Starring Patrick Beverley This team will go nowhere so long as Patrick Beverley is our starting point guard. I've been saying this for 3 years now. I love his effort and tenacity but he's just not good enough to be starter in this league. He has an extremely limited skill-set trying to play a position that requires the most skills in the game. His shooting is decent at best when he's on, he has the worst handles out of any PG in the league including backups. He has no vision. Zero playmaking ability. No go to move. Can't create for himself and his biggest flaw is that he can't create for others either. You can be a successful PG in this league even if you're one dimensional and you're a scoring PG or a passing PG. you can't be neither. You just can't. There's never been a successful PG in this league who's only asset was defense. He never gets his teammates easy scoring opportunities. To make matters worse this team severely lacks playmakers outside of Harden so everyone else is basically useless when they're not getting the ball on time at the right spot. This where Parsons is missed. You take a look at Ariza's breakout year in Washington it comes as no surprise since Wall was passing him timely dimes. When's the last time Ariza got a real wide open 3 pointer while spotting up? All I see is off target passes where he has to either move from his area where he's spotting up, catch and dribble because the pass is off and reset and then he hesitates or is out of rhythm and fire up a brick. Even last year when Prigioni got playing time he was making plays and creating easy opportunities for other guys and the game was flowing. You could tell even at his advanced age his vision was still there and he knew where guys liked getting the rock. It's been 3 years and Bev still hasn't topped more than 3.4 assists per game and he plays like 28 mins + per game. That's unacceptable for a starting point guard in this league. Bev is like Shane Battier but worse. A black hole at the 3 spot makes the game tough. A black hole at the offensively at the PG position? Forget about it. In the past people made arguments such as "Harden is our PG and all Bev has to do is play defense and not protect the ball and knock down the open three." No. Just no.
Bev isn't our starting PG, Harden is. Beverley is a 3&D SG who guards PG's, Harden is scoring&passing PG who guards wings. We had Lawson a undeniably REAL PG with REAL skills, our system murdered him. We tried to force a 5'11 man who's not a good spot up shooter nor defender into a role that's strictly spot up shooting and defending. I t's the system, the system of Harden being our PG. In our system not only is Beverley an appropriate player, but in fact he's actually THE perfect player. Along with other similar players like George Hill and Avery Bradley. Simply getting a real PG won't fix things, simply moving Beverley to the backup position or trading him won't fix things. The only way things will be fixed is if we completely rebuild our system, and force Harden to restructure his game into becoming an off ball player again. IMO that will be incredibly difficult, and unlikely, but at the same time, still doable and probably the right step for our team. Thing is Harden has been playing his style for 4 years now, he has put up an MVP caliber season, he has been a superstar and a flat out monster with enormous success , I don't know much he willing he will be to restructure his entire game, and adapt to a completely new system when he has done so very well. What coach has the system, the vision, and balls that will make that project worth taking on not only to our organization but to Harden? What PG will implement the system along with such coach? It better be done right because if not it might just piss of Harden and set this team back further.
sad thing is the bar's been set so low now we all get pleasantly surprised and thankful when he makes a few shots and goes 3-8 from the field
Bevs lack of creativity and inability on offense has led to Harden "caring" for the rock more. Harden has led the league in turnovers 2 years in a row now and he's breaking records. Harden's assist to turnover ratio is 7.5/4.6 that is pathetic. He clearly has no business handling the ball that much. He's a scoring guard that doesn't guard wings or anyone for that matter. The reason why people were so high this off season and had such high expectations with the Lawson signing was because we thought we were finally getting a real PG. That plan was a disaster but the idea was 100% correct.
I feel like Teflon Don doesn't apply. I don't know a single person who isn't critical of the poor guy. He's a great backup pg and that is know secret. Dude will go on and get a ring by playing second fiddle and coming off the bench somewhere when he is done in Houston. I doubt he will stay long at the rate we dump people like yesterday's newspaper.
1. Mmm nope, Lin was our starting PG and he was averaging 6 assist during Harden's first year. 2. His assist to turnover ratio isn't that bad for a scorer like him, but I agree him being the PG isn't ideal. That being said just because it isn't ideal doesn't mean it's not currently the case, he is the PG, not Beverley. And I agree be shouldn't be for the sake of his career and our championship aspirations. So no disagreement really. 3. Yup but it was a disaster because of our system. Definitely not because of Beverley, nor Lawson or Harden that much, it all comes back to the system that this team runs which implements these players into their roles. Overall, like I said in my previous post, we need to change our system, this has nothing to do with Beverley. Beverley has done everything he has been asked to do. More steals then turnovers, well over a 2-1 assist t/o ratio, good rebounder, 40% on 3's at 1.7 per game 120+ total for the season. The whole be has no handle and not that great of a shooter thing doesn't hold up to his stats. Hes shot very well and does not turnover the ball, 3.5 assist in 28 mpg for a SG isn't bad either. Just saying no reason to hate on Beverley, hate the system, hate the coaching staff, hate Morey for setting it all up if you must, but not Bev.
Lawson was a disaster because he's an absolutely trash player now. Have people not been watching him on the Pacers? He's even worse right now.
Patrick Beverley, Aaron Brooks, Isaiah Cannan, Toney Douglas, Andrew Goudelock, Nick Johnson, Jeremy Lin, Ty Lawson, Scott Machado, Pablo Prigioni, Alexey Shved, Jason Terry Aren't you excited to see who we can add to this pathetic list this offseason!? Don't blame those guys. Blame that other guy or other guy!
Bev would be the last guy I would blame for this horrible season. He's one of the few players on this team that gives effort every game. He shoots 40% for three pointers. He only makes like 6 mil per year, and he's worth that in my opinion. He's not playing PG on this team. So stop calling him a point guard. Any player playing in the back court with Harden needs to be able to shoot threes and play defense. That's what Bev does. If you want an upgrade to pair with harden, the OK. But good luck finding one that doesn't cost a lot more, and will be content to do all the dirty work while Harden stands around flat footed on defense.
Bev is a junkyard dog that I'd take on my team any day of the week. If he's going to start then he should play the role of a Derek Fisher on those Laker teams. He'd fit that role perfectly. Anything other than that and he's a backup at best. The Rockets need a real offensive system so that these role players can have actual roles outside of spotting up and bricking 3s.
Anytime you see Shaun Livingston play you realize what an embarrassment of riches the Warriors have. I mean... They also have Barbosa. The Rockets need Bev. They just also need a lot out other, better players.
Shane was 1000 times the player Beverley will ever be. Battier's bball IQ is very high and knows a lot of intricacies on team defense. Beverley is just a really hard working lunatic.
This. But Beverley is never the problem. He is just a role player who can be readily replaced. According to Harden, he and Dwight are the true cornerstones. So what the team is now is on them.
Pointing to one person and trying to highlight them as some flawed player is a fools errand at this point. This team needs more talent period, no matter what the position is.
We are the cornerstones ... but don't blame us when it goes bad! That's McHale's fault! or now Bickerstaff's fault! or Lawson's fault! or Thornton's fault! or Terry's fault! or Brewer's fault!
