Hey man, I still trust him waaaaay more than Melo. I think he could have been better than even Ariza.
You know I think you are on to something. A balance between defense and offense is key to maximizing the teams players. Green and Melo I think would play better with Chris Paul opposed to EG.
It's almost as if professional athletes say stuff that sounds good in interviews without really meaning all of it.
They were also supposedly hungry and motivated in 2015 after losing to the Warriors in the WCF and literally quit on their coach within the first few weeks of the season. I'm not saying that's what'll happen. But some stuff that worries me aside from obvious issues like Bzdelik's departure are things like: 1) Harden's motivation - He finally got his coveted MVP award after being denied it 2 of the last 3 seasons. Will he have the same drive(literally) this year? 2) Capela's motivation - He may not have gotten the max deal he was looking for, but he still got paid this summer after making rookie wages for 4 years. At age 24, he still has a lot of room for improvement, but does he still have that hunger we saw last season and especially in the first two rounds of the playoffs? 3) CP3's age - He's 33 now. Even if the drive is still there, will the body cooperate? And Paul has a history of eventually rubbing teammates the wrong way. We're only just beginning his second season with the Rockets, but does that become an issue here like it did with the Clippers?