Fair points. Ennis is not helping our rebounding. And Clark has come back to earth and reality has set in.
Clark was never really far from earth though. People were just overeacting and over defending him. You guys were acting like he dropped a 50 point triple double.
Not me. I like him as an undrafted free agent. But there's no way he can be in the top 6-7 of a team that has intentions of winning a championship this season. I stated that when he was playing well.
It is a HUGE issue, Harden has regressed, it is like he got his MVP now sort of doesn't try as much. DD
Yes turnovers aren't a problem as long as they aren't high for a team level. Just saying Harden has quite a few more this year without a comparable increase in assists. Also, team turnover rate has been inching up: NBA.COM: 2017-18 TOV%: 14.0 (11th) 2018-19 TOV%: 15.3 (24th) ESPN: 2017-18 TO Ratio: 12.7 (12th) 2018-19 TO Ratio: 13.5 (22nd) I would guess D'Antoni is concerned now. That said I disagree with the OP in that I think the defense is the biggest issue. Offense is still ranked top 10 (although defense probably gets penalized for fast breaks off turnovers).
That ESPN Hollinger stat is different just to be different. There is no reason for Assists to be in that formula at all...that's arguably double counting and will hurt ISO teams, just by system differences alone. I wouldn't use that stat to compare teams. I'm curious why the NBA TOV% number and ranking team is so different than BBRef. I mean, shots and shooting fouls? What else do you need. Guess they are getting Off Rebounds in there. Do you have that formula? fwiw: we dropped 5 places in just 4 games. anyhoot: There is a tiring-out of Harden factor, hence why the MDA system wasn't as secure with the ball 2yrs ago, vs last year. Still much better than McHale's years. Also, and we would have to explore more, but playing so many rookie minutes in the past few games involves bad chemistry. Some of these Harden TOs are the team communicating poorly, because our bench just sucks. Like that two traps vs Mavs when no one figured out Harden was being double teamed and Capela has a 3rd man on him. I do blame MDA for those two, as well...it's kinda appalling that even rookies don't now how to react to a 3 on 2 defense against the Harden/Capela PnR, to give Harden a pass out of the trap. That said, I don't want to come off sounding like Harden isn't being careless a lot ... yeah, he is. But after last year, it's clear to me (with Paul helping with chores) he can flip a switch and help get Team TOV% down, and get us in Top 10, if not Top 5 like we were after Jan 10th last year. I don't buy the assessment that something unfixable has changed ... like you'd see if defenses figured him out or something, or he couldn't get by his man anymore or his dribbling started declining.
The biggest issue for a 28th ranked defensive team with a ton of injuries is their superstars turnovers? Wow...
You do know that giving up 6 turnovers per game does help the opposing team's offense? Turnovers generate more possessions for the opposing offense AND those added possessions usually generate easier buckets because the team defense isn't set. Harden's turnovers are not the biggest issue. It is an issue though.
I usually don't mind the superstars turning the ball over a lot, as long as they have at least a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio. But 1.5:1 seems pretty bad for the main playmaker. That being said, he's getting to the line 10.4 times a game. That's the second best result in his entire career. People should worry less about Harden and worry more about that pitiful Rockets bench.
Said nothing about it not being a concern, but that is far different from it being the biggest concern, which is what I am contesting.
How many points have came from those turnovers, though? And yeah, bash the only player who is playing well consistently every game.
You can admire the parts of Harden's game hes doing well and still criticize the areas he wasnt performing well. Hes scored well but hasnt protected the ball or defended well in our losses. Harden has a major impact on the game in so many ways. Doesnt mean the roster cant be improved but I truly believe if Harden had been playing better all around games we win more and these roster deficiencies arent as pronounced.
