downhill from now. Time to break it up. Trade Harden WB while they still have some value. Wish Harden could win a chip somewhere else
Harden apologist playing the victim card in the post season and blaming other factors again. Shocking! Do you ever think just once that maybe Harden is the issue? We live and die with his style of play and when others point out earlier (this season and previous seasons) that it’s not built for post season success you bash them and then when he ultimately comes up short you feel sorry for Harden and say things like “I’m surprised he hasn’t demanded a trade yet”. “Another year of his prime wasted”. Nobody is stopping him from doing any of the above things you mentioned. It wasn’t a problem to you before but now you bring it up? My question is how does one run a PnR if there’s no roll? How is he going to get an open spot up look if he doesn’t move without the ball, run around screens and try to find open space? I always said I wish he’d play more like Klay Thompson in terms of moving without the ball. Unfortunately, it’s just not who he is though. He’s a ball dominant ISO player that settles for the step back 3, drives occasionally or passes to a teammate with 5 seconds or less left on the shot clock. Sure it works in the regular season and it appeases the stat chasing fanbois but it doesn’t work consistently enough in the playoffs. Blaming Morey for Harden playing the way he does is blasphemous. It’s not like this is 2K20 and Morey is controlling Harden. It’s not like Harden has an earpiece with Morey telling him what to do. There’s a reason why CP3 tried to get Harden to change some of his ways. There’s a reason why the rest of the Superstars don’t pick Harden until the last pick ASW and have a laugh at his expense. There’s a reason why Jimmy buckets didn’t come ‘home’ (yes, Tomball but close enough) to play with Harden. There’s a reason why Kawhi talked about playing “the right way” in last years finals (totally a shot at Harden) and why he recruited PG. Hate to say it but other Stars don’t want to stand around while he plays hero ball. https://bbs.clutchfans.net/index.php?threads/harden’s-been-destroying-“king-james”-for-years.307023/ Every single one of those highlights you were basking about starts off with him going 1 on 1 from the top of the key. When things go well it’s Harden’s been destroying James for years. When he comes up short it’s crappy teammates and too much buying into Moreyball. Also, Westbrick ****ing sucks. He deserves a large portion of the blame. A few of us knew that already prior to the trade. Everybody knows now. I can’t even be too upset at Westbrick though because he is who I thought he was. What’s bothersome is Harden was the one guy that could’ve prevented/stopped the Westbrick trade.
Not sure if naive or delusional. He looks healthy and explosive as ever. You can blame his timing for his dumb decisions and questionable plays but you’d be wrong. He is who he is. Also, since 2017 he’s been a -22 overall in all his playoff games combined. Not surprisingly this has led to 3 First round exits and a near 4th with us.
Nope, he looks way off. Like a guy that hasn’t played in a month. Oh wait, he hasn’t! Also, -22 overall for the losing side is really great actually. No clue what you are trying to say there. Perhaps just dense?
I felt this with my soul. As a Rockets fan I have never been this frustrated as I am now with this team. May be I am giving the Rockets too much credit but I thought we were good enough in 2018 to win it all and once KD went down I thought we were good enough to win in 2019. No Warriors this year and we are looking like a team that lacks heart, energy, effort, and IQ. From the players all the way to the owner. Very disappointed man. Before the Harden era, we weren’t talented but it was led by Lowry who at least played his heart out. The Harden era we had some incredible moments but also the most frustrating moments I have ever witness since he got here.
Agree. I think the organization really needs to understand that creating a team surrounding Harden is simply not working. Harden just does not have the leadership grit to carry his team when most needed. When things are not going well he often just gives up. You can clearly see in his body language with lazy defense, turnovers, and passing up the ball. Our expectations from Harden is not aligning with reality. In my opinion, he is probably one of the best players for his position at PG/SG but the team needs another leader at PF/C that can create his own shots. Besides Harden and Covington, the rest needs to be gone! The rest are simply not starting worthy and at best are decent bench players.
