Incorrect. Beverley and Ariza are both 3/D players. They complement Harden, not Dwight. Offensively, they provide floor spacing and perimeter shooting for Harden, and defensively, they guard the opponent's best wing player. Even DMo, who has a very good post game, is primarily used on the perimeter (either in the pick-and-roll or as a shooter). Dwight's most successful years came when he was surrounded by playmakers who could shoot 3 pointers.
The problem is that D part was always suspect for those two. Ariza's career defensive rating is 104 and Beverly's is 108. Those are extremely mediocre numbers. For comparison, Harden has career 106 defensive rating. You can look at defensive +/- and same story. Ariza and Beverly were never as good on defense as they were made out to be. This year, our defense was just as bad when Harden was on the bench. Maybe some of it is on the coach, but I think we just had a fluke year defensively last season, and things went back to normal this year.
You are talking about a fantasy where Im am talking about what actually happened. Thtas the problem with most poster on CLutchfans the inability to separate what they imagined from reality. We got rid of our players makers due to Dwight. Our roster looks the way it does because we had to make so many changes after Dwight got here. The Rockets roster would look a lot different had we not gotten Dwight. We gave away young talent and guys who could create just because Dwight is here. However without Dwight we would have Asik and Parsons because we wouldn't mind spending the money on him. We would also be looking for an upgrade at power forward. Our roster is the way it is today because of Dwight.
So what? the question is can you win a championship with him. Yea he was the only one who showed up for game 5 but once again, the series as whole, disappointing. 41% shooting, 31% from three, 7.6 assists, is great except when you include 5.2 turnovers/game. THere is no bigger ball hog than Allen Iverson who played with more scrubs and still never turned it over as often as Harden did this season. I'll give it one more makeover, but if he still can't be the leader of the a championship contending team after the next revamp then he's in Melo territory. Someone who you thought could be Batman, but is really more of a Robin.
Nah Parsons would be gone anyway. Without Dwight he would've been the 2nd star, and they wouldnt even match Dallas to make him the 3rd star. Where would Dwight's money have gone? Bosh made clear he didn't want to be here,Melo visited and left, DeAndre would've never come last off-season.
Absolutely wrong. We would've kept Parsons had we not been waiting on Bosh. That had nothing to do with Dwight. Like I said before, 3/D guys like Ariza/Beverley don't complement Howard's game. They complement Harden's. That's the reality.
So you are saying you'd much prefer if Harden was a more vocal leader? Fair enough. I don't know how much of a vocal leader he is, but there have been instances where the team has said that he has become a more vocal leader. The ''they ain't even that good (GS)'' was never said to the media. He said it to his teammates before a game against them LAST SEASON in the pre game hudle, somebody just happened to film it. Pesonally, I don't get why ppl use this as an example to talk down Harden. This really was not a problem at all. He tried to motivate his team before a game. And serious question: Aren't these the kind of actions you want him to do anyway?? Motivate/be a leader? How do you know that he doesn't talk basketball with them off the court? Do you know any of the players personally?
96-97 Iverson had higher TOV% than Harden this season. Even Westbrook this year had higher turnover rate than Harden, it's just that Harden had so many offensive possessions that by raw numbers it looks as though Harden was the worst, which is not the case. Harden needs to cut down on the TOs for sure, but it was aggravated by the fact that our entire offense depends on his scoring and playmaking ability. Bring in another competent offensive player, and then see what happens. If you're going to whine about championships, at least surround him with good players. Declining Dwight, D-mo, Ariza & Beverly is not going to cut it. Are you kidding me? Even Lebron had to team up with Wade & Bosh to win rings. All the legends who won championships in the past had HOFs or at least All-star caliber players as their teammates. Morey himself admitted today it was on him that players he acquired didn't work out this year. Compare our roster to that of title contenders, and no wonder we suck. This is not a mystery, we simply lack depth and talent.
Are you seriously counting a 37 year old Jason Kidd as a HOF supporting cast? In that case, we can probably get Kevin Garnett for a pretty cheap price. That'll solve our PF problems.
10-11 Jason Kidd was way better defensively than current Dwight and was crucial for Maverick success that year. He played second most minutes in the regular season and the playoffs, averaging 8.2 assists. Not only that, Dallas was quite stacked with former all-stars or near all-star players such as Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic. Name one former or near all-star player from our team besides Harden and Dwight.
while being no fan of harden I said that in the heat of a disastrous season and playoff exit. still not confident about the future. we see next season
So 37 year old Jason Kidd was a way better defensive player than a 30 year old Dwight Howard? Ok. Stojakovic? 2011 was the last year of his career. And in 2011, Marion was way past his prime. Jason Terry? Josh Smith?
They were similar in the regular season, but Kidd was a much better defender than Dwight in the playoffs. Regular Season 10-11 Kidd Drtg 104 15-16 Howard Drtg 104 10-11 KIdd DBPM 2.1 15-16 Howard DBPM 1.8 Playoffs 10-11 Kidd Drtg 104 15-16 Howard Drtg 109 10-11 Kidd DBPM 3.5 15-16 Howard DBPM -1.0 http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/columns/story?id=6603488&columnist=caplan_jeff
10-11 Peja and Marion had better numbers than any of our bench members, so what is your point? they were still solid players and former all-stars. Never was an all-star in their entire career and no where near all-star caliber at this point.
Put the pipe down. You just used the whole "Advanced stats say Harden had a better season than Hakeem's best year last season" . Stringing a bunch of snapshots, or areas like that is grossly misleading.
ok then, explain to me how you're actually able to factor in the change of eras, how much weight you're specifically putting into each variable, and why you came to the conclusion that said variable was the best reflection. Since this is such a clear cut answer for you and the numbers you choose aren't "subjective by any means" it really shouldn't be hard.
flawed argument. the fact that my evidence is not 100% perfect doesn't change the fact that you have zero objective evidence. If I can present 70% accurate evidence, hell, even 30%, I'm still better.
