I think they kind of did actually and it's not just Houston fans who think that - Zach Lowe and Brian Windhorst talked on a recent Lowe Post podcast about how they can't remember a team ever catching as many lucky breaks as GS did last year. Their roster was mostly healthy the entire year(save for a 12 game stretch without Bogut), the dodged a few veteran teams who would have been tough outs, dodged a deadly OKC team decimated by injuries, they got to play possibly the worst playoff coach ever(Monty Williams), caught hobbled players like Mike Conley's broken face & Tony Allen, missed Dmo and Patrick Beverly in the WCF, Dwight's knee injury, caught a hobbled and then completely injured Kyrie, and a missing Kevin Love. The reason teams don't routinely get 70 wins is because they don't usually catch that many breaks. The Warriors are a good team, no doubt - but they were not a historically great team by any stretch of the imagination even though the numbers all suggest so. Let's call it what it is - they are a very good team, who to their credit took advantage of some very favorable situations, and got a little bit of luck along the way too. No shame in that - they did what they were suppose to do....but I think most are right to assume they won't catch those same kinds of breaks near as frequently this year and as a result they won't be nearly as historically unbeatable.
He put up a 30 PER and he is 21.KG never put a 30+ PER season. If New Orleans offered AD for Harden straight up I think Morey makes that deal in 5 seconds.
I don't think he would either. Harden is a morey player in every sense, and it's also a bad look to trade a star away.
Music to my ears. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Well, this is good to see. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bearding?src=hash">#Bearding</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash">#Rockets</a> <a href="http://t.co/Zi57GUVQPR">http://t.co/Zi57GUVQPR</a> <a href="http://t.co/EHs96dSupH">pic.twitter.com/EHs96dSupH</a></p>— Rockets Insider (@Rockets_Insider) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rockets_Insider/status/654831932467908609">October 16, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
"You see the media or pictures or so much craziness going. I sit back and say, 'I'm the same guy. I'm the same guy with no facial hair, no Mohawk, just a lefty just working.' Don't get overwhelmed. Just smile and enjoy it for what it is and be happy. Just remember how you got to this point. That was with work. If I keep that mindset no matter what goes on, I'll be all right."
ESPN The Magazine Preview Special just had a segment on James Harden and they said a lot of really good things about him. Very surprising stuff. They highlighted a lot of stuff from the Pablo Torre's article from last week. They all had Harden in there top 5 MVP candidates. Pablo Torre and Brad Daugherty thought Harden was #2 after Lebron. Broussard had Harden at #5.
He is great don't get me wrong but the game is a lot different now than in 1998 when KG was 21. There's alot more possessions a lot more space. The kid is great and is surely on a fast track to the hall of fame but I just think you have to earn the right to be called number one and his stats are there. But the fact still remains the same, his team still played the same in the games he missed. We will see how he does this year but Im not expecting some massive jump in his numbers from last season to be honest. I can't lie a 30 PER is sick tho. I wouldn't trade harden for Davis tho I still think a superstar wing is more important than a superstar big.
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No he doesn't. Duncan won a Title at age 22 as best player on the team, albeit a strike shortened season. Akeem destroyed the defending champion Magic/Kareem Lakers winning four games in a row, scoring 30+ ppg at age 23, to reach the Finals to lose to arguably the best team in NBA history in 6 games. Davis is a stat machine, but not the winning machine like Duncan and Akeem were at that age. And don't say the Spurs and Rockets had better teams. We're talking a Title and a shocking '86 Finals run. And PER is well known to be a fairly useless stat, especially versus Wins
and looking at the stats again. im pretty sure that hakeem's block record will never ever ever be broken. that one is set in stone.
Monty Williams is a brilliant basketball mind, GSW was was a far superior team in case you didnt grasp that. GS wont win a chip but they deserve alot more respect than they are getting.
C'mon heyp. I'm all for winning, but this isn't golf, or tennis. There's a reason its called a team sport. Basing your comparison on wins, as you have seemingly done, is equally as dumb as basing it on PER alone. If I have to do it specific to Duncan, whose game and attitude and longevity I freaking love, but whom I also think is overrated generally (still a top 5 PF of all time, but this ascension to #1 I don't get... especially considering he's not really a PF, but whatever), dude got drafted to one of the best teams ever to have the #1 pick. Maybe the best. Was he the best player on those early championship teams at a super young age? Sure... but I guess completely ignore the other all stars on those teams, the other veterans with significant playoff experience.... and more importantly, completely ignore the absolutely PUTRID state of the NBA in that era. The 1998-1999 Spurs championship team would not have homecourt advantage in the West this year, or last year. They would not go up against relatively easy playoff competition to make it to the Finals to face the 8th seed. And, btw, it got easier. Duncan and company basically had 1 serious Western Conference opponent during their first 4 runs - the Lakers, a legit competitor - and played the likes of the Knicks, Nets 2x and Cavs in the Finals. The most impressive thing about the Spurs has been them as an organization. The steady hand of Buford and Pop. The AMAZING drafting. And the last 5 years. Tim Duncan as a mid 30's+ big is along with Kareem one of the 2 best "old-bigs" I've ever seen. So don't give me the he didn't lead his team argument. Hakeem had plenty of help, too. Want to look at AD by comparison? His supporting cast is ridiculous by comparison to Duncan's. You'd easily take The Admiral, Sean Elliot and Avery Johnson over any of the Pelicans next best players behind AD. How about competition? It's not even a comparison. As noted, even with the much better squad, that Spurs team is not a home court advantage team in this West... how am I so confident in that? Because last year's Spurs team was better... and it was the 6 seed. Also, mind you, AD hasn't had his age 22 season yet, which is this year. I'll donate $100 to the tip jar if the Pelicans win the championship - too much competition, his team didn't get any better - but AD is still getting better. I'll say this... There's no way to know for sure, obviously, but switch Duncan and AD and I'd have no problem believing AD "leads" the Spurs to a championship in the 98/99 NBA, and goes on to have a career with as many accolades as Duncan. All that said, I'm not saying AD is as good at a similar age as Duncan or Hakeem. But I think it's pretty close to comparable. Will he make the Finals in the next couple of years - not unless the Pelicans start making solid GM moves. Will he break Hakeem's all-time block record? Highly unlikely. But it's not like he hasn't put up consecutive years of 4.2 and 4.3 blocks per 100 possessions, in an ERA with a lot more 3 point shooting and where bigs are more prone to getting fouls called on them... basically the exact same block rate as Hakeem and meaningfully higher than Duncan. PER isn't everything, and certainly shouldn't be looked at on its own. But there's a reason AD put up a historically dominant PER last year. Because he was crazy good and efficient statistically, both offensively and defensively.
I hope Harden had another monster season this year, it might be his best year to win an mvp with more favorable media attention. The young 'uns like AD are sure coming up fast. He'll be winning one soon.
