Harden is averaging 4.7mpg less after Brewer, Ariza 7mpg less

Honestly when brewer, terry and smith are on the floor I actually feel comfortable with our second unit as terry has been sort of a diamond in the ruff.

 

to bad brewer is going to get paid this off season

 

Ummmm.....

Cleveland
Knicks
Jazz
Nets

Wake me up when I get to a good team.

And to be fair, the Rockets haven't been bad against good teams. They certainly haven't been great, either...

But all of the last 4 game stats are meaningless.

I put a lot more credence in the after Brewer stats. We're at least looking at a 12 game sample size there... but still not much significance. The sample size remains too small. But he does appear to have solidified his role of the bench, solidified his minutes, etc. so I have some faith that trends will continue as far as having the better bench - with Smith, too.

I have little to no faith in the overall capabilities of the team against good competition. We'll see. Really looking forward to the Warriors games. The Thunder game not so much - too much disparity between the two teams with regard to rest leading into the game that should have an impact on results on that one.

 

I'm sick of you repeatedly saying this!

 

Good OP.

Now if we could just add a 2nd playmaker that would allow us to sit Harden and Ariza for entire games. We also could use a 4th quality front court player. If any of Howard, Smith, DMo go down, it would really throw our minutes out of wack.

 

Really happy. dropping the mpg is crucial IMO. Abd it's showing dividends already. Still would like a quality backup 5 other than dmo to go up against the big bodies like perkins etc...

Really curious add to what morey does this deadline. IMO i wouldn't trade any starter, brewer, terry, smith. Leaving shved, kpap, as our contracts and canaan, johnson, capela as our young assets. With dorsey being a waste of space.

 

Always great to play with someone who is ecstatic to be there with you.

This is Corey Brewer after escaping the Minnesota Timberwolves:

 

100% agree except the Rockets don't necessarily need to rest Harden for entire games. Same for Ariza.

Also, the 2nd playmaker isn't just needed to rest Harden, but also to play WITH Harden at the end of games when opponents double him up or the offense goes stale.

 

Excellent. Resting starters.... Spurs would approve

 

Can't put a premium on getting those guys rest while also having guys good enough to maintain leads

 

Brewer was a fantastic pickup. I love the way he pushes the tempo at all time.

 

Someone on this board made fun of me for saying that Harden and Ariza were tired and needed 3 or 4 minutes less a game. They were saying that, that 3 or 4 minutes is not a lot of time but my point is if you've ever played ball before those minutes help you rest and get your second wind sometimes third. I'm glad I'm being proven right. I don't want Harden to be run into the ground by playoff time.

 

Agreed but also not sure about entire games at least while Harden and Ariza are playing well. The return of KPap has somewhat coincided with Brewer being in the rotation which has reduced Ariza's minutes and he is an excellent glue guy for the bench that should only continue to improve. Brewer/KPap/Smith/Dmo have shown pretty good chemistry so far and I think DMo and KPap will enjoy playing together.

If we were going to sit Harden or Ariza ever, I think tomorrow's game against Orlando would be ideal so they can be fresh against OKC on the 15th. Will be a tough back to back but Ariza will have his hands full against OKC so I think McHale has got to consider sitting him eventually. Not sure if he will which will be fine by me as long as they keep their minutes down like they have been.

As for the 3 man PF/C rotation you speak of, having Jones back will help that tremendously. I hope we find a way to get him some minutes once he is healthy (soon?) and can possibly have a 4 man rotation with each guy playing between 20-30 minutes in 5-6 minute spurts to stay fresh all game. DMo and Jones and Smith to an extent run the court so well that they could tire out some opposing PF/C's.

 

Saying what? You mean this? Brewer was a fantastic pickup. That bench is becoming a strength for the team which is a huge turnaround from earlier in the season where you'd pray that they could hold a lead until Harden came back in.

Ok, I promise never again to say that Brewer was a fantastic pickup. That bench is becoming a strength for the team which is a huge turnaround from earlier in the season where you'd pray that they could hold a lead until Harden came back in.

 

Does anyone think his assist and rebound numbers will go down? They have been these last couple games. I wish he would stay focused on rebounding and assisting too. He needs those numbers to win that mvp award..

 

Kudos, I'm happy to see this too. In fact, given how dominate Harden can be, having 20% more of him on the court after being rested might be better than any other addition of a playmaker we can make in trade. I hope we hold onto Brewer after this year. KPap and even Terry don't provide as much relief off the bench as Brewer.

 

Hopefully Jones can be that guy for us. Anything new about his recovery? Last I heard (around Christmas time), he was estimated to be out at least 4-6 more weeks.

With that timeline in mind (and another month to get in game shape), he should be ready to contribute to this team in late March as we make our playoff push.

 

I don't think Brewer deserves all the credit.

Adding Brewer and Smith, as well as the improvement of Donatas all have allowed McHale to rely on his bench more. People forget, but before LAST year McHale said he wanted to run a 10-11 deep rotation, that he was a believer in deep rotations (like they had in Boston when he played).

As far as Harden's improvement, his shot was off early and he is rounding into shape. Also I have the Harden Rule.... whenever you put limits on him as a player, he some how exceeds them.... when he came out of college he was viewed as a possible 15-16 point a game shooting guard..... he goes to OKC and is viewed as a long term key starter but nothing more than occassional all star. He goes to Houston and he looks like he can be a Mitch Richmond level player.... then it looks like he will never defend and had off the court issues..... then he defends, shows up and plays hard consistently and is leading the league in scoring..... you just cannot really limit what he does or doesnt do anymore.

 

In that case, I say Harden cannot get a ring this season :grin:

 

Yes. And that's significant. If we can get Harden's MPG down to around 32 and still win, that will even be better. It's mind boggling this guy still scores 30 points and dish out 6, 7 assists in around 34 minutes.