1. Overrated NBA terms: Assets - "analysts", "journalists", "experts": stop using it. Assets obviously mean one of two things, draft picks or expiring contracts. That's it, stop with the lazy journalism. Body of work - not really NBA so much as NCAA, but yeah, stop using it. We know it means what the team has done all season. Player x - DNP - illness, Player X - DNP - flu. Yes, it happens, and it's been happening a lot lately, but let's call it something more fun, like player X - DNP - massive diarrhea. 2. Consider Chandler Parsons at the 2 and Harden at the 3. (This is assuming Lin and Asik are still on the team and the Rockets get a PnR caliber 4). This move is for defensive purposes more so than offense. On offense - you can still have Harden split O initiation with Lin because all those Harden iso's will turn into PnR's. But I'd rather have Harden play off the wing, where he can he spot up, go iso, or hopefully play the 2 man game with said PnR PF. This spaces the floor for him, leaving Lin at the top of the key to either receive pass back from Harden and drive 1 on 1 or swing to Parsons on the weak side hoping he can shoot or cut through defenses that over commit to stopping the strong side. That being said, I think the offense will be fine with a solid pnr 4. On the defensive end however, Parson's seems a better fit at the 2. He's guarded 1,2,3,4 at some point this season which leads me to believe he's quick enough to guard fast 1's and 2's as well as body up on bigger 3's and smaller 4's. Parsons' length is the main thing here though as I notice a lot of Harden's "poor D" comes from a failure to effectively rotate to the shooter on the weakside wing or corner. Not only will Parsons' length and speed cover more of the perimeter, but his size will help him contest those shots. Having Parsons and Lin up top when running zone really helps out Lin, where Parsons can provide better help D. Meanwhile Harden's strong enough and big enough (6'6 is a shade short of ideal) to guard opposing small forwards. You can hide his weakness of help D down low because the rotations are closer and he will be a more on ball defender. Also, he should have more rebounding opportunities that can start the break faster. It goes against conventional wisdom of "the taller, stronger guy should play 3 and shorter, faster guy at 2" but I saw Tom Thibodeau put Nate Robinson on Gerald Wallace Saturday. It wasn't ideal, but it was effective enough because of how well the Bulls play team D. Think more Charles Barkley 6'4 playing pf, durant 6'10 playing the 3, rodman 6'6 playing C and it's not as crazy as it might sound.
As long as we're correcting people on petty things, "massive" means "very large" -- as in SIZE, not intensity. I seriously doubt there's ever been a single case of massive diarrhea.
Member since 2002, with 5k posts and you can't even come up with a good counterpoint to my argument. Are you watching the games or just trolling?