He wasnt even that bad, people are really exaggerating. This is the type of thinking that got us Westbrook to begin with.
Paul was embarrassed of his treatment by the Rockets. That woke him up and drives him to play at his present level. If he stayed a Rocket it is more than fair to think he would not look or play like he does today. His last year with the Rockets was really bad. He was stealing money, IMO. The trade helped Paul in many ways.
I thought he was done also. In retrospect he wasn't that bad but age eventually catches up and you don't want to be caught with a player and big contract whose value is only declining
There are players that are timeless. Paul(even with his contract and his age) got traded for assets to the Suns, he's that good. And that the Suns look so damn good right now. Chris Paul is as competitive as they come, he would not take that down year laying down no matter what team he was on.
CP3 was the best point guard we could have ever asked for, but in terms of fit next to Harden I think there was a reason we had to stagger their minutes. They worked well together but worked great separately. They took away from each other a bit when they shared the floor. Still a championship caliber duo, of course. I think the best fit for PG if we're looking at type would be Chauncey Billups. Unlike CP3 he was a shooter first and would take over playmaking duties when needed to. That's just perfect next to a ball dominant star like Harden. Billups played smart, mistake free basketball with great defense. Also, he had a penchant for hitting huge clutch shots. A PG like him doesn't exist in the league currently.
Harden can defer and the team can still score for 3 quarters. Harden time in the 4th, those made 3s were backbreakers.
When Morey got Harden he did a local interview saying his analysis showed pick and roll was the best play in the nba and CP3 was the best at it and Harden was second They played great together as both are smart and unselfish but staggering them was load management. Unfortunately Paul still had his late season break down @HP3 Thats the thing, Paul playoff breakdown goes back to his early years
You listed all these things and the only thing that matters is Number 3. I'm shocked the Warriors haven't called us and offered everything for Harden. Him and Steph would make up the deadliest backcourt ever. All Harden needs is someone to prevent double teams.
I don't disagree with that. Harden is the best iso scorer in the league by a country mile, but CP3 is better than him at running the PNR. Unfortunately, you can't run the PNR with CP3 and Harden, so Harden takes less shots when CP3 runs that play. If Harden is iso'ing, CP3 can't run the PNR. It's not as natural a fit as Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire, for instance. The staggering of the minutes was not load management. CP3 averaged more minutes in both seasons with us than his last season in LA and more minutes than Bev ever did here. I think the advanced stats showed they did better separately as CP3 was better leading the second unit than he did the first unit.
Only 1 game but some the numbers are something we haven’t seen from a Harden led Rockets team in a LONG time. Through the first 2 games Harden had the ball in his hands a league leading 9.4 minutes per game. Pretty much on par with his last few years, but last night most of our rotation returned and something changed significantly. Time of possession last night Wall : 6.9 minutes Harden : 6.7 minutes There hasn’t been a single year where Harden wasn’t the clear leader of the team in time of possession. Will be interesting to see if and to what extent this kind of possession distribution continues and how our offense produces compared to the other years.
spot on CP mentioned this in a recent podcast with JJ Reddick that he made a lot of changes that envigored his health
I understand he has his issues, but honestly he's just so good that you take the gamble on him imo. He's honestly just that good and he had a healthy season last year. I think Mike was riding him too hard.
First I want to say that I agree with you that we should've never made the Paul Westbrook trade. But I am not too impressed with Paul's performance this year so far. Sun is having a great start, but last year they had a similar start, also remember they won all the 8 games in the bubble, so the team has already started winning. Paul has brought his play making and defensive leadership to the team, but so far he has shot the ball poorly, and doesn't have much clutch performances either. I think he will play better as the season progresses just like he did last year. But will he be better than Wall (if Wall stay healthy) this year? I am not so sure.
