Blah blah blah. Heard this same crap about Olajuwon for years...we just didn't have message boards to memorialize it. Heard similar criticisms of Dirk. "you can't call him a champion yet." Yeah, no ish, pal. You couldn't call any of the champs champions before they won a championship. Half of Houston was ready to ship Dream to Miami because he wasn't a champion. To suggest a guy playing at MVP level can't win one is ridiculous. He's playing the best basketball of anyone in the league right now. I don't know if he can get better....but I know if they eventually get the right pieces around him, he can absolutely win a title. Hell, he has this team, surrounded by role players (no all stars) playing at a 61 win pace so far. Very few players have been able to elevate teams like this to that sort of pace.
If playmakers with low turnovers were what win championships, Chris Paul would have half a dozen by now.
We will lose in the playoffs for two reasons: 1. One-dimensional offense that is easy to strategize against because it is Harden-centric and he will be forced into too many turnovers. 2. Rim and paint defense severely lacking. These two things will prevent us winning a championship unless they are addressed.
Agreed. Have to have to right players around him. For that to happen Harden has to recognize and accept what has to be around him. Harden needs his Pippen/Kyrie/Wade. Without that second great perimeter distributor/playmaker Harden is going to wind up where MJ and Lebron wound up before they got their great perimeter sidekicks, coming up short.
You're going to make your case with Lin, who is a much lesser Harden, a high turnover, take it to the rim and dish/finish/draw fouls/turn it over player??? Ha. Lin is not an efficient distributor. You have no idea apparently what I'm talking about.
But that's not what you said before. You said we need to take the ball out of Harden's hands and give it to a "real PG" like Rubio
Everyone loses in the playoffs, with the exception of one team. You are not making any grand statements here...
I have seen enough, just tell me one thing more, if you think Harden is now playing on a level that is above Jordan?
Do you think the Rockets roster is better than the Cavaliers or the Warriors? Or do you think we are equal/better and Harden is what is holding us back?
it is something that is understood by default and should not be stated or enumerated in each and every post
I agree 2 is a concern. We have a hard time going up against teams that have big/tall centers - Utah clips Memphis, three teams that we may very well face. We have to see if our team defense can continue to improve. It was improving. We were at 6th for the month of December. Read the recent ringer article on our defense recently. So I have hope. I'd love to get bogus, nerlens or chandler, but we're not dead without them. We'd be better with them and our chances of winning would increase greatly with them. 1 is a little concern, but we are not one dimensional. We have the same kind of attack that GS now has, only their perimeter players are slightly better while our centers are better, assuming health. They can easily win it all. If harden gets stuck, he has been throwing it to Gordon who also can create and shoot (he did this last night, and Gordon completely took the rockets home). He's like a mini harden. The rockets now not only have two points of attack from two creators who are also point guards (or point guard lite), but their role players can all slash to the basket AND shoot from the outside, and their healthy centers play above the rim which puts tremendous stress on defenses. This was not the case last year or in previous years. You also have Anderson bending defenses with his range at 4 (see recent article - james is 10% more effective on offense with Anderson on the floor). While I would not favor the rockets over GW now, I would absolutely say they'd have a shot to win in a 7-game series because they have an offense that could completely get hot and an average defense. I'd take them over the spurs or call it even bc we match up well. Of the two problems, the defense and rebounding at center is a greater concern (health being the biggest), but only relative to GW Cavs and certain matchups. Moving james off point is NOT a big concern and will not be the reason we don't win a championship.
Only Michael Jordan can elevate his game to carry a team to a championship. There are too many times Harden celebrates boisterously after a made basket, has his head down and moping after missing, not playing defense, makes excuses for his efforts, attempting to draw contact, and complain when not getting a call. He is a good player in today's NBA, but to suggest he is making Akeem obsolete, going to win a championship is too premature. I'm going to reserve judgement until when we have a full healthy team, a tall backup center, and Corey Brewer on the bench. There are some very passionate fans in this forum.
I love Eric Gordon. Even suggested trading for him last year. Not at all surprised by his success here. However to suggest that Gordon is all we need to help Harden with ball handling/distribution duties is preposterous. Gordon is a scoring guard. He is great in that role playing alongside a primary distributor. He is also good playing as the primary playmaker against opponent backup units. But Gordon is not even as creative as Harden if he is at the point. And Gordon is even more turnover prone than Harden is when he handles the basketball. Way more turnover prone than Harden. Our one-dimensional offense does not even come close to the multi-pronged offenses of the Warriors, Spurs, and Cavs. The Warriors have 5 guys in their top 7 who can make plays, Steph, Livingston, Iggy, Durant, and Draymond. Both Stephen and Livingston are much more efficient ball handlers than Harden is. The Warriors are like water. Basically impossible to keep them stopped up for more than a minute. Spurs also are a team offense. You can't key on one guy offensively. Mills will rip you to shreds. The Cavs have Kyrie running the show up top equal with Lebron and the basically split point duties when they're in together as the matchups dictate it. And the reasoning is simple. Kyrie is simply the better ball handler by far. We DO NOT have the same kind of attack as those guys.
