Regarding the fit issue with Rondo, my views have changed somewhat. In the Harden dominated layup/three offense, yes you would probably want shooters and off the ball defenders to supplement Harden, which you could still run with Beverley, however adding Rondo allows you to run a different set in instances when the primary offense isn't effective. Seeing as how hard it is to get the Bosh'es, Melos or other perfect fit guys, while retaining guys like Parsons, I would advocate adding elite talent (such as Rondo) regardless of fit and let the coaches figure out how to make it work.
It doesn't make sense to spend money on our PF position if it doesn't improve the defense/rebounding. Incorrect. We need to first address our 4. That's the biggest liability right now. Our PG situation is fine. Beverley is an ideal complement to Harden.
Very funny that the thread basically from one post which stated "DMo can develop because bigs take longer to develop, e.g. McBob" has turned into a full blown discussion on whether we should get McBob and how good he really is. I'm of the opinion that Rondo's difficult to get. Unlike Dragic or Bledsoe, Rondo has name recognition. I don't know how good he is post-surgery, but plenty of GMs will still treat him like a superstar player. I think Boston can get more for him than Phoenix can for Dragic. Yet I would prefer Dragic over the guy once you factor age and injury concerns.
Versatility. First of all the comparison was between McRoberts and Diaw. Someone made the point that the only difference was defensively. That's not true. Diaw is much more versatile offensively because of his post-up ability. And that is an important difference. Because Diaw has the ability to face up when the opponent has 2 bigger slower bigs in the game ala Memphis/Portland, etc....but when those teams downsize to match better on the perimeter Diaw can flip that big booty around on the smaller defender and punish them in the post. And that was irregardless whether Duncan or Splitter was in the game. Diaw is a much more well-rounded, versatile player than McBob.
You've discovered how the GARM is half the time. May as well relax and try to get used to it. Discussions can go off the rails, or evolve (or devolve!) into discussions about things with a remote connection to the original topic, but worth reading regardless. Or not. ;-)-
Not necessarily denying that. The reality is that any of the PFs we could concievebly get are going to have holes in their game. The most complete option is Millsap, and I don't see how we can get him AND solve our problem at PG. Ultimately, whether we win or lose will be decided by our PG (assuming he's a game changer), Harden and Howard. We have to simply out talent people and have role players that fill a need. We aren't going to have perfect fitting pieces like the Spurs....but we can get close and hope that our talent is enough.
Almost every move we've made thus far has been with an eye towards defense and rebounding. Ariza, Adrien and Dorsey are all good at it. What we lack is someone that brings some offensively versitility. Regarding your 2nd comment, I think you're looking at it the wrong way. What we need is another elite player.....regardless of whether they're a 1 or a 4. The only elite 4 on the market is Love, and he's going to Cleveland. Millsap is good, but he's not in the elite category. Rondo, Dragic, Bledsoe, and Rubio are all either elite or could be elite. Assuming you can get one of them, you have to go out and find the best option you can afford at PF. McRoberts is one of those. There are others, but for reasons listed earlier, I'm not crazy about them. To summarize: Rondo or Dragic or Rubio or Bledsoe Harden Ariza McRoberts Howard is better than Beverley Harden Ariza Millsap Howard If that wasn't the case, then we would have traded for Millsap ages ago.
Harden's strengths: Elite offensive scoring machine. Harden's weaknesses: Poor defensive effort. Average to below average distributor. Beverley helps one of Harden's weaknesses, but not both. And it's not so much that Harden is a bad distributor, but it is not his strength. We must move Harden off the ball, or at least give him someone that can share the load. If we don't, you will see our offensive efficiency dip this year. Like basketballholic, I believe some of our defensive problems are rooted in our offense. Solve the offense and you can build out the defense. Plus, the guys I mentioned (Rondo, Rubio, Dragic, and Bledsoe) are all good to great defenders themselves. It's not like we are creating a defensive hole by inserting one of them into the starting lineup. The power forward problem cannot be easily solved, so we just have to go best player available and find bench players that can makeup for our weaknesses. Of everyone available, my preference is Dragic. He presents the least risk, knows our system, and fits our needs. Trade for McRoberts and sign Marion to makeup for McRoberts defensive shortcomings. Sign O'Neal as a backup center. Dragic / Beverley / Johnson Harden / Daniels Ariza / Marion McRoberts / DMo / Adrien Howard / O'Neal / Dorsey
I love Dragic. He was a great pleasure to watch while he was here. But if the decisions is between Rondo, Dragic, or Bledsoe, I'm going w/ one of the two ELITE defenders. Nobody will ever talk about Harden's *****ty defense again if he's flanked by two long-armed defenders capable of guarding multiple positions (Ariza and Bledsoe/Rondo). We could hide his liability pretty well that way. If we run out an elite defender at 3 of 5 positions, it will help to mitigate the deficiencies of Jones and Harden. That said, I'd GLADLY welcome back the Dragon if it happened to work out that way.
Harden passes real good....with 2 seconds left. All joking aside though rondo would compliment our 2 stars well. As well as being a star himself and becoming a hassle on both sides of the floor. it would be option 1a, 1b, and 1c
No he's not. I think the fact that it's been repeated so much has got everyone thinking that it's true. Is he our best? Yes. Does that mean anything? No. His assist to turnover ratio is #73 among all players in the NBA. Among just shooting guards, he's ranked at #18, or right in the middle of the pack. He's #14 in assists per game because we give him a lot of volume....not because he's great at it. Harden is an elite scorer first, and an average distributor second.
I don't think you actually watch Harden play. If you did you would know he'es a very good distributor
Why do we need to move Harden off the ball? Just so we can bring in an expensive pg to pass it to him? That'd be a waste of our resources. Beverley is the perfect complement to Harden. If Harden changes his game, then maybe that won't be the case. But for right now, it is. Ever heard the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"? Our PG/SG/SF/C are fine. Our PF isn't. Just b/c it can't easily be solved doesn't mean we should accept a broken position.
This is how personal attacks start and the board turns into a malaise. No need for this comment. He obviously watches the games and he's got a legit point. Harden's A/TO is terrible for a primary distributor. He may be a good distributor in that he finds open guys. But the problem is all the times he overplays and either throws the ball away or gets it stripped away and a run-out the other way results in an easy one against us. That subtracts from him being a "good distributor". Harden is a willing passer for sure. But he is not an efficient passer. He needs help in that department. And the combination of him, Dwight, and Lin made us the worst team in turnovers in the entire league. To go along with the atrocious turnover rate, we were below average in steals. So we really didn't offset all those turnovers by stealing the ball back. Even Michael Jordan had a lifetime A/TO ratio of 1.92 and his was low because he was primarily a scorer. But Jordan offset most of those turnovers with his steals. Somewhere around 85% steals to turnovers for Jordan. Harden doesn't come close to that and his A/TO ratio is below 1.6. Harden has to do a better job of not turning the ball over or do a much better job of playing defense and getting steals to offset all those turnovers he makes. Challenge: Find another primary playmaker on a championship team with an A/TO ratio as low as Harden's.
