[ESPN] Hollinger: Evaluating the James Harden Deal

Actually his "strong suit" of driving was where a lot of the problems with Brooks came in and why he was eventually superseeded by a superior player in Lowry who could provide a similar level of productivity despite being a worse shooter.

He was a terrible finisher in that he converts at a low rate due to his size and was horrible at drawing fouls since he avoids contact (when he was on the Rockets, he ranked towards the bottom of the team in drawing fouls per attempt, not the top); likewise wasn't really a Chris Paul style elite passer on teh drive, he was very conservative with his passes and rarely turned it over.

That's why his driving ended up causing problems. Frequently there'd be Aaron hanging out on the wing, using his quickness to breakdown his man, getting under the hoop. Figuring out he can't put up a shot since it will be bolcked and doesnt' have a pass that he can easily complete (partially due to size again). So then he either dribbles or tosses it back out.

That kind of thing doesn't go down in the books as a turnover, but it basically wasted half the shot clock and forces you to scramble to take a rushed shot in the end.

That's how the Rockets were able to replace him with a seemingly inferior offensive player in Lowry and not miss a beat offensively.

 

A prime Jason Kidd was almost as bad as Lin from behind the arc.

 

if scott brooks can find a way to run his same play over and over and over and over again with three players, then our coaching staff can find a way to run pick and roll for both harden and lin. no biggie. just need more time.

 

Two words: Coach ing

Some players play better with certain coaches or in certain systems. Some coaches know how to get the best out of their players. They put them in better position to succeed. Hopefully the Rockets coaches figure out how to get the max output from their players, especially their star players.

 

Small sample size that includes Delfino being out, Lin stinking up the joint, and TD and Cook... well, they're self explanatory. If Lin can stay consistent and Morey shores up the backup guard positions, no reason why they can't stagger Harden and Lin's minutes more.

But like an above poster said, would you leave Lin and Douglas on the floor? Harden/Douglas doesn't look too good either.

 

brooks is one of the worst defensive PG's i've seen in the modern NBA era

 

What is Llull's current contract situation? How long is he under contract?

 

Like 6 years, he signed an extension

 

You can see prime Jason Kidd on NBA Classic. Yuk yuk.

The Rockets are just now learning how to play together. Lin is not going any where.

Remember when ESPN had us pegged as the 25th team in the league earlier?

 

I agree with those who say Jeremy Lin needs the full year before we even consider moving him in a trade unless of course it was for a major star. By all accounts JLin has been working tremendously hard on his outside shot and we may be starting to see the results of that work in the last couple of games. At the very least we know that players (see KLow7) can improve their outside shot thru practice. If JLin can make that improvement then he will be a terrific compliment to JHard and a terrific player with a really good all around game for a point guard.

 

After a mere 14 games, with a second year point guard, who does not even have one full season under his belt you've already decided to upgrade??? wow!

 

This is a great example of how statistics can be misleading and lead you to draw the wrong conclusions. If Jeremy Lin got to handle the ball and pass the ball to Harden during the entire sample size of Hollinger's analysis, then your conclusion would be valid. However, if the coaches asked the players to play to their weaknesses, Harden to orchestrate and Lin to spot up, and thus mess up the offensive rhythm of the team, then of course Harden will be less productive statistically with Lin on the court, as they will both be putting up lower percentage shots. Also, much of the data was when the team was inexplicably saddled with poor coaching earlier in the season, whereas I would guess that if you took out those games, and only those games (I've watched all of them) where Lin was given more freedom to attack with the ball and not just camp out at the 3 point line, that Harden+Lin would look like a statistically more effective combination.

Also, what's good for Harden isn't necessarily what's best for the Rockets. The goal is to maximize production of the team, and if that means that Harden's statistics look worse, then so be it.

 

Can someone post the full article? Thanks

 

Does anyone worry about the Deron/Joe Johnson backcourt not working? Or Kobe/Nash, CP3/Crawford, and Lawson/Iggy? A lot of teams even run a two PG lineup, including us when we had Lowry. Ball dominant guards can complement each other as long as one of them is a good outside shooter. They just take turns putting pressure on the defense.

Lin ran the pick and roll just fine last year. I'm not worried about his and Harden's playing styles not meshing, especially since Westbrook is also a poor outside shooter and Harden did just fine in OKC. Lin just needs to recover from his injury and stay aggressive.

 

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When I referred to "strong suit" I meant his capacity to shoot the stop and pop after driving past a defender closing out on him at the 3 point line.
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I do agree with you that he wasn't the best finisher under the rim and that it was probably because of his size. I do recall a lot of those instances you cited with Brooks driving in and having nowhere to go and no feasible shot to put up among the trees.
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As for the free throw shooting bit, I thought in his first few seasons (before the 09-10 season) that he did pretty well at getting to the line and converting. But that's why I wrote IIRC. I seem to be wrong and thanks for the correction.
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The point of my post was that a lot of silly nonsense had been posted about Jeremy Lin currently making the game easier for Harden. Which honestly just isn't the case at the moment.
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But, if Lin plays like he did against the Raptors and to a lesser extent against the Knicks, I do think it will make things easier for Harden.

 

If you want a point guard that can spot up and shoot the lights out, what about giving Jimmer a shot. He could possibly be had on the cheap.

I know Jimmer sucks but I have a feeling he could be helpful somewhere in the right situation.

 

I don't know about you all, but things seem to be progressing nicely. The rocky start of the season was a given, because of the total upheaval of the offense when Harden was obtained. Things are actually improving faster than I expected. Lin seems to be gradually improving (how much the knee injury is still affecting him is unknown), Parsons is stepping up his game, Asik is even better than advertised, and the PF position is no longer a black hole. Of course the West is stacked with monster teams, and when teams like the Griz become threats to win the West, the competition is obviously superior. But that also was expected.

 

I can live with Harden's line of 24/12/6. Every night. Is Harden getting to know his teammates better, or were the last couple of games flukes. I am staying tuned.

 

I like this article and agree that its time to trade Lin + Parsons and 2 Pat to the Lakers for Gasol and just let TD run with Harden because clearly the particular set of stats that are being used back this up.

 

Interesting read, I'd give them more than just a few games to judge though. Stats dont lie, but stats often dont tell the full story