^^two sides to the ball..name of the game is point differential, not points scored. The only exception is Durant or Kobe types..Harden falls short of that. Systems don't shoot the ball for you or play man to man defense. If he had average shooting and just scored at the rim, then you'd have a food argument.
At some point Parker was a selfish PG that Pop had to drill sense into. I'm pretty confident that he'd never what he is today without Pop getting it out of him. Pop would happily coach Harden. Every time Harden came into the game lazily or had moments of selfishness that hurt the team Pop would quickly sit him until he gets the message. It doesn't hurt that Pop wins games so players come to quickly realize that listening to him is not a bad idea. Also the idea that Harden is just this wildly seflish player...nah. This is a guy that was ready in his own words to play the rest of his career as a 6th man and a guy that took a lesser role for Team USA as well all while Curry and Irving on the other hand were clearly out there trying to get numbers.
If the Spurs had Harden instead of Kawhi they would be even more lethal than they currently are. Pops would do that trade straight up with a smile on his face.
This is an interesting question for me because if you were to make that swap, this Rockets team would be much worse and Kawhi would play terribly. There would have to be a lot of personnel adjustments to bring in scorers and playmakers, but in his natural habitat Kawhi brings us closer to a championship than James Harden even if only by a hair.
I do not think Harden is the most selfish guy in the NBA or even in that kind of group. He is talented yet not the most athletic guy, his physical tools are not the best. He relies on his skills a lot and does not work as hard as a blue collar guy. That is understandable. I actually believe that he cannot play Defense every game. I do. People should stop seeing Harden as a God or one of the Top 10 guy of alltime. He is great and should probably be in the Top 60-80 of alltime when all is done. But not more and not less. During his career he picked up a lot of bad habits, bad fitness regimen and so on. I doubt Pop at his old age is willing to coach an inconsistent team from scratch. The only teams I can see him coach are Warriors like, Atlanta or a contender like Cleveland.
Actually, he only had one "up" year. We don't really know whether this was a down year for him or last year was a fluke. He needs to play on that level for several seasons. That said, Leonard is not on Harden's level. I wouldn't swap them straight up, not now. But if Harden continues to show that he can't be relied on bringing it every game, then I may rethink about it.
But this isn't about whether Pop would coach an inconsistent team, he wouldn't. It'd be a swap. Also he coaches consistency any ways. The Rockets are inconsistent in large part because of coaching. The coach has no consistency with his rotations, how then are they supposed to be consistent? I feel it is the other way around here. People act like every other star player other than Harden is god mode. We went through this ever since he was here.
Not sure.... Coaches like Pop should only brought in to solve a situation or put a consistently good team over the top. Rox are not a consistently good team. Yeah you could say it is all JBB's fault. Nah not everything. We lost tons of games with our players not caring much, playing loose basketball, mediocre, sloppy and uninspiring basketball. They are not even being professional. This is not just on the coaching staff. You enter the league to be professional. You just cannot show up in trainings camp being fat and lazy. good if you think we have a shot a championship caliber coach like Pop then so be it. I would welcome him with open arms.
neither can you do this with harden. this season should be a good example of why harden isos don't work
Leonard is not a volume shooter or scorer, therefore the stats are not that inflated. Sure he probably isn't as good as Harden offensively but he is smart, he can get better. His Defense alone can make him earn 14-15 millions a year. (Harden salary)
Harden was better last year Kawhi is better this year It's all about who you think will be better going forward
SO ****ING FAST YOUR HEAD WOULD SPIN!!!! I had a thread years ago about how I would trade TMac for Ginobli, got laughed at, this is probably similar.. Leonard is a better NBA player and a champion. We need more 2 way players. DD
