I’m well aware of this. I’m not arguing KPJ and Harden shouldn’t be used as point guards. I’m arguing they shouldn’t be used as point guards 100% of the time. Especially now with KPJ in the G-league, he should be given reps on off-ball actions. Why? Because when smart teams trap KPJ in PnRs and send double teams whenever he crosses half court, he needs to be able to have a backup plan. He needs to be able to score without the ball from other areas on the court... Unlike Harden, who happily passed out the double team and just stood by half court.
1) Harden not being a threat without the ball, walking around the perimeter without having his hands up ready to shoot, and standing by half court has been a complaint by MANY posters on here. There’s no debating that this hurt our team. Did his style make us a contender? Obviously. But it was also the reason why we never got over that hump in the postseason. 2) There’s not a chance Harden played 85/15 with Russ and CP3. Standing by half court while watching CP3 and Westbrook isolate does not count as playing off the ball. In 2019, Harden had the most unassisted points literally ever lmao. And when CP3 wasn’t able to isolate anymore and wanted more ball movement, he got booted out of town. 3) KPJ’s G-league highlights are all we have of him dude. He hasn’t played in an NBA game over a year. Watching his highlights and his G-league games shows us how Stone and the Rockets intend to use him. If I see his points are nearly 99% unassisted, I don’t see what’s wrong with saying we should make it easier for him here and there by setting him up. John Wall himself touched on this.
That same Harden who led NBA in scoring 3 consecutive seasons and will lead NBA in assists in 2 seasons or led NBA in total steals? What has Wall accomplished to dominate ball over Harden? Harden off ball is wasting him. Even KD and Kyrie, who are both levels better players to Wall, play off ball to Harden. C'mon man.
John Wall is a selfish player who has an overinflated view of his importance. Chemistry and camaraderie are all that's needed per Wall.
i've been watching the rockets, i've been watching/playing bball a lotta decades. this kid's talent level is rare AF
Good points, but I think of young future top 20 guys as players like Trae Young or Donovan Mitchell... he might be that but we need to see him averaging 20+ in the league, not the G. I hope you’re right tho, him and Wood could turn around the franchise quick.
In the g league of course he would play point lol. That don't move me. It's not like you have talent down there to force him to play his true spot. For them even at point he better then anyone they have at point.
Naw it's the same reason u have harden dominate the back with the rockets...easy cheap wins. They gonna do the easiest thing. We would of won deeper in the playoffs if harden had learnt to play without the ball...n don't use the nets please. But a superstar with 2 other superstars n it will work everytime. Obviously not past prime players
This man actually watches games. 1000 percent on point. I love love harden. But when he didn't have the ball he did nothing to help the team. His spacing n being available to shot was purposely sabotage.
Bro Gleague is a level higher than NCAA if you brought Hartenstein to NCAA he'd average 30 and 15 a night lol. We dont know how good Kuminga will do in the pros but what he is doing now is more impressive than other kids who out up similar stats in the NCAA. Thats cuz NCAA just have kids like them GLeague is full of older players and former college stars.
Nows not the time to learn off ball you know the saying walk before you run? Dude isnt even NBA ready at this point you want him to develop NBA ready skillsets first and then you expand his game later. Lets look at Mike Tyson as a rookie boxer his talent is clearly infighting and smashing people in the face did his coach tell him to start dancing around opponents his first day of training? Nah he was asked to develop his specialty first and then when thats world class already thats when they expand his skills. In KPJ's case people would be ecstatic if he becomes the next Harden, never mind improving on James Harden wtf. Like bruh he was obtained for a 2nd rounder if you are at the point where he is the primary ball handler of the squad guess what you struck gold gold already. The Rox should focus first on making him really good at what he does best and only then do they work on his off the ball skills. Right now off the ball is really low on his priorities I would like him to work first on his: 1. Shooting efficiency 2. Defense 3. Handles 4. 1on1 scoring 5. Playmaking You can see off the ball is low on the totem pole cuz guess what we need a 2ndary playmaker when Wall sits more than we need another off the ball dude.
Would like him more if Silas did not empower him to be leader of the Rockets. Wall is low IQ inefficient player who is better as 3rd option but insists that he is a 1st option.
Hoping it translates to the big stage ( he had stints w/ CLE). What's unfortunate is there's been allot of rare talent that never pan out or fade. in this case, I just don't know how a talent like this gets drafted bottom of 1st round and ultimately released by the team that drafted him. Off the court issues or not, you don't let rare talent (at the age of 19-20) like this walk. I'm all for the KPJ "revenge" tour next year and the years beyond. He and Wood are the only two bright spots that give me any interest to watch the rockets (and G League) these days.
Amazing that it didn't stop us from being one of the greatest offenses in history and currently the Nets on pace to be the greatest offense in NBA history. Offense was never, ever the problem until we started playing the best defenses (late playoffs) and they would exploit the fact that we have a franchise player who EVERYONE IS CONCEDING can't carry a team alone yet rather than get him a sidekick who is as good as he is, they keep surrounding him with a team that only Michael Jordan and MAYBE peak Lebron James would be able to win a title with. Wtf? Well Which is it? If he's not that good, why the F is a declining Chris Paul the best teammate you could deliver in 7 years? You know who can score the basketball if their teammate is floating 10 feet away from the 3pt line with his defender on him? James Harden. You know who else? Anthony Davis, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Lebron James, Steph Curry, etc. They almost all slack off the ball, standing at the 3pt line out of the way of whoever has the ball (other than Curry). This is not a real problem. It's a mythical problem, if your man sticks on you past the 3pt line you've done your job. We don't need all 4 teammates to run around like Steph Curry, that never happens. The reason we didn't win is because Harden would have to be the one of the greatest players of all time (like Hakeem, Dirk, Jordan) to carry these teams past the Warriors in the playoffs. Durant's Warriors TRASHED Lebron. We were the ONLY team actually competing with them. The organization didn't deliver a good enough roster and after Morey/MDA overclockd the f*ck out of everything to get the most out of the roster, the organization was not willing to spend luxury tax for a team stuck at the conference finals hump. Stuck at the Western conference finals, and not willing to spend the luxury tax. Please end these narratives about James Harden. This guy tried so hard to win, he did his best and his best was a lot. Like 2nd greatest player in franchise history and NBA all time great scorer. All time. Do you think he's going to see a dip in his numbers these coming playoffs? No. He has what all those other stars have, sidekicks as good as him. We never gave him that. It's on Tilman and Les, not on Harden.
This is a dumb stat line for them to accentuate. I guarantee you can find a 17 game stretch where Harden has higher averages in almost every category. I know that wasn’t your point, I’m just pointing out the hypocrisy in the media.
Funny, how that never stopped us from being all time great offense. They complain because they dont know what they are talking about. It has never been a reason we havent won a championship. I dont know where that narrative came from but it flat out isnt true. 2. It is if you are a floor spacer and their man rarely every leaves James Harden. We lost to GS the second time because of defense and Capela not being effective. The second time was because Westbrook was trash. Cp3 was traded(misguidedly by our dumb owner and Harden) because he flat out wasnt good. He was a worse in all categories. He just had a down year, it happens.
