Converting to a 5 out offense was to maximize Russ. Doing so Harden gave up his lob threat/roller which was a successful facet of his game. Who was he supposed to PnR with before Jeff Green got there? And Harden became much more defense minded to make up for Russ, not just in the post but on perimeter as well. He became an advocate and leader on returning to switch defense. Beard even led NBA in steals and top 5 in deflections. Harden most definitely adjusted and improved his game to accommodate Westbrook, I dont think that's debatable.
I'm happy for you, DD. To be honest, both of these guys have big positives and big negatives, so I won't even know how I feel until I see how it plays out.
Yeah, but only one guy who is a little upset and no one to feed into his discontent, if the team takes off Harden can change his mind...and we kept the better player. This entire season is a risk....Boogie if healthy is good, Wall if healthy is good - we had to try to take a risk.... At least Boogie and Wall are buddies......that should help the team chemistry, and we have Wall to run the 2nd unit.....and if he can hit the 3 like the one year he hit 37.1% - then it was a good trade. But we do lead the league in players who ruptured their achilles.....with 2. DD
Team will have to rebuild anyway. I mean Wall is gone if the rebuild starts next year. It's just a piece to kill time. Let's enjoy while we can.