I think the opportunity here for Harden and the rest of the Rockets is to actually become better by leaps and bounds. Harden was the man but he also took a lot of senseless step back 3’s and bad shots when strapped with minimal help. With Howard on the team he can dump the ball off to someone and create off the ball opportunities for himself. You correctly pointed out that the drives will most likely be reduced but I don’t think it will be by much since pick and roll is still useful and I can’t imagine the Rockets abandoning the transition game entirely. Ultimately the case for a much stronger set of individual players comes down to one simple statement, to me anyways. Diversity. Dwight becomes the focal point of the offense and we know he can put up the coveted 20 and 12 and lock down the paint in the same turn. Where it becomes a gem, however, is that a guy like Harden who wants to be even better will take a hit to some scoring numbers (Less than we’d expect, honestly), see an increase in his assist totals, a reduction in turnovers (Come on, dump to Dwight, problem solved), and can now focus on improving on the defensive side of the ball. I had to make the case constantly that Harden’s defensive woes more or less centered around his requirement of shouldering the offense. Now that that burden has been alleviated he can commit to the defensive side of the ball more than he had the luxury of last season. All in all I think adding Howard made everyone around him better. Harden is now side by side with another alpha dog and they’re in touch with each other talking about how to maximize the strength of their games. I have no worries about either of them.
i will say it this way. neither of them can win the title by themselves. they must work together and improve their game.
They will be equally important to this franchises success. LOL Harden scoring numbers will increase as well. You can best believe he working to improve his game.
w/out Disney Land there is no Disney World. And w/out Harden there is no Howard. So? Give credit, always acknowledge and salute, what brought forth what from where there was no what.
I feel like our team is very underrated by the experts who pick us to be between the 4-6 range. Were not getting Laker Dwight. We are getting pre-back injury Dwight. Arguably the most dominant player in the league to pair with James Harden.
I think you're spot on about Harden, but I think having Howard will actually cause a similar change in Lin's role. I think Lin will be featured MORE with the addition of Howard, despite Howard demanding more touches than Asik. What we need is Harden to be our Closer. He will get his Isos and PnR duties throughout the game, but for the most part, he ought to play off the ball to conserve his energy and to improve his efficiency even more. He no longer needs to shoulder the offensive load and be "the man" the same way he did last year. This means he'll be fresher at the end of games and can really turn it on when we absolutely need him to. With Harden moving to a less ball-dominant role, this opens up Lin to be a more primary ball handler. This is KEY to improving the team as a whole as Lin is very good on the PnR and when he has the green light to make decisions. His PnRs will be more effective with Howard to dish off to. Lin can shoulder the playmaking duties for the first 8 minutes or so of the first 3 quarters before Harden takes over as our closer.
I expect everyone to be improved: Asik, Lin, Beverly, Harden, TJones/Gsmith, & Parsons YOUNGEST TEAM in the league last year Remember, these guys were mostly, for the first times in their career, given significant and starter minutes all year There would be improvement but with Howard, I believe we'll see a multiplier effect on that improvement rather than just a linear improvement based on experience I also think the analysts are really downplaying what the Rockets will do. 45 games in, we should know what we have. I think Harden and Lin will be the two biggest benefactors of Howard's arrival. It's gonna be a great season.
I agree. The way I see it, only two teams are a threat to us: OKC and SAS. And we could swing ahead of either or both of those if Westbrook doesn't come back well from injury or age finally catches up with San Antonio. Some of the BSPN guys talk like the Clippers are a sure thing to be better than us, which I think is nonsense. The Clippers tied for 4th/5th seed last year and got decimated in the playoffs. They haven't improved that squad much, if at all. And the talk that GSW will be on the same level is equally stupid. We were already nearly as good as them last season, and they are a MUCH older team than us with less room to grow--and that's not even mentioning Steph Curry's glass ankles. If free agency hadn't happened I think we'd still be better than them. Well, free agency DID happen, and we got Dwight Howard while they got Andre Iguodala. We're gonna crush them even harder than we did in last year's regular season games. All these so-called experts truly underestimate the strength of this Rockets core. If OKC had gone down at the beginning of game 1 instead of playing all of the first two games, I think the Rockets would have actually won that series. Well. We just added Dwight Howard, and they're getting Westbrook back while subtracting Kevin Martin. IMO we just pulled even with them in talent level.
Yup, Harden is definitely the better scorer off the pick and roll, but JLin is the better and more willing passer of the PnR, and Dwight is gonna want at least 15 shots a game...no better way to get him those shots than a perfectly placed pass from JLin, hah!
harden is the future trade dwight for some young talent to fill out the roster... hes a knee injury away from being untradeable
Need both but Harden more important. They're going as far as he takes them [or how often he shows up].
Howard has clearly lost a step or two. What used to be the third row is now two automatic points for Howard with all those goaltends.
Both those guys need to learn to play together or it'll be a long offseason. They are both important. Both really need to step up their two man game.
