One point of yours is wrong. Dmo doesn't demand the ball but we need his post scoring to be successful. It is a kay part of the offense, but the most exciting part would be hoe Dmo and Dragic play the pnr together. The other thing is Harden is an efficient scorer and needs to reduce his usage so he doesn't gas out carrying such a heavy load.
How much is hardens usg? I think westbrooks is 32 or smth? Im on my phone and cant check now. One other thing equally important is the minute of touches coz usg is affected by number of shots. It is expected that with a better pg hardens usg will somewhat come down and thats why its absolutely neccesary that harden ks paired with a pg who can shoot. So no rubio or burke or mcw.
Harden's usage is that high by necessity.....not by his own demand. He's playing tons of minutes, and he's surrounded by role players. You're thinking too much about the regular season. When the playoffs come, teams are going to double Harden every single possession and force Beverley and Ariza to beat them.......we've already seen that show. We've got to have another option. Let's not compare Dragic and Lin as if their contributions are or would be in any way the same. One was 3rd team all-nba last season, and the other is a 4th string guard for one of the worst teams in the league.
Agree 100%. I knew Harden was a high usage player, and will continue to be (as you said, for very good reasons). There has been plenty of times however where he's deferred to Bev and "took plays off". He's even looked like he WANTED someone else to take over occasionally for a play or two. Don't get me wrong, I understand what you're saying - especially the money part for a guy who will rightly so take a back seat to Harden. But, if OKC can make Durant and Harden work, I'm sure we could make Harden and Dragic work. But for some reason, I'm hoping for a Kanter to Mil, Knight to Hou deal also....lol. Love Dragic and have wanted him back for a while. But, Knight playing off Harden intrigues me big time.
Sounds reasonable somewhat, but we need to be honest with our assessment of this team, the personalities, and the basketball character. Maybe Goran does do all these things in a perfect world scenario, but can we guarantee that? No. Also... I'm not so sure that D-Mo shouldn't get a dramatically higher usage than he has right now. The guy is super efficient in the paint, and I'd say establishing more of a paint presence might be more important that another perimeter playmaker. Goran's best strength is also playing with pace and space. It allows him to do what he does best in attacking the rim in the open court where he is a historically great finisher around the rim.... like he's really, really good. However, again on the Rockets we've already seen one of the leagues best open court players in Corey Brewer drop in his fast break points. Just because the Rockets play fast (quick shots), doesn't necessarily mean they are a fast breaking team. Again.. not trying to deter anyone from Gogi. Just want people to realize that there is merit to looking at plan B. or C.
Harden is a willing passer and don't think he would be bothered at all about sharing touches with a guy like Dragic. Harden is about winning! You can see it in his improvement in his game and the way he gives his press conferences. Dude just wants to win.
Stupid sexy Goran just plummet his trade value so we could get him for cheap. He's a consummate professional, and I hope he retires a Rocket.
Westbrook's usage is 36.9 lol he leads the league by a fair margin Harden's is 30.5, Kobe was second at 33.4
If you're already getting paid, I don't see why you would be so concerned about usage. You should be concerned about helping the team win. And when Goran was here, didn't McHale ask him to run the team? This team that doesn't run any plays? Plenty of touches and shots for everybody. Maybe he just wants to live in another city. He's tired of the Southwest.
Tyvm lol historical westbrook. I dont think hardens usage is too high with his role and the offence almost always going through him. In fact i expected more. He gonna be fine with a pg who can shoot and defend. There is no reason that dragic will have few touches or not play his game. None.
On this team I'm perfectly fine comparing Lin and Dragic next to Harden. That is not a slight to Goran because he would be a SUBSTANTIAL upgrade. However the ROLE is exactly the same. The ball is still going to be in Harden's hands for good reasons, and when Dragic would be needed the most would be when either Harden is out of the game for 10 to 12 minute, or if he ever has to miss a number of games due to injury. THAT is 2013/14 Jeremy Lin in a nutshell. Also Lin was much better last year at being this Harden replacement than you all give him credit for. He still stunk as a player, but IN THAT ROLL he actually gave the Rockets what they were looking for SOME OF THE TIME in much, much needed role as you alluded to (come playoffs, you MUST have a guy like this). The problem with Lin is he was wildly inconsistent in his role. Dragic should be a much more improved version of Lin. However again... all I'm pointing out is that there is merit to going in another direction if Dragic is going to cost the Rockets MAX money for FIVE YEARS (realize the importance of rebuilding around Harden post Dwight prime years). Yes I realize the importance of the PG position you are eluding to. Just want people to not scream doom and gloom if Morey passes on Goran partially due to this (other part due to Goran wanting to be a star in a large market).
Lin was horrible, don't ever compare him to Dragic, he isn't a good player and was so inconsistent for us it wasn't funny. At least Dragic has a basketball brain, Lin doesn't
There's no way to know if anyone could accomplish all those things, but who would you acquire that you think would be a better fit than Dragic? The only name I can come up with is Kevin Love, and he's not on the block. I agree that we need to increase DMo's post ups, but those need to come at the expense of Howard's postups and not really any other part of the offense. Howard needs to be a PnR finisher and garbage man to be at his best. I still believe this team needs an elite shooter at the 4 for it to reach it's maximum potential. Wouldn't like trading DMo, but if we can get back a Ryan Anderson or Channing Frye, I could live with it. You put Dragic, Harden, Smith, and Brewer on the floor, and this team will run. And ultimately, it's not even about whether they run....its about the threat of running. If it pulls just one potential offensive rebounder away from the paint, then it's doing it's job.
Actually read what I wrote please instead of jumping at the first line. Lin was wildly inconsistent, and very bad, but he had a ROLE on this team we need to evaluate. What I'm comparing is the two player IN THAT ROLE which is the role Dragic will be playing. YES... Dragic would be a much, much upgraded version of that player, but its that role he would still be playing. All I'm trying to do is let people know what they are buying with their max contract. Maybe its worth it if the Rockets do win a championship upgrading that very important role. However there is substantial risk involved that everyone who cares to know needs to know about.
