It looks like that NBA.com has a different definition then. This site might consider midrange anything outside of the paint. I was counting 2 point shots along with his midrange, I'm not even sure what they are counting as midrange/2pt but obviously at rim shots are restricted area shots and 3pt shots are 3 pt shots. My guess is 2 pt shots for this site are pain non-restricted area shots. The % is 47 if you add those two together.
And Harden signed off on it. I don't get what he was thinking if he was going to continue to play ISO ball.
Definitely. Think about it this way, if you're a defender and you're going under a pick and dropping back to the rim and Russ gets an open shot do you think "Oh, Russ shoots X% at this range! I can lay off (or I better contest this!)" Battier would, I mean, he'd study that stuff, most defenders aren't thinking about efficiency, just that a player usually makes or misses that shot. Also, PNR doesn't mean Russ has to take a mid range shot every time. It opens possibilities to drive too or pass to the roll guy. Was watching Richard Jefferson earlier and that was the first thing he said, Rockets need a roll guy. Literally no one on our team can do it. It meant one less thing for the Lakers to worry about.
Yeah, the math adds up. 2 point shots is just all shots worth 2 points - it's adding midrange plus shots at the rim. So on that site it's counting anything that isn't a rim shot as a "midrange" shot.
I feel like Capela was less about maximizing Russ but more about money and the fact that he wouldn't have been useless with a heel injury for the rest of the season. We could have moved Capela around in the lineup if it was really about WB.
See, our posts are getting way too long. I'm sure you agree lol and we are circling each other at this point. But this part of the argument I wanted to point out. It's very...VERY possible for Harden to be a +9 but also play badly. How? Because the other guys around him are playing better and carrying him to a +9. Am I saying that's what always happens? No. But that night, I think it was clear that's what happened, that the team held their ground for him, fought for him, and that yeah...Lou Dort got the best of him...but the stats say Harden played better than Dort. The only reason I bring this up is because stats do miss context. You look at that +9 and you go gee, he was our best player that night! But no one, virtually no one, saw that on the court that game 7.
Yes, absolutely 10000% yes, this is what NBA players would be doing. I think you are REALLY underestimating how NBA front offices work. This has nothing to do with individual players making decisions about efficiency, and it wouldn't be any players responsibility to research this stuff or figure it out (regarding your Shane Battier comment). This is on coaching, front offices, scouting teams, and scouting reports. They would be coached to dare him to shoot, and they would be happy to watch him do it. If a player tried to go over a screen and Westbrook exploded to the basket for an easy layup they would call a timeout and that player would get yelled at. It's the same thing the rockets did to Dort, and the same thing the lakers did to Westbrook from 3.
Westbrook AND CC Net rating : +2.2 Westbrook TS% : 50.2 Westbrook’s TO rate : 12.6 Westbrook NO CC Net rating : +5.7 Westbrook TS% : 55.3 Westbrook’s TO rate : 10.6 The team AND Westbrook were better in the minutes that Westbrook played with CC on the bench. Harden, Westbrook and CC on the floor was a +1.8 net rating. Not very good at all.
Battier, sure. You're saying that the scouting report would say a player shoots badly from a certain zone, yes, but no one is running math and %s in their mind when Russ comes off a screen. The game goes way too fast for that, waay too fast. I remember one thing Bowen would teach young defenders, it's something any youth coach should teach a player is to watch a players chest. Ball will move, head will move, chest won't move. Watch the chest. Why is that? Because everything is moving fast, it's a fast twitch sport, you don't have time to think once guys make moves, you have time to react. I can't even imagine how that is on the NBA level. The Lakers weren't that specific, they simply didn't let russ have shots going to the rim, if AD felt he could contest a midrange shot, he contested it. Also, screaming at a player going over a screen is VASTLY different than saying a player would be thinking about the PPP as Russ pulls up for an elbow jumper.
Kobe played with Shaq and Gasol who are both way better than anybody Lebron has played with besides Wade. Besides Bosh none of the players you mentioned have been described as elite talent wtf. If you think Battier and Mike Miller are elite then what about Trevor Ariza, Fisher, Ron Artest and Lamar Odom before he became crazy? KD has always played with an MVP, whether that was Harden, WB or Steph Curry. And of course Steph Curry has always played with multiple all stars and the one time he only had two, his team sucked ass and he broke his hand and sat out the rest of the season so he wouldn't get exposed. Even consensus GOAT MJ always had the 2nd best wing player in the league and prob the most well rounded superstar of his era as his sidekick. The only elite talents Lebron has played with are Dwade, Bosh and AD. Love and Irving are nothing but stat padders playing on lotto teams before and after Lebron played with them. In Irving's case his team even played better when he left LMAO.
Well, we're generally agreeing? I'm saying it is more of a thing that's decided then and there by the player. Can I contest that shot? Should I? Is it worth it to contest? Eventually, the Rockets had to learn that despite stats and math that Rondo was going to hit his open 3s after all.
Nah man nobody ever said Hakeem choked when it mattered the most. In fact nobody says Hakeem was a wasted pick no 1 even if MJ came 3rd cuz of how great Hakeem was. Harden has never played on a team that was overly favored to win but he has def played horrible on winnable games including the last game this season. I'm a big Harden fan but as good as Harden is he still hasn't reached Hakeem's level.
Yea for sure lol. He had 17 points and 9 assists, he didnt shoot great but he was still out there creating offense for us. Like at no point during any of these games was anyone "carrying" Harden. Harden was still providing offense and defense for the team. My guy, you can say whatever you want about game 7 but the fact is, it should never have come to that point. And the fact is Harden was still better in that game than Westbrook. And the fact is, we arent winning with him on our team.
Straight up. Who had the better game 7. Lou Dort or James Harden? Yes, it is also possible for James Harden to be carried and have a positive +/-, it's possible for any player, the man is human, I promise. If other guys are playing defense and hitting their shots, that makes it more likely that his +/- will be high, if they are not, it'll be negative. The entire stat depends on who else is on the floor, that's always been its flaw when judging independent player performance.
The Rockets had an elite roll guy that Westbrook’s poor shooting forced them to trade away in Clint Capela. However, I’d much rather have Robert Covington than Clint Capela in the modern NBA, so I was fine with it. Morey/Tilman’s failure was not finding an adequate replacement at the trade deadline for the times when Harden didn’t share the court with Westbrook. The one thing I will agree with you on is that the Rockets lose game 7 to the Thunder without Westbrook. Westbrook, Covington and Gordon picked up the offensive slack for the first three-and-half quarters when James Harden struggled. That said, the Rockets might have won game 6 if the ball was in Harden’s hands and not Westbrook’s towards the end of regulation.
Dude for one game any guy could look better than anyone, this makes no sense. Harden was flat out better than him for 6 games. So that one game means more than all the others? Like that is crazy. And his game 7 wasnt even that bad, he played amazing defense and was creating for other guys that game too but no one cares about that. And thats why you dont evaluate things by one game. You do it holistically and the numbers show that James Harden was consistently our best player and consistently gave us super start production. And it shows that Westbrook gave us awful production and was a net negative out there.
