Didn't think much of that. Harden will be shouldering a majority of the offense and can't use being tired as an excuse for lack of defensive effort if he wants to be an All-NBA caliber player.
Ya, I didn't think Harden was making excuses either. By the way, this jives with his stated offseason focus of improving his stamina. He didn't say, "improve stamina to play better defense" but McHale's quote seems to validate that Harden is aware that is a problem that he is willing to take steps to correct. FWIW, it's only game 2, but Harden has looked more plugged in defensively than last year for sure. We will see if he can retain that focus in let's say game 70 when he's really going to be feeling the effects of a summer of basketball added to a long season.
"When you have so much stuff going on individually, it's hard to be a great teammate and a great team because you're looking through your own personal lens, not through the huge team's lens, which is the most important if you want to win." Sounds to me like Chandler and Asik were causing some serious issues last year. My guess was that Chandler played a little too offensive minded for McHale's liking. Expecting a better team this year.
I think this applies to Lin too. He had the movie come out in October, then all the hubbub about McHale "slapping Asia in the face" during the preseason, and the crap rolled on from there, with Lin testifying about God in his life, the importance of the number 7 on his uniform, and so on.
Addition by subtraction. Lin, Asik and Parsons. As much as I would like to believe that squad last year would eventually win a championship, it wasn't happening. Dallas may be the flashy choice, and they may very well do good in the playoffs. But they're not winning a championship with that squad, they're not getting past the Clippers, Spurs, or Warriors (mostly b/c they always suck against GS). Asik looked great in his debut with the 'Cans- I'll reserve judgment until later. Same with Ariza- great now, but will he stay that way? My personal belief is: 1. Harden and Howard will continue to be who they are- a little better, actually. 2. Ariza's shooting will go down, but defense won't go away 3. I agree with most- Papa's got a feel for the game you can't teach. He's much better than Casspi- but he's not Scola yet, people. 4. Beverly concerns me- seems to be injury-prone, and he at least has to give you something on offense. 5. T Jones will be exactly who he was last season- don't see any difference. 6. Canaan will be the big difference- if Bev is out, I see him having some huge games. I think it's a nice mix now, better than last year. On the one hand, you have Harden and Howard as leaders b/c they're the 2 best players. On the other hand, the only 2 champions on that squad are Ariza and Terry. Hopefully, they continue to be vocal, even to call out the stars if they're slacking off. Championships trump everything, and by default, that makes those 2 leaders on par with H&H. The biggest difference- and the thing that I hope McHale (BTW, it's McHale, not McFail, Milk Hair, or any of those other idiotic names) continues to emphasize, is defense. Defense.
I like what we've done with Ariza and KPap. With them inthink we're actually better at the 3 and back up 3 and stretch 4. We still need a legitimate back up to Dwight. As much as I like Black, I think we need a rim protector when Dwight's not in. I hope we can bring someone in before trade deadline.
Some good defensive team is going to be able to negate both Howard and Harden for some period of time. This includes their ability to create offense for others. At that point... We are relying on Jones, Mot, Pap dog, Terry and Ariza. Probably not gonna fly in the playoffs.
jeez, TWO games in ... we're not in the playoffs yet. Let us get through December and see if Morey can do some magic. If not, it's the Feb trade deadline, although we don't have a lot of assets to offer.
Thanks, J.R., except for the reminder of what happened during the Portland series. I couldn't help but read some of the posts from April, and some were pretty good. Thought I'd add what I thought about the quote from McHale about "contract issues." Of course he was talking about Parsons. Sure, Asik had some issues as well, but this seemed aimed squarely at Parsons, in my opinion. I'm glad he said it. Now, if he'd only give our guys more plays to run on offense. The offense has looked a bit different so far, so maybe the worm has started to turn. Still way too early to tell. I've liked the effort on defense, as well.
