I wonder if Morey regrets not giving Dragic that player option. Then again his master plan was teaming up Dwight with CP3 (and apparently it almost happened) so I can't blame him for not keeping Dragic.
Take it away from Harden and give it to whom? Lin? Rondo is a legit all star. You're tripping if you think Lin's play making and defense are on the same level as Rondo.
If we were running a PG-centered offense, then upgrading from Lin to Rondo would make sense. Bringing in Rondo and then changing how we play completely doesn't make sense.
Why not? We brought in Howard blent in some half court elements. After finally getting that 3rd star, why does it not make sense to make more changes? Be it LMA, Love, CP3, or Rondo.
Not true- Harden and Lin were both having a good game until McFail decided to sit Lin for most of the 2nd half.
He totally deserved to come out of the game, get his head together, get schooled and even yelled at for his defense in the 3rd and being out of control on offense. He did nothing to warrant getting benched for the rest of the game. He played more aggressively than usual on offense in the first half, looking to penetrate and score and put up 14 points and had only 1 TO. He got out of control on both ends in the 3rd and he didn't play at all in the 4th.
Some great responses here. I tend to agree with this line of thinking: That sort of player would be ideal. Unfortunately, those older versions of the Kidd/Billups types that want nothing more than to sacrifice and do anything to win are either out of the league or aren't good anymore. That's why you have to sacrifice a little on your "requirements" and expectations for the output you get from the position. While somebody like Rondo isn't going to be out there nailing wide open 3's, he's definitely going to add a new dimension to your team on both ends of the floor that you're not used to seeing. If Rondo comes in here, holds his own defensively and makes life easier for Harden it's a win for us. Even if it's something as simple as having a top-notch passer like Rondo to inbound the ball in crunchtime situations. Teams may sag off of him, but in the last 5 minutes of the game (where we are struggling mightily), teams certainly aren't going to forget about him. With Beverley underwhelming and Lin's play being so erratic, you can't help but view a Rondo acquisition as an upgrade by default. I still see just too similarities between this team and the Francis/Mobley/Yao era squad that was talented, but most certainly not accustomed to playing smart TEAM basketball. Too much dribbling, too much ISO-ing, bleeding the shot clock, poor shot selection, poor decision making, high turnovers... This team is a lot more talented and capable than the Francis era Rockets. I think everybody would agree on that. And smarter, to be fair. That doesn't mean, though, that this squad couldn't stand to learn a few lessons from the ghosts of Rockets past. And at the risk of derailing this thread, say what you want about Tracy McGrady, but our highly mistake prone ways changed once we acquired him and he became the primary facilitator. This team doesn't need a McGrady level playmaker to become successful; however, I am really starting to believe that Harden (along with our trio of complimentary PG's) cannot do it alone. One thing I'll also add: Rondo has had one of the top 10 AST/TO ratios of any player in the league for 5 years in a row now. This whole nonsense of him being highly turnover prone and what not is bogus. He's as trustworthy as anybody out there with the ball in his hands. Finally, I've been up in the air on the PG situation all season long. I have long maintained that my preference was for a veteran like Deng or Millsap, but with those moves appearing unlikely, I'm beginning to shift my focus elsewhere. And, for the matter, perhaps more importantly.
I spent $500 for my tickets to the game so I was pretty close and had a great view and watched it closely- especially Lin, Brooks and Harden. I never said Lin did nothing that warranted being benched. But he did nothing to warrant getting frozen out for the 4th. If anything, shooting 1-8 and playing bad D warrants that, wouldn't you agree? But McHale chose to keep that guy in...
he's been preaching that since last season, and it still hasn't changed, and i don't think it ever will. Lin's gonna get traded anyway so i don't think it matters
Either McHale doesn't believe in this philosophy (would rather let Harden do what he's doing) or Lin isn't a good enough facilitator to handle the load. My gut says the latter. If an elite playmaker were on this team, we wouldn't see Harden handling the bulk of the playmaking duties like he is. At least in the first 3 1/2 quarters. We all know in crunchtime the ball is in Harden's hands, I get that.
The problem of your argument is that there is no elite playmaker on this team. Harden is far from an elite playmaker. This season, he is dishing out even fewer assists than last year while having the same number of TOs. So it is at least highly debatable whether he should be handling the ball as much as he has been this year.
LOL at everybody whose thinking is constrained to the paradigm of traditional positions on the basketball court.
Probably neither. Harden is what he is , a ball dominant guard . He cannot play off the ball like Durant. Well stats say he can but he probably prefers not to. When he was playing with Russell , Westbrook was basically a SG hence the reason he only averaged 5 assists that year and that was WITH Harden off the bench not starting. People seem to have this misconception that McHale told Harden to play PG, he didn't that's just who he is.
Agreed. Look what happened to Nash when he played with Kobe... Kobe became the facilitator, and Nash was relegated to a spot up shooter (look at Nash's assists at the suns vs. lakers - granted injuries played into this) I think we'll have serious locker room issues if Rondo comes. Frankly our starting point guard needs to be a 3 & D guy. Unfortunately, Bev does not have the 3, so on the offense, opposing guards can help off of him. Lin has been showing some good D lately, but who knows if that's going to be consistent. But you can't have everything in this league and I do not see any 3 & D PGs who are realistically possible to trade for at the moment.
Would love rondo. A true floor general. James needs to initiate the offense less. That's not his deal.
