Lol wtf. Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are all capable off the ball scorers and 3 pt shooters. Paul George, Melo and WB are all ball dominant ISO scorers who shot a crap ton of mid range shots and have spotty 3 pt shooting. The only similarity between the 6 is they are all stars. In terms of team synergy and complimentary skills the two groups are worlds apart thats why I'm confident OKC will not be as good as everyone seems to think they will be.
Lol Presti started with KD, top lotto pick and massive capspace. Morey started with about to retire YaoMac, no capspsce and the oldest team in the league. It ain't that hard to be GM of the year when you collect top 10 picks every year for like 6 years straight.
Them parking someone out there is exactly what we want. Anthony is not going to be able to sag on penetration. I will take Harden or Paul with a lane to the basket every time. Anderson even makes it more of an issue because he is even further on the perimeter than most. As for Anthony, he is a ball stopper on offense and Anderson usually won't even be guarding Anthony. Also the Rockets will not be doubling George and Westbrook. Paul is arguably the best defensive point guard in the NBA and the Rockets are loaded with defensive wings. Anthony is an inefficient offensive player. Most of his shorts are pull ups and ball stopping jumpers. OKC is better and will be a handful. However if they prove to be better than the Rockets it isn't likely going to be because of Anthony. It will either be improved play by Adams (who is very (talented) or injuries to the Rockets.
How exactly have the Spurs improved? They haven't. How Morey handled this off season? He added Chris Paul, PJ Tucker and Luc. If the Rockets really felt that Anthony was worth it; they would have offered draft picks or Gordon or Ariza. They didn't which tells you what kind of player Anthony is at this point.
yup dont get deceived by hoodie melo he was simply trying to hide the fact that he's older, fatter, and slower i'm pretty sure morey and MDA was constantly in touch with CP3 and Harden and in the end they all agreed Melo was only worth RA and giving up more would make us worse
If Anderson won't usually be guarding Melo, who will he be guarding in what will most likely be the Thunders primary lineup of Westbrook, Robertson, George, Melo, Adams?
I think you will see a lot of Anderson on Roberson and Harden on Anthony with Ariza checking George. With Paul/Tucker/Luc the Rockets are able to handle a lot more diverse line ups than before.
Westbrook has failed to make his teammates better. Something funny you never hear analysts comment on. So the surefire thing of George and Melo continuing to be as good as they have been offensively is highly debatable at this point in time. Westbrook may remember he has teammates now he averaged his triple double, who knows. But to automatically think his selfish style of play is going to mesh with two heavy isolation players.... I don't understand it.
Tier 2: The superteam standard Oklahoma City Thunder Stars: Three (Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony) SuperPoints: 22 (Westbrook 16, George 3, Anthony 3) Anthony may be 33 years old, but he's still a star in this league who averaged 22.4 points in a broken system in the Big Apple. In OKC's system, he should see much better looks alongside Westbrook and George. And don't be surprised if a fourth star emerges from the mix: Steven Adams. The 24-year-old could be a monster this season as the benefactor of all the attention paid to the star trio. Tier 3: Super duos Houston Rockets Stars: Two (James Harden and Chris Paul) SuperPoints: 21 (Harden 13, Paul 8) Say what you want about New York's haul in the Melo deal, but the Rockets seem to be the biggest losers from that trade. Not only did the Rockets whiff on Melo, he went to a conference rival in OKC. The Rockets failed to put together the team's first big three (by this measure) since 1996-97 team featuring Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley. The Ryan Anderson contract, which pays him $61 million over the next three seasons, obviously proved to be too onerous for New York's taste. The Rockets can hope 23-year-old Clint Capela becomes the third star on the roster.
OKC have the bigger names but the game is not played on paper. 3 big names vs Rockets 2 Problem is WB and Melo both can easily chuck up 40+ shots a night without a sweat So unless WB can reign it in and get others involved, adding Melo doesn't do too much
I have a slight twist on the OKC starting 5: Westbrook Roberson Paul George Melo Stevens Reserves: Felton/Abrines/J Grant/Patterson/Collison (10 Player rotation) Houston: CP3 Harden Ariza Ryan Anderson Capela Reserves: E Gordon/Tucker/Luc MaM/Nene/Black (10 Player rotation) Pretty equal match ups with home team winning most games in a series. Injuries might determine outcomes; as with most games.
Best thing we let them play and see what their record is this year and till the Allstar break and beyond.
OKC wont even make the playoffs. Teammates quit around westbrook. He is only effective if he calls his own number. He cant get everyone involved
I still think OKC slithers in to a 7/8 seed like the 2013 Lakers and 2016 Rockets, but if they lose the next two vs MIN and SAS, they are 8-14 and can throw any hope of title contention down the drain.
Every Thunder thread should be a Ryan Anderson appreciation thread. Lol at the thought of trading him for Melo
