Because he's saying that Russ needs a big man to be effective and play "like himself." And I dont agree. We made that trade to unlock Westbrook.
They are though, they were not often, and the sample size is even smaller for other lineups...which your "It's just noise" argument should come into play for those ones too...but I know you'll ignore the good russ lineups and stick with the bad ones. Also, yes, we should have played that lineup more. If there is a chance that a certain lineup gets Harden rest then that's what we should do but I guess this whole system is about getting Harden his numbers.
Russ wasn't running a 4v3 against the Lakers, they doubled and rotated, they doubled to get the ball out of his hands and just played excellent defense. They took the ball out of Harden's hands AND denied the rim for Russ, easy to do, we had no one to dump it down low on drives who would be harder to block or for oops, we just kept doing the same thing. There was a little wrinkle in game 5 though I guess lol ??? I don't care that CP3 was better with the ball? Stop comparing the two, we have to get the best out of Westbrook, he's not going to do the things CP3 did, he just isn't. Your video also explains also how...surprise! He was misused. That he was setting fewer screens and spent a lot of time floating around. Again, you guys are focused on Harden having a higher rating than Russ on the same team, Harden is the better player, the team is literally built around him entirely. There's things such as comfort, rhythm, confidence, I know mathball doesn't consider these things, but every single player will tell you it exists. That's why this team will do nothing but shoot 3s, brick 3s, and go on scoring droughts every night almost because no one does the common sense "Let me just get an easier shot to get my rhythm going again..." I think this is key because people always wonder "Why do shooters come here and brick shots?!" So "What do I mean?" I mean that Russ always had a safety valve playing with actual bigs. This whole idea he can't play with a big is some mathball BS focused on hoisting up more threes, his best years were playing WITH bigs, not without them. I actually don't care if his PPP is lower in PNRs, I care that he has that option so that when things aren't going his way, he can try and get a layup or assist get some boost to his confidence to get him going. Right now, it's all dependent on Russ ISO driving. That's not his game and in the playoffs it's just a lot harder to ISO. As we're finding. Also, yeah he got hot in the months before covid, had an injury in the bubble, one you're just thinking is imaginary because you have a HUGE bias against the guy.
He's here. He's not going away, so why not maximize Russ and your team? Are you a Rockets fan or Harden fan? It seems like the latter....
LOL. You were owned. I'm done trying to show WB can run a NBA offense because he did it. I'm done showing you how Harden and WB can play together, because they did it at OKC. You are a Harden only fan and can't comprehend the team concept.
LOLOL. We couldn't move Capela to the bench or shuffle the line up around so that Harden gets his spacing and WB gets a PNR partner? Have a little imagination.
Who is arguing that WB isn't the weaklink? We want to incorporate him to make the TEAM better ? Why are you against that?
The Harden only fans still haven't gotten over the WB MVP..... Good to see a fellow Rocket fans who cares more about the team.
I feel like people don't want anything to change because Harden gets his numbers and his stats and that's become a thing with this team. The idea that maybe we should have played this lineup more or that lineup more, that maybe Harden should have tried to be more versatile, maybe try this or that to add more variety...it gets stonewalled because "Look at his stats, look at his numbers, nothing needs to change." But the results are the results and we've seen this play out in the playoffs basically every year but once. That one year, that one almost we hang on to desperately to say that it could have worked. I've never seen a fanbase hang on to being almost-rans proudly as much. For me, it didn't work. Harden needs more rest through the season even if that makes the team a little worse and the team needs to be more versatile so that they aren't exposed in the playoffs. These two things need to happen for the team to win in the playoffs. Now, we could just roll over and change nothing and just enjoy Harden's stats or we could try to fix the situation we're in with what we have. To me, I hope Tilman tries to fix it. I don't have any faith in Tilman but I hope he's not content with this at the very least.
What part do you not get? We’re trying to show you that there is NO WAY for this to be possible. You do not incorporate Westbrook and get better. It isn’t 2015 anymore. The TEAM was BETTER when he sat. What about that brilliant post you made about his “elite” pick and roll skills that Houston ruined? That’s right. If you actually took the time to research the things you say you would realize He is NOT an elite PNR player and hasn’t been for years. Any other completely false suggestions you might have to offer? And keep acting like this out of some weird hatred for Westbrook because I carry a vendetta for him winning an MVP. Sounds like the words of someone who knows he has nothing substantial to offer anymore to the discussion so you resort to that kind of chicken ****. The only reason Westbrook pisses anyone off is because it’s soo damn obvious that he is terrible and is beyond salvaging. We have YEARS of evidence. We want what’s best for the team. Sadly, Westbrook is not what’s best for the team.
The lakers entire gameplan was to get Russ to run the offense an when he did it was a crap storm: Russ needs the entire offseason to watch film and be better with the ball. He also needs to learn how to shoot
Then Harden really ****ed up by signing off on the trade for his buddy. I really don't know what Harden was thinking if he was going to stick to his ISO ball and play a style that clashed with WB. Was his OKC teams better when he sat? You act like there is ZERO blueprint for incorporating WB with is completely asinine. I was wrong, he isn't "elite". How about a decent PNR? You act like WB has zero redeeming qualities that can be built upon. Can you admit you are wrong? Harden is much better than WB but lets not be dishonest about what WB can and can't do. Have years of evidence of what? That WB is a ball dominant non shooting playmaker? OKC literally built an offense around that type of play, can Harden only ISO ball now? WB is on the team and he's not going anywhere..... you would do well to shift your mindset and come up with solutions. I think harden is more versatile and skilled enough to play different styles while WB isn't. It's pretty clear if you want the Rockets to succeed, where the change needs to come from.
Instead of Harden "hate" why not Harden "criticism"?You can acknowledge how he carried the franchise to the second greatest era of Rockets basketball and still believe he has some critical flaws.
