A part? Yes A BIG part? No With Harden this year we were averaging a little over 12 isolation plays per game. Without him we are averaging a little over 9. Which would still put us in the top 5(only about 1 isolation play less than Portland for league leader)of all teams in isolations per game because our team even without Harden has 3 guys in the top 40 of isolations per game. Wall, Wood and Gordon. Now, compared to prior years, we have clearly cut our isolations, but we are still projecting to be top 5ish in isos.
People are getting carried away far too much. We'll probably lose to the Wizards and we'll be back to being the worst team in the league and people complaining about the team.
this is where analytics is 'wrong' and why its never the case of 'its only numbers'... numbers never say anything, you always need eye test or opinion to attach to it, that is an interpretation imho there are multiple kinds of isolations... eg 1 there is a drible dribble dribble for 20 s on the top of the key or 2 you can move ball and bodies around for 20 seconds and still finish the possesion in the isolation... and there is a WORLD of difference between these 2 Not that there is anything inherently wrong with either of them
there are also multiple kinds of ball movement rockets did have ball movement in harden era but boy it was a mere formality and you almost always just knew nobodys gonna do nothing with the ball and nothing will come out of it...it was mostly just a fluff
For me, I don't care. This team has fight. Its been a while since I have been this interested in watching the games. Let them lose....but at least they will be going down swinging and with heart.
@don grahamleone we need a photoshop from pleistocene (or whatever) where a caveman and his buddies are lurking around clubbing the wild beasts or baby seals with faces of stone tilman nwaba tate wood etc pasted onto cavemen I could do it, but man this is a too good of an idea to be left to a sloppy photoshoper like me
20 Features of this team that I love Its just start to the season but I am already seeing a contours of a serious team perhaps even a team winning the title like the Miami last year if not for the injuries ofc. And bear in mind its a pandemic situation so its perfect for a dark contenders perfect storm. Anyway, this team has a lot of features that were lacking in previous years. 1. 4-5 allstar type players: Wall, Dipo, Wood, Cousins, EGO 2. A lot of young and upcoming talent: Mason Jason, Porter, KJ, Tate 3. A boatload of assets to make a serious trade and or a few smaller ones 4. A great coach 5. A lot of vets: Tucker, Wall, Dipo, Cousins, Ego 6. A 2 times 6th man of the year: EGO 7. SHOOTERS: ego, mason jason, brown 8. Plenty of others that can also hit a 3: tate, nwaba, wood, boogie, dipo, almost anyone on the roster 9. Great Bench 10. Playmakers: ego, dipo, wall, tate, Boogie, brown, mason 11. They play DEFENSE 12. DEFENSIVE MINDED STUDS: Tucker, Nwaba 13. a lot of 2 WAY players: Dipo, Wall, Brown, Tate, ego and couple of others, players that are not a huge liability on any side of the floor 14. Bigs that can shoot 3: Boogie, Wood 15. Bigs that can playmake: Boogie, Wood 16. A young up and coming GM 17. Ability to play teamball 18. Dribble penetration: a lot of guys that can do this now, and this was severely lacking in previous era 19. Slashers, cutters also lacking in previous era. 20. It's a year of a pandemic.
barring significant injuries to our players, this is absolutely a playoff team. The offense is beautiful and the defense is unpredictable. And they haven't really gotten either down pat. Young developing players with high upside, check. Can we sign Mason to a team friendly three year deal in which we retain bird rights yet? Love the athleticism on this team.
This Season : 11 W/Harden : 12 No Harden : 9 Portland is 2nd at about 10 and the next 5-6 team are between 9-10.
Gotta tell you there are a bunch of hipocrits on this board. I was the only one to defend Stone after his initial introduction and got flamed by everybody on the board for saying he was going to be successful. People were ripping on him for being too quiet, stuttering, etc. Bring back any memories too most of you new “fans” of his?????
hehe whats the joke? you dont agree its a team nobody thought of as a contender that almost won it all, were it not for the injuries, and where rookies and young undrafted and NON-lottery talent played a huge role?
