The pressure to create all of our offense taken off Harden is an underrated point. Harden actually began last season as a positive on defense and this was evident in all the stats. It was only after he wore down around halfway through the season that he began slacking again, though obviously less than before. With Lawson here, he'll be able to keep up that sort of two-way energy throughout the whole year.
Good post op and these are all valid points. However it's not so much that our defence will be better...just that it will not be as bad as some here imagine. But imo will be worse than last year's.
You are quite the optimist. Regardless of whether he makes the team better defensively he clearly makes the team better offensively. I'm just fine with that.
I believe our defense will be better due to the fact that Lawson will tire out the opposing guard then Bev will continue with his relentless defense. The OP surprised many by his post making many valid points, good job rookie. Repped.
Funny that people keep posting the same sh..., but don't attempt to defeat this argument that completely refutes the whole premise of this thread.
Anyone can be a decent defender with effort and focus. If both harden and Lawson can save some energy for that side of the ball, they should be competent defenders... Which is enough
Number 3 is the most likely way he will help our D tho. Anyone who watched most of the Rockets games last year knows we were good defensively. When we missed shots and turned the ball over in bunches it hurt our defense pretty bad. Less to's, and more open shots should help.
my biggest concern is how lawson (and the rockets) will react on pick and roll. if a PF is setting the pick, lawson just isn't equipped (like most PGs) to guard a PF who is rolling to the basket. it's an issue for all PG's, but lawson is 3-4 inches shorter than your average PG so the issue will be bigger.
Did he have defensive stalwarts like pbev, ariza, brewer, Dwight Or offensive beast harden in Denver?
That's not the case most people are making. In fact, in this thread, I also said I thought Lawson would improve defensively. My problem is that people are making this argument that Lawson's offense is going to make him a good defender for us (the best defense is a good offense), and that doesn't make any sense (as I pointed out). Just a little annoying that people keep saying the same thing without addressing my point, which I believe disproves that whole argument. I could be wrong, but ppl could at least show how I'm wrong and not ignore it. Haha
I think turnovers were our biggest weakness last year. If I could count how many simple fastbreaks or easy passes that resulted in turnovers. Lawson clean that up from the jump. The offense will be more efficient
It'd be great if Lawson can give Harden 10 more mins of rest per game compared to last year. I would also like to see him getting minutes running the second unit.
One way to improve defense as a team is to play the bench players more. Much like OP mentioned in the first point with Beverley, fresh legs are a great way to play better defense. Over an 82 game season it is paramount when trying to make all the way through the finals. Spurs have been great doing this with OLD players. Three Rockets that need to reduce their minutes are Howard/Harden/Ariza. Harden and Ariza were minutes league leaders. They needs to drop about 5 minute per game off their normal pace. (5 minutes over 82 games is 410 minutes that's like playing 12 less games in the regular season) Howard we need healthy not hurt and dinged up. Howard needs to stay at 28-30/game and maybe sit some back to backs. Last year he was at 30 per game. Get him down to 28 and rest most back to back if not all would be idea. Time to cut Capela lose get him 12-15 a night. Hayes can play on the nights Howard sits. Maybe Dekker or Harrell slide into some minute later in the year if they show promise. D-mo to the 5 in small ball offense with Harrell or Dekker getting a look. Harden should average closer to 33/game not 37 since he is no longer running the offense alone. Maybe see KJ paired with Lawson to help Lawson's short comings. This could get KJ 5 minutes at his natural position of SG. Lawson/KJ/Brewer/D-mo/Howard or Capela woul Ariza is a minutes beast at 36/game. Ariza needs to get down to 30 a night, maybe KJ can find some playing time here too. It would be nice to see him get another 5-7 minutes here a night giving him 10 to 12 per game. So inserting Lawson, another high minutes guy at 36 per game, into the starting lineup will allow you to rest Harden and keep Beverley on RED ALERT! In turn you can get KJ, your most athletic defender in the game for 12 minutes. Then resting Ariza will leave more in Ariza's tank come crunch time and play-offs. Capela will need time to become reliable and consistent but he is already a good shot blocker and hustles back to shutdown fast breaks, not to mention he has the skills to block it on one end sprint the floor and dunk it on the other end. So yes adding Lawson can potentially improve our overall team defense despite his size limitations causing problems in the pick and roll. I’ll also add his quickness will be a plus on run outs and getting back on the fast break, Jet and Pablo were not quick by any sense.
Lawson wasn't a poor defender until last year. He's a solid defender who can become better. As stated, teams wont be able to rest or put their weakest defender on lawson like the did beverely.
Exactly, aside from the "A Great defense is a great offense" argument, people seem to have forgotten that Lawson led a Nuggets team to a 57 win record in a tough western conference with Danilo Gallinari as the 2nd best player lolz.
There's a lot other things being over looked. No way is he worse than we were last year with Prigioni and Terry. No way. So that's already a minimal difference, than you add on everything else he brings offensively which is undoubtedly a lot better than any Pg on our team before could've brought us and the simple fact that Harden will be able to give better effort on defense. He's a huge upgrade. Period. Only issue and a huge issue is that chemistry is important. And I believe he won't throw a wrench in the machine, but he could. Harden has probably grown a ego to where he is going to want to have his 25 points a game and I don't know how that will turn out. Although 25 points should be a lot easier to score with less defensive pressure. I don't know I'm going on and on. I like what the OP said. Great value being overlooked. Lawson could really make this team that much better.
i think either harden or lawson will always be on the floor. we'll get to see them both play with the second unit. just as good as they will be together, i think they both make the second unit very dangerous. lawson with brewer on the fast break. beverley's 3&D next to harden. even beverley and brewer bringing high energy playing together. every combination looks great. harden getting rest, and the team having a playmaker on the court when harden is out are the two biggest wins with the addition of lawson.
Saw most games twice. There are like 3 quality SGs in the NBA right now, so I see no point to compare Harden with weakest position players in the league. Also, harden is SG in theory, not in reality.
