[Calvin Watkins] Harden named starting point guard

....naw...Even the memory of Harden at SG makes him the best SG in the league

 

So Rubio only gets 10-12 minutes as backup?

@basketballholic

 

So who's the backup SG? Brewer?

 

What defense...

 

This will work offensively but defensively it will be a mess assuming Gordon starts alongside. Both Gor_on and Har_en are poor defenders. It will leave way too much in Ariza's hands

 

Guarding the opposing PG....who?

 

as long as MDA gets Harden to pound the ball less, I'm okay with this.

 

....naw...Even the memory of Harden at SG makes him the best SG in the league

 

Quite a non-story here, other than the fantasy hoops implications.

 

No way Gordon starts. Westbrook would average 99.7 per game against us.

 

the problem is that Harden historically hasn't really pushed the pace when he brings the ball up. you can count on him using up pretty much all 8 seconds, which means there's less time to make plays than he might have otherwise. If he can speed things up, I think this is a good move--not that this has really changed anything in reality.

 

There is no way either Harden OR Gordon will be guarding Westbrook, Curry, or Paul etc. This lineup might work when the opposing team has no PG but against most teams in the West Beverley will be playing right next to Harden.

 

That's fine. Usually when that happens, the Thunder lose because no one else is doing anything.

 

I wish this wasn't written, this is only going to confuse people.

 

I am patenting the word pocket pass turnover.

Harden as Point: He's a playmaker, but he's also a turnover machine on the pick and roll. He needs to get rid of that bounce pass to the big men, just oop it to the big Capela or wrap around. Because D'Antonio doesn't play defense, the matchup on the back end probably won't matter, lol. I think he's a perfect PG in the pick and roll portion of the offense. But there is more to it.

Getting the ball back: The challenge will be how does he get the ball back and how much time is left. Again, that may not be a problem in the new offense, but it has been a problem in the past with scoring PG's.

Jordan at the Point: Michael Jordan switched over to point guard and recorded a triple-double in 10 of 11 games during the 1988-89 season. He was great. Team got involved. but this ultimately evolved into something different within one season. John Paxson and rookie B.J. Armstrong split time at the point. But opposing teams realized that at the flip of a switch, MJ could mess around. And it was after this change that MJ started winning titles, so in theory it has a basis for transitioning a team and a player.

 

Turnovers

 

Exactly. MDA says, "He's gonna be on that ball." And yet our resident basketball expert said...