[The Ringer] Kevin O'Connor Mad At Harden, Thinks MDA Sucks At His Job

Every year it was doubling that killed us? Harden has underperformed but let's not act like doubling was this secret things teams did to us every year to beat us in the playoffs, its not true.

 

Probably but it also could be because of increased pace of the 4-guard lineup. There arent a lot of adjustments to be made when your team has the kind of spacing we do while being small.

 

I think the other guy made a great point about when the rockets made their run, it was when they had all the guards on the court. Now, that lineup won't really win much but the big difference was that there were basketball players on the court. Tucker and Covington were like spot up statues out there. Rivers came in and made a difference by being a threat after the hard close out.

I expect the rockets to continue a 5 out, mostly small ball offense next year. But, my guess is they will make strides to get more guys that can attack the rim and make basketball plays.

 

That's because the ISO was working? Even now teams don't let us isolate. Offense was not our problem last year. They dont even let us isolate this year because they are so afraid of Harden. If you wanna tell me he didnt make adjustments for Harden doubles fine, but don't tell me he wasnt doing what works, which is what he always has been doing. He's pragmatic. He leans into what works the most efficiently. If he didnt know how to run plays he woulndt have led the league in out of time out plays in terms of efficiency.


Either way, we'll get to see what a "real" NBA coach does, if our offense is noticbeably better in the playoffs, I'll come find you and admit you were right, but it really just looks like Mike is playing to the strengths of our roster.

 

Do you think teams will continuously leave the most effective scorer in the league open for backdoor cuts in the playoffs ?

 

We didnt lose last year because of a double team man, where is this coming from.


You think teams would double us THIS HARD with Cp on the roster....no way.

 

Bottom line is: there is an unbelievable stubbornness surrounding the rockets brass. Harden and Morey will not change what they do to exploit what is there for them to take. It is disgusting seeing guys getting run off the three point line into a wide open elbow area, and then just standing there like they have no idea what to do next. It's ****ing laughable. Harden's lack of off ball activity is laughable as well. Of course it won't change. Harden and Morey are who they are. We will see if MDA sticks around, or not.

 

it sure is scapegoat time. the issues run absolutely deeper than harden, especially this year

 

This team has other problems besides Harden's passiveness in crucial games in closing moments. But the problem is there are many posters such as yourself that absolutely deny that this is even a problem.

 

These guys are saying essentially what we are saying, so even everybody knows what's going on except the Rockets and MDA???

Blow it all up. Let's start developing our own Herro guys. That dude is going to be a stud. A rookie!

 

We produced efficient offense from it though which is the point? We lost that game because of defense. I just dont understand why you guys arent seeing that.

 

Yolo, are you really putting most of the blame on Westbrook, a guy who is not even totally back to his pre-pandemic form due to injury? The problems with the Rockets are multifaceted and it starts with MDA.

 

While that’s true, the other take away is the fact that no one else on the team can create and score. Harden basically facilitates for everyone when he’s not scoring, and Westbrook is too erratic with the ball, not to mention he can’t shoot from the outside. This makes it pretty darn hard for the Rockets to generate points when Harden is shut down with a double team. That’s the Lakers strategy and it’s working. It’s simply amazing that there’s no other player on the team that can do anything with the ball. Hell, even OKC has 3 guys that can facilitate and score: Paul, Schroder, and Gilgeos-Alexander.

The other thing that can’t be overlooked is coaching. MDA should be playing Westbrook at the point with Harden at offguard. And if not Westbrook then you need to have Rivers playing PG. Westbrook is completely useless at shooting guard which allows the Lakers defense to play 10’ off him to clog up the driving lanes. It also allows the Lakers to double-team Harden. One thing is for sure, you can’t have Harden walk the ball up the court with four guys standing on the perimeter. The need to run more motion. The Lakers are basically chasing the Rockets players off the three-point line and forcing them into bad suits and daring them drive to the lane where they have bigger player to shoot over. This is why the Rockets aren’t shooting many 3’s.

 

like myself oh please. spare me the you know me posts. I've been one of the first to go at harden. gtfoh with that.

 

Players like Gordon, Westbrook and Rivers especially Westbrook have careers of creating plays.

The problem is when you are with Harden don't expect to practice those skillsets much.

 

it starts with WB absolutely. dude should not have been a rocket from day 1. all year its been a trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. And all year this board tried to tell themselves he was some great MVP player. All nonsense. One of the worst possible choices you can put next to harden in the modern era of basketball. dude is the exact opposite of everything the rockets prioritize. efficiency, high iq, shooting. all of that went down hill when tilman chose to be stuck with him

At this point, it doesnt matter what coach comes in. They're going to struggle when their two best players don't even fit together to begin with. give a coach and your best player something that fits, then you make progress from there. Without that, you'll never win anything significant no matter if you bring Pop, phil jackson or whoever else

How can anyone realistically look at that disgusting graphic and believe harden is the #1 problem. That's just plain ridiculous. not saying that's you because I haven't seen that unless Ive overlooked some posts