I disagree that Harden does not exert any effort on defense. Also, it is not that simple or easy. First, the teams defensive issues are not because of Harden individually, it is because they are terrible at team defense. Also, it is very hard to have to carry an offense and play good defense. Players like Jordan and Olajuwon and James are very rare. For example, look at Chandler Parsons. He is a good defender, but he has been all over the map this season defensively. Why? Well for one, our team defense is terrible, which means he is getting limited help. Further, we are running all the time, it is exhausting, and as a result he cannot dedicate as much attention to defense. Last, being asked to score 15 points a game has changed his focus. I expect Harden will be a good defender. He is already a selectively elite defender. I have seen him play excellent defense on particular possessions. However it is really unfair to expect him to do all he is doing and be a good defender at this point. If you want to see real improvement from the Rockets, hope that the team defense improves. That means that Lin has to be more selective gambling and free lancing, his teammates have to know when to anticipate a switch or when he will go for a steal. That means that Parsons has to be more consistent guarding his man, and have the confidence to rotate and know his teammates have his back. Harden needs to fight through picks and have consistent effort. Playing defense 50% of the time will not work on a good defensive team and we need a power forward that knows what the hell he is doing (sorry TRob) and can offer some defensive post presence (sorry DMO).
since Mchale always experimenting,why not do this,just experiment to have 2 PNR's at the top of the key most of the time,make Jlin as the main PG and Harden as the shooting guard,anyways Harden will get his number no matter what,just give Jlin the key to run PG ,Morey and Les got here in Houston to do that job anyways,and for christ sake he's 25m$ man but the coach play him like P Beverley.oh yeah what I noticed in every game P Beverley has more freedom to shoot and commit mistakes,LMAO!One more thing I hope the coaching staff will have a set plays after time out, probably it won't happened coz there is none.
Its all about making the smart play. With a shot blocker on him, a pass would have gotten us a higher percentage field goal. He is trying way too hard to put the game on his shoulders.
#1 Arenas was a tweener point guard and not a SG. #2 Arenas NEVER had a WS% as good as Harden has had the last two seasons. Indeed their career WS are very, very different.... not even in the same ball park. #3 Arenas did not create for other people, and that is reflected in the advanced statistics, Harden on the other hand does create for others. Simply stated, Harden and Arenas are vastly different players....
I didnt turn on anyone, although I can see why you would think so. Parsons was just BAD down the stretch. As for Lin, he disapeared. As for Harden, #1 he cannot always be the only player making buckets, but when he is not "on" someone else needs to step up... and on this team, the Rockets 2nd and 3rd best offensive players are Parsons and Lin. Harden was hurt, and Asik is not someone you can count on to score. Also, if you look I ripped Harden also, saying that the 5-8 turnover 3-4 game run he has every month is getting really old. Parsons tried to do too much and Lin was too passive.
Absolutely. I never understand why Delfino and Harden pass up open three and go for some circus shots. Well, especially Delfino. At the same time whenever Harden has the ball, he gets doubled up all the time and his penetration opens things up for the other Rocket players. But Harden drives to score. Passing is not his first option. Hence he commits more TOs because when he drives and passes, he is almost always forced to do so.
No I didn't ...... I also picked on Parsons and Harden and said Robinson was clueless... Maybe you did not see all my posts.
Not fair to expect Linsanity again, but he has the ability to be a 14-18 point a game player that gets 7-9 assists a game with decent defense and good hustle. He just needs more consistency throughout games and from one game to the next. He is close to being what he is capable of being, it just gets frustrating, hoping he breaks through soon. Someone like Morris is not frustrating, he just sucks, Lin does not.
Well, I guess it's hard for him to do that if his coach keeps bashing him by describing him as a "home run hitter" -- not in a good way, and "would rather take 29 points and 9 TOs" at the cost of a team win. If would be hard for anybody to do that if one is viewed by many as not even the second option, but the third option for initiating offense.
Harden was at the rim and ready to throw it down. Sanders was trailing him by a step. I think Harden made the right play in going strong to the hoop. There were many plays that Harden should've dished off the ball but that play last night wasn't one of them. In fact, sometimes I wish Lin would just shoot the ball instead of forcing a pass. The smart play on the court is always the simplest play.
Harden needs to start moving WITHOUT the ball. Every time he catches the ball the movement stops and he goes into iso mode off the pick. Hope he expands his game this offseason to add shooting off screens to his skill set.
Actually those TOs is WHY we lost the game. I can remember that Harden had 2 TOs that led to 4 points. That's the game RIGHT THERE. But even still, there were other TOs from those 2 that led to even more points. This plus the missed FTs.
I dunno, I'm just tired of seeing our starting PG disappear for games, and us losing painfully during that stretch. Whatever the reason, it needs to change. This team pisses me off because every time they have a chance to do something good, they shoot themselves in the foot. We still have a chance to turn it around, but I'm not optimistic.
That's selective memory. Just about a week ago they did well against the thunders, held off the come back in Brooklyn, you call shoot themselves in the foot? It's ball game, **** happens.
You are telling me that Harden taking it hard to the basket with a shot blocker trailing him is a better play than passing it to Parson for a easy bucket?
When you are going at that speed, yes. He was about to dunk the ball. Why risk a TO when you are inches from the rim?
That is my understanding as well, yes. Wrong. Once New York didn't match, the cap treatment of the contract was set. Any team trading for Lin--even New York!--would get the same cap treatment on Lin as the Rockets do. Also, the Arenas Rule has nothing to do with getting players from large markets to smaller markets. In fact, in this instance, the Arenas Rule was there to protect THE KNICKS! It is a mechanism that allows the Knicks to match the Rockets' offer sheet. Without the Arena Rule, New York literally COULD NOT match the Rockets offer sheet, since the Knicks did not have (a) Lin's full Bird rights, (b) the necessary cap room, or (c) a salary cap exception large enough. I'm sorry for sounding condescending (let the criticism of me begin!), but please, please, PLEASE don't assertively answer a question like this if you don't actually know the answer. At least qualify your response that this is what you THINK the answer MIGHT BE but you're not sure. (I do that all the time when I'm not sure of something.) Stuff like this is why many posters on this BBS get confused over these technical rules.
