But one ball and two many alphas won’t work blah, blah.. what these fools forgot when Chris was healthy in his first year it worked just fine last season Paul was never healthy
It's weird how CP3 was never healthy in Houston but all the sudden he's healthy all the time in OKC and playing amazing once again. It makes me think if him playing so poorly last year is he really had beef with Harden behind the scenes or maybe it was Harden's fault for not letting CP3 take charge. CP3 excels when he has the ball in his hands, Harden should've (and still should) learn to how to play the traditional SG. I guess all these years of ISOing has him set in his ways now.
Lol Harden is so much better with the ball why would he defer to Cp3? That would make Cp3's stats better but make the team worse cuz the worse player has the ball instead of the MVP. This is like saying Jordan should have deferred to Kerr so Kerr can put up better numbers. Also this is why I believe the combo of Harden and WB is better than CP3 and Harden, Cp3 is straight up an inferior version of Harden. There is no value add when they are together other than Cp3 being a great 3 pt shooter. Oth WB adds athleticism and fast break offense which Harden doesnt do which gives the team another dimension. In the playoffs when opponents can stop Harden they can stop Cp3 too cuz the two of them do the same thing. But now t Opponents need to shut down analytics offense but they also need to contain WB and his athleticism cuz he thrives off chaos on the court and broken plays.
I guess the rationale is you get more production as a team when cp3 is playing at 100% potential (handling the ball all the time) and Harden is playing at 70%(playing off ball) than if the things were set up differently and harden is playing at 100% potential and cp3 at 30% .
Yeah let’s allow a inferior player like Paul take over. It’s no coincidence the rockets last year went on their win streak when Paul was on the sideline injured.
Harden in ISO has one of the highest scoring averages per possession of any player in any high volume scenario in history. But yeah, let's do less of that...
so what? the rockets havent exactly missed wb when he sits out. is the logic still the same? nah probably not for you. is anyone claiming cp3 is better than harden? doesn't look like it. yeah the "inferior" player still came and provided hou with its best runs to date since the 90s. who gives af who defers to who. if theyre on the same team and somethings working it's the willingness to sacrifice is what makes a team work.
No one is discounting the value that Paul brought. Harden + Paul nearly won it all with Harden playing ISO ball and Paul conforming to Harden's game. We're saying that prioritizing Paul or WB over Harden is foolish. Harden is the cornerstone that the rest of the team is built around. Asking Harden to change his play style to accommodate an inferior play (which is every other player in the NBA) would be stupid and result in an inferior team to the one that almost won it all 2 years ago.
plenty of people are discounting what Paul brought and did here. the amount of shade hes received is ridiculous. who in the world is prioritizing who over harden. if anyone is doing such a thing, no way should that even be taken seriously star players defer to others all the time. they're not amazing every single minute of the day. that's just a impossible task for anyone. that's why you have an actual team and have a makeup of guys that fit and compliment each other.
No it's more like the opposite. Chris Paul can no longer play like Harden in the rockets offense. It's too taxing on his body to iso like Harden every other possession. The MDA system puts a lot of pressure on the ball handler to create for themselves out of nothing, CP just couldn't do it like he did in 2017 anymore. If you check his PPP on Iso"s in 2017-2018 vs 2018-2019 the drop off was significant. He was elite 2 seasons ago that's why we were a championship favorite
That's a crazy stat considering everyone on there are role players outside of Middleton I guess who is more like a star role player though. Probably one of the more interesting stats i've seen all year.
Wow, Kentavius playing alongside AD and LBJ. Bucks gonna buck, learned how to take even better shots.
Via Reddit: After an up and down start to the season Russell Westbrook's last 14 games: 28.4 PPG (3rd most in that span) 7.2 RPG 6.7 APG 1.5 SPG 51.3 2PT% 25.9 3PT% 46.8 FG% 85.9 FT% 54.4 TS% 104.2 DRTG (team-high) 11-3 W\L At least 20 Points in each game 44% on middies No player has ever averaged this for a full season The minutes where Russ plays with no Harden have seen a massive improvement as well ”Since December 9th, the Rockets have been at their best when... Harden is sitting on the bench. Over the last month they have an insane 116.4 ORTG and a 102.2 DRTG in those minutes, where Westbrook is averaging a ridiculous 35.4 PTS and 9.6 AST per 75 possessions on 55.4 TS%” 2. Altough @Itamat1710 seems to be the original source
Since January, roughly when Russ started drastically cutting down his 3-point attempts, he is averaging 30 PPG, 8.9 RPG, and 8.3 AST on 56% TS. The number of shots he's taking around the rim is drastically increasing as of late, and his 2-point % at all distances are at above average levels for his career. In a nutshell, he has almost eliminated the 3-point shot from his game, and is being much more selective on his long 2's. He seems to be focusing all of his energy on getting to the rim or generating shots in the paint, whether that's via drives or post-ups...whatever it takes. And the jump shots he does take are ones that he really feels comfortable with, which tend to be higher percentage looks. He's not running down the court trying to force a contested 18 ft. jumper over defenders anymore. Okay, well once in a while he does, but you get the idea ha. This is not some unsustainable run of 3's carrying his efficiency. In fact, his FT% has been faltering a bit as of late which is only hurting his numbers, which is another topic altogether, but it isn't like he's raining long jump shots at an unbelievable clip to boost his TS%. This is a systematic change in his game to create more quality looks around the basket. Whether that was fostered by D'Antoni, Morey, Harden...I have no idea. But for one, I am not concerned who or why this change has started but I hope once and for all this new style of play keeps up. This is the Westbrook we've always wanted.
He deserves to be an all-star... So happy to have 4 more years of a dominant post PG. Our window is wide open If Morey can make just a little more magic happen.