ClutchFans Game Thread: Lakers @ Rockets 1/10/2021

I'm not that concerned we lost. It's the champs. We've had no consistency in our roster and a pretty tough schedule to begin the season.

We are 3-5.

The Brooklyn Nets are 5-6.

 

So how will you feel when Rockets are 3-6 or 3-7?

For me, every loss feels like a punch to the gut.

And the puncher has a knife in his hand.

 

I like that Boogie stood up for Tate, but yea this game we really needed him. Maybe sub in a deep bench guy; do the enforcement, and sub out.

 

Well..... he's also one of the best playmakers in the league. He's also top 10 in steals most years. He's also one of the best post defenders in the league. The list goes on.

The reason why we haven't got a trade for Harden is that it'll cost teams too much for him. His trade value is too damn high. No team really has the players and the picks for a player like Harden. When you see players like Holiday going for so much, Harden is easily worth way more than that.

 

This post lets me know all I need to know about you and your basketball IQ (especially when you said LeBron was the GOAT behind Jordan, when LeBron has not will not ever pass Kareem as the second best player of all-time). Scoring a ton of points is great. Also when you have almost a 50% usage rating over the past few seasons you better be high up there in your assist totals or something is very wrong. Teams are looking for the right fit, a guy that can score points, make others around him better (not be selfish), and be a leader on and off the court. It's obvious that Harden needs the ball in his hands to be most effective, and more than likely if he gets traded he is going to be second fiddle or maybe even third fiddle (depending on where he goes of course) and will have to play off ball. When teams are evaluating if they should trade for James or not it is not going to be just based on his scoring ability. He's going to be in a similar system on another team to what the Rockets are currently running now (a system based off of ball movement). So franchises are not going to be focused so much on his previous success scoring the ball (we all know Harden is a great scorer) but how well can he fit into the Rockets system since practically none of the other 29 teams in the NBA run a heavy iso set most of the game. That's why the tweet you posted really confused me. But whatever I don't think you'll understand anyway based on our past dealings, but here's to hope.

 

I honestly don't think you'll ever be concerned, no matter what.

 

Do you think it'll be worth it when they're like 5-11?

 

That dude is pretty terrible. He always makes wildly exaggerated recency-bias takes that look stupid in hindsight.

 

Seriously.

Reading comprehension.

I stated that Lebron is considered a GOAT.

Not that I believe he IS the GOAT.

Talking with you is maddeningly circular.

And I'm more than certain that Spo/Riley, Morey, MDA, Nick Nurse or Brad Stevens will have absolutely zero difficulty incorporating Harden into their teams AND win.

 

A lot of what you are stating is based on the sheer fact of Harden's high usage rate and all the minutes he logs in. I'm not discounting Harden's abilities but when you have the ball in your hand damn near 50% of the time then you better be pretty high up there in assist numbers. And of course you are going to get some loose balls too. But just because you have a high steal total that doesn't necessarily make you a good defender. It's way more to defense than just steals, just like if someone was top 10 in blocks that wouldn't necessarily make them a good defender either. Harden is a pretty good post defender I'll definitely agree there. Again no knock on Harden but if this was LeBron James or Kevin Durant teams would be ready to mortgage their future by giving us whatever we wanted (any player or multiple picks). I respectfully disagree with you, I don't think it's because James Harden's trade value is too high. We just have not got the offer that we want for him...

 

Well seeing so many are arguing about harden here is my two cents

Harden without a doubt is a top three player in the league, arguably the best scorer and one of the top passers. This really dont need to be argued about. Post defense...is definitely up there, especially as a guard. Perimeter defense is acceptable, although not top notch like Kawahi.

I think teams are not making real offers for him is cause of his mentality, or bb iq. He needs the ball in his hands, and will only pass the ball for an assist. Not many skip passes. He is like the best player at the gym who controls the ball literally all the time. Will make great looking passes, but team mates tend to stand around and it’s damn boring. If I was an nba player, harden is definitely not on the top of my list of players that I want to play with.

 

You guys have excuses for everything. Some teams play hard to win even when they're disadvantaged. Others find excuses even when they have advantages.

 

Now substitute "Lebron" with "Harden" in your post above.

 

You mentioned LeBron as being considered a goat as a matter of fact but who cares we are splitting hairs. On to the main subject Harden. This is where I 100% hope you are right D-rock about those teams thinking they can incorporate Harden into their team. But from what I've heard from several anonymous NBA executives from listening to sirius xm radio and some personal sources, a lot of the better teams have their doubts about Harden. I wish this wasn't the case however.

 

This is the 1st season that Harden is averaging a negative +/- in his entire career.

And Harden's PIE is 16.4 and USG% is 28.9.

Harden was never under 19.0 PIE or 35.0 USG% under MDA.

https://www.nba.com/stats/player/201935/

 

If the playoffs started today us, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Denver wouldn't make the playoffs. Charlotte has a better record than Brooklyn right now. Toronto is 2-7. I just think we need to have patience. Or, you know, give up 8 games into the season.

 

He doesn't want to be here.

 

Who is giving up?

Just saying losses hurt.

 

It's CF, we are going to react and overreact to each result. If we beat the Lakers Tuesday watch people make posts about how we are contenders etc etc etc

You're right of course, too early to tell much of anything. That's why I ducked out of here.

Terrible game. Team played good in spurts but never long enough to really matter.

Team has to figure itself out. Silas has to come to grips with what he has, obviously, he's a smart BBall mind but I hope he's not a stubborn "This is my system and we will play my system no matter what!" kind of guy.

Get Harden doing what he's comfy doing, let Wall run his system when Harden is out...swap Nwaba out of the starting lineup, seriously, go with Ego or Bmac until House comes back. We can't be starting with two bad shooters (Wall/Nwaba) like that.

I'm optimistic like you because I don't see the point in pessimism.

 

Name me one person who never gets scored on? I’ll wait?