I worry about the TO's, but other than that, he can play point. Harden as PG: 31p, 7r, 11a, and an all-time record setting 6.5 TO/g LETS DO IT!!
It's funny, all of this pretty perfectly describes last season. Harden as primary ball handler and distributor? Who do you think was doing that? Harden is one of the most ball dominant players in the game. A guard next to him that can really shoot and can defend point guards? His name is Pat Beverly. What the OP is describing is just what everyone has spent a year complaining about. It isn't a wrong approach though, as we saw the year prior when Harden was also the defacto PG playing next to Bev. The difference was, the team played defense two years ago, and didn't last season. Is Mike D'Antoni going to be the one to have Harden buy in on defense (and as goes Harden, so goes the team)? Doesn't seem likely, but here's hoping. What it boils down to is, Harden's effectiveness is as a ball dominant player. He doesn't play off the ball, catch and shoot, run around weakside picks, etc. Getting Rubio to pair with Harden is asinine, because Harden is going to dominate the ball and that leaves Rubio to be a three point shooter, at which he sucks. Harden pairs with 3&D guys, that is how his game works. If you surround him with such guys, the offense will be fine. If he then plays defense, since the other 4 guys are defensive specialists, the team can be very good on both ends. Instead the Rockets went with one of the worst defensive head coaches in the NBA and their big free agent acquisition was Ryan Anderson. I think it is going to be ugly this year, and may be uglier than last year.
