What makes you think Houston can win a title when ball hog Harden is running this team? OKC can't even win when they have Westbrook, Durant, Ibaka, and Harden on the bench. This team currently have too much liabilities. #1 - Harden thinks he is a superstar. Ball hog. No defense. If he is Houston best player and he plays a bad game like he did against the Heat in the finals, this team cannot and will NOT win. #2 - Howard is now a liability. CANNOT even shoot free throws. #3 - Asik is also a liability. Slow, low scoring, and cannot shoot free throws. #4 - Beverley is NOT a starter caliber player. There are too many games where he post only low single digit points or no points at all. #5 - And most importantly... This team will not have assists. No team basketball. Too many ISO and post ups. Sorry but you don't win championships with ISO and hero ball. It takes a team to win.
Good thread OP. I see that you couldn't include more analytic evidence to get your points across since you already brought so much to the table.
Actually I think we should just move Asik to come off the bench w Lin. They can have their minutes and points and rebounds. H&H and J&A. Then Dmo And Terrrence with either one and Casspi or Garcia for small ball line up. They are just starting the games really lethargic and slow on offense n defense. I saw the PreSeason and things were working it just got stuck when Asik came back and started with MEM and SA but those were games we needed Asik and Howard together. We can play them but not against every team. Then maybe if it doesn't work Trade whichever pieces Morey wants. We can show Dmo and TJ too. Asik may be under rated but people recognize he is a good defender and he is 7 feet tall. And Jeremy is under rated but some club might need a decent PG. Or trade Parsons he is really frustrating me with his play. Turnovers and dumb choices. Like if u see a Turn over just rewatch the game and you will see that parsons had a lot to do with it, Bad passes to Asik, holding the ball without moving, drive and do a jeremy on the air, faking a three and drive (getting a travel call or a 3 second call on the bigs) rushing passes or not looking at the ball till he has it. or Like against the lakers passing the ball to Dwight :c
I hope this is the JINX thread. If Houston wins it this year, i wouldnt be showing up in this GARM every again if i were you. And your thread will be famous forever
No one needs to be traded. It's just about better lineups, moving, and sharing the ball. I actually think DMo or Jones in the starting lineup might be a really good thing: hey, it worked like a charm in preseason even though those guys weren't top notch. DMo especially is a very active big man, can pass, sets picks, spread the floor, hits the occasional three...
We lost one game that we probably should not have. That's not a reason to panic. We are trying to use Asik and Howard together so that we can either justify keeping Asik or showcase him for to other teams to get the best trade value. It's definitely not working to our advantage so far. IMHO, we need to trade both Asik and Lin. It would be nice to package them but I think the back loaded contracts will prohibit that. It's just too clear that Beverley is better than Lin and Asik has not place on the floor alongside Dwight Howard.
Agree with trading both of them. Though in what ways do you think Beverly is clearly better than Lin?
Let me guess, your answer would be to trade Harden for Landry Fields, Howard for Novak, Asik for Tyson Chandler & play Lin for 47.5 minutes per game?
The main problem with this roster is lack of toughness and a lack of defensive mindset. We have only two-three guys really committed to defense: Brewer, Beverley and Garcia. The last two are also not coincidentally the toughest players on our team. The rest is soft as tissue and just want to score. A wing combo of Harden & Parsons is not going to cut it. I would like to mention that even though Asik & Lin are tough and can defend well, they are too nice. We simply need an edge, that Bev & Garcia provide at times, but it has to be a team thing and not just 2 players. Remember our championship teams, we had 3 tough players in the starting line-up alone who were committed to defense: Dream, OT & Max. Then you had Sam & Mario off the bench who were good to great defenders and did not back down. Herrera could also get after it so the starting and bench unit had that mentality and mindset of not backing down and understanding defense comes first. It's not that black and white though because you need the talent and right coaching, which is lacking a bit as of now. I am somewhat hopeful it can change, if either Howard / Harden starts to show some leadership and toughen up. Both are offensive minded, as much as Dwight wants to tell you otherwise, and soft.
Excuse me, show me ONE freaking thread where an OP, in his or her own opinion, would win a championship. Name me ONE Rockets player that said they wanted to win a title THIS year.
Actually, I retract my statement and demands. Vankenn, and anyone else who claims the rockets won't win a championship with this roster, originally thought the rockets were contending for a championship.
