BBallbreakdown: Ty alongside Harden [2 months old]

I didn't see this! Thanks for sharing! It was great to watch as we approach training camp! I'm pumped!

 

I'm not going to lie. I was expecting some Ty Lawson and James Harden baby pictures in this thread.

 

So much fapping going on right now.

 

No joke!

 

Thanks for sharing, I missed this one. We are going to be deadly off the pick and roll with Howard, Harden, Lawson, Jones, and Capella. I feel like having Lawson kind of puts Harden in a really advanced version of his OKC role.

 

Awesome! Thanks man!!

 

The offense is going to be virtually unstoppable. There are so many ways for this team to score. And they now have the scoring depth to prevent lulls in the offense when the bench comes in.

Defensively, they should be just as good as last year. A better offense means more possessions where the Rockets can set up on defense. More help on offense means both Lawson and Harden can give more effort on defense. And you still have Ariza locking down the wing and Howard locking down the paint.

 

Really good breakdown. Thanks for the post! Repped.

 

Beverly/Brewer/KJ/Ariza and when Harden actually tries we can be Amazing on the perimeter when it comes to defense

 

Here's the bottom line: both Harden and Lawson can score and dish. They can drive, pull up, hit the set jumper, kick the ball out and drop the ball off to big men.

They are complete offensive players, which causes them to have gravity. Harden and Lawson will tug at the integrity of any defense. They will force defenses to close out hard on the perimeter while simultaneously protecting the paint. They are offensive chameleons....they can both appear to be the scorer when in reality they are the setup men, and vice versa.

Harden is the better scorer,while Lawson is probably the better distributor, but neither have holes in their offensive games. Lawson/Harden is not similar at all to Rondo/Ellis, who both have major flaws.

Tangent.......

Because we have so many guys that excel at getting to and finishing in the paint...

Dwight - 61%
TJones - 56%
DMo - 57%
Harden - 53%
McDaniels - 51%
Capela - 56%
Brewer - 54%
Lawson - 54%
Ariza - 57%
Dekker - (70%+ in college)
Harrell - (70%+ in college)

...most teams will probably try to shut down the paint, leaving us with tons of open 3 point attempts. My opinion is that we need more shooting at our forward spots. I'm comfortable with Ariza and DMo as shooters, but we will need KJ, TJones and/or Dekker to show significant improvement for us to have consistent spacing on the floor. That, or we need to sign or trade for a vet that can give us reliable shooting with decent defense.

 

We are going to be LETHAL on offense with Lawson/Harden/Ariza/Jones/Howard on the floor together. The only way teams stop us from scoring with that group is if the refs NEVER call an illegal defense. But we will score even against illegal defenses with that lineup, and our bench as well.

Whether or not we play or win a championship will depend on the defensive end this year. Offense is a wrap as long as we stay semi-healthy.

 

lawson is no worse on defense than terry (who was our starting PG for nearly half the season plus the playoffs).

lawson also helps on defense by taking pressure off of harden on offense, which will allow him more energy on defense. plus scoring more often means we will have our defense set rather than getting caught in transition.

our offense should be top 5 this season without losing anything on defense, barring injuries. this puts us in legit championship contender range. right up there with the warriors, spurs, clippers, and cavs.

 

I feel like having Lawson an harden with Dwight healthy will enable harden to be able to punt Lebron in the juevos a couple times a year and it not really affect us. I think Lawson and Howard can keep the boys afloat for a couple games

 

Great point. My sentiments exactly. Ryan Anderson would open up lanes for our two facilitators. I wonder how MT and McDaniels are facilitating?

 

A little imagination puts the magnitude of this team in perspective. To pull this off you have to Imagine we never knew the team as it is assembled today.

Think about it if we just had Dwight Howard on this team as our only star how lucky we would feel.

Now think about it when we just had James Harden as our only star how psyched we were.

Now think if we just had Lawson.

Now just Ariza, Beverley, Brewer and Motiejunas.

When you strip it all down and think what we lived with for so many years and were still excited about watching our team compared to what we have now it's hard to imagine THIS much talent on the same squad at the same time! It has taken decades to see this and it may take decades more to see it again. Rockets have something very special

 

Great post. We have our stars and great role players. It's up to them to put it all together into something special.

 

Behind Harden, Howard, and Ty - Ariza is the key. He's our X factor.

It's not just his defense, which is consistently stellar. I mentioned this last season, but when A3iza comes to play and he's knocking down the long ball, I honestly believe we become the hardest team to beat in basketball. It energizes the team and really opens the floor for Harden (and now Ty).

Here's to Ariza having a wizards type of shooting season.

 

You got it! Lawson is actually not too bad at the 3 with his feet set, and Harden will give him plenty of these a night. Hopefully Ariza's 3pt shooting returns to his Wizards contract year levels ... otherwise he's a bit too hot and cold

 

This guy is a 'Putz'. "Gave the Warriors all they could handle in 5 games" Really? And he's considered a 'detailed' guru?