Gogi would help restore our fastbreak attack. Parsons and Jones were quite good finishers on the break, whereas Ariza and DMo get relatively few opportunities. Dragic is like Harden in that he's a downhill monster and can take it all the way himself. We'll need those easy points but that's just gravy. What will really help us is the attention he'll take off of Harden in the halfcourt, especially in the playoffs.
The Rockets have been a really good, fun team to watch this year. But their offense is not as good as it has been the past couple of years. They are 19th in Offensive Efficiency, 17th in Points Per Game, 25th in Assists Per Game (28th in Assist Ratio), 28th in Field Goal Percentage (17th in Effective Field Goal Percentage) and 17th in Truse Shooting Percentage. True, we have dealt with a lot of injuries that I am sure that has contributed to the decline in our offense. But we have won games this year behind a concerted defensive effort and an offense that has been just good enough. Harden has been other-worldly this year, but when he sits or is trapped, we don't have another consistent ballhandler or playmaker. A lot of people think Canaan could be that guy. Maybe he could, but I haven't seen enough of it. Bev is a great player. I love the guy. I honestly think he is a great fit next to Harden. I love the intensity he brings and the toughness against the other Western Conference PGs. I really don't want to lose him in any trade. Although his offense has improved this season, he isn't a great playmaker. I am always concerned about his minutes and him being injured by playing at such a non-stop intense level. If we had another PG, either to start and have Bev come off the bench as that "energy-guy" or to come off the bench and cut down Bev's minutes and being a secondary playmaker for us, I would feel a lot more confident about this team. I'm not sure if Dragic is that guy or not. After this past week, we have enough assets to explore potential options without sacrificing our newfound depth.
lol But not a great defender. The trade off makes us a worse team but at least we would have a player that didn't give a crap about this city before he deserted us.
So you think he is a good playmaker? 4-5 assists per game on a Phoenix team that made him Nash's successor? Pretty abysmal if you ask me. Yes he is a bonafide scorer in that 18-19 ppg range, even 20 range if you give him 14-15 shots per game. And ONLY SEASON did he break out. -) Volume scoring is LUXURY for us now not NECESSITY. Just because he looks good on NBA2K15 or what video game does not mean we should have 18 ppg players on every darn position.
In a vacuum I would love to have Dragic on this team, but not at the expense of Beverley or disrupting the balance the roster currently has. I also look at it like this: At the end of playoff game, with the score tied and less than a minute to play, against GS, Portland, Memphis, LAC, SA, or Dallas I would much rather have Beverley on the floor than Dragic...without question.
lol You get over it. Dragic insisted on something he knew Morey wouldn't do so showing he cared no one whit about playing here. He got what he wanted and to get him back would mean we would never reach the finals during his return here. I want the finals myself but if many here would rather not have that chance because it would mean that we get a player that deserted us then I hope you don't get what you want.
I don't recall ever saying he was a great playmaker. I said he's a great scorer on the break and a good scorer in the halfcourt set that can also shoot. With the additions of Brewer, Smith, and Jones possibly coming back, adding Gogi would really revive our fastbreak attack. It's something that only Harden excelled at for a long stretch of this season and I think it'd be great to get some of those "easy" points again. And Dragic doesn't need to score in bulk to draw attention. A lot of people here crap on Dwight's abilities in the post, but everyone can see that teams play Harden much differently when Dwight is in the game, even if Dwight doesn't shoot that much. Dragic isn't on Dwight's level, but he draws attention like a young Ginobili would when he checked into the game. He would definitely make our offense less predictable, which it is now. And I'm not advocating getting rid of Beverley. I love his heart and hustle too, but our offense is incredibly average right now, even with most of our starters back and the emergence of DMo. Bev would still be in the rotation, possibly even as starter. You say that volume scoring in a luxury on our team, whereas I think it's a weakness. We're 4th in opp PPG (96.8) and 2nd in defensive rating. We're 10-2 in games where Bev didn't play, giving up 94.3 PPG in those twelve games, which is less than our average. If anything, our defense is great regardless of who is in the rotation and our offense needs the help.
A major part that we have a mediocre point differential despite of our good record is because 1) We are constantly shuffling our roster - new guys coming in and some going out 2) McHale's playbook on Offense 3) Flatout consistency 4) Guys like Isaiah Canaan who are among \scorers on a cheap contract are in the doghouse 5) We are in the West and in the toughest Division of the league (4 times Dallas, 4 times San Antonio, 4 times Memphis, 4 or 3 times New Orleans and Davis, Asik) And so on and so on
And your explanation for our great defense and 10-2 record in games that Bev missed completely? Why is his defense a necessity while an efficient scorer is a luxury?
The point is, "Do you want _____?" is a meaningless question unless you specify the price and the likelihood of getting him. We want a lot of things but how much are we willing and able to pay for them? Anyway, I like Dragic and wish he was with us. But I am still a bit skeptical about his all-star-like performance last season. That's the only full season he has ever played on that level in his whole career. He did play extremely well for a stretch with the Rockets. But he was not doing that good the first year he signed with the Suns. This season, he seems to come back down to earth. He is a capable starting PG for sure. Is he really a borderline star as many here assume? I am not sure.
I am not sure if that is allstar performance by design because 20 points and 5.8 assists are not top statistics I think a lot has to do with Phoenix almost made the playoffs so that is why he was in the conversation.
When Pippen and Jordan, Hakeem and Drexler, Kobe and Shaq, Wade and James were winning championships, who were the PG's? Who were the offensive creators other than the main two that everyone all the sudden seem to think we have to have? If Harden and Howard are true superstars that they are supposed to be, the only thing they need is a strong supporting cast. Guess what, they have one. Actually they have one as good or better than any of the above mentioned. Everyone needs to just sit back and enjoy what's about to happen. It's going to be beautiful.
I would love to have Dragic, but honestly we would gut our system and put us in a worse place than if we matched Parson's contract. The Rockets already are likely to not have enough cap space to resign Bev and Josh Smith and people want to throw Dragic in there as well? We would likely piss off PBev and lose all 3 players this summer, and we just traded our entiire depth away for Dragic. If this was a 1 year window I'd be all for it, but we have to plan for next year too.
So in the "Are we contenders?" thread everyone is lamenting that the offense is to dependent on Harden and stagnates when he sits. But the idea of adding Dragic is well this isn't 2k14 blah blah blah... So which is it? Do we need another offensive creator or not?
