With Harden out and the win today, I decided to look at the games he's missed this season.

He carries a bigger load than he did last year with bev playing next to him.

 

Team needs a real pg to take the ball out of hardens hands. Or let parsons run the offense more often. Ball gets sticky when harden is on the court.

 

He what? What a j3rk!

 

At this point, I'm comfortable with AB running the point. He may not be the best passer, but his ability to penetrate the lane is much better than Lin and Beverly. He can get close enough to the basket to kick it out to our shooters.

If he avoids some of his spotty shot selection, he can easily give us 15 and 7 a game, just like the older days of AB. This time around, though, our offense and personnel of shooters will allow him to assist more.

I changed my signature because of all the backlash from LOFs, but in this offense, Aaron may be our best option at PG. from shooting and the speed involved to run the ball and defend the tempo our offense creates for the other team, AB seems to be the one guy who can handle it on both ends of the floor. Maybe it's just me, but I feel much more confident with a shot that AB puts up than Pat or Jeremy. AB simply has no definitive range, which is good for the motion McHale has chosen to roll with.

 

If seem harden do things that only Lebron and Durant do and that's completely take over games for 10 minutes stretches. This can not be down played, James is having a tough year no doubt. He was hyped up as a bonafide top 5 player and supposed to lead the rockets to a championship with Howard.

He's 24 years old guys, he will get better we went complaining about harden last year when he took the youngest team ever to the playoffs and is the sole reason Dwight Howard is in a rockets jersey. Save me the parsons bs that's media not real life. Theirs no doubt that harden has really disappointed even me and I'm a huge fan if his with that said I truly believe that he will regain his form and grasp of being a too 5 player in this league and let the game come to him as opposed to forcing it to much. Don't act like Lebron, Kobe and even wade went through this faze in their careers after gaining the attention of the league. With blighted expectations comes more spotlight and more ppl critiquing your game. If hardens still playing like this 3 years from now then yes I will say his mentality should be questioned. Bur to say we might be better with a cheaper alternative is naive and silly. Harden on talent alone has top 3 player potential. He can do it all and is a good enough athlete to we're he should be a top 3 defender on the wing for his position.

Trust what's going in with James will happen to Paul George and the other young superstars who get all the love. Last year it was harden who could do no wrong now this year it's PG. these guys are young and years away from hitting their primes. Shoot it was just 3 years ago that everyone's questioned lebrons freaking James ability to be a leader on a championship team. Now I don't hear a word about it. Only time will tell if harden steps up to the plate and adapts to playing his ball through the team concept. My money is on him because hey I love the rockets and I think he's an enormous talent with top 20 all time potential.

 

Sample size is way to small to have this discussion. It's like everyone that get's on the T Jones bandwagon when he's playing good, then hates on him when he would naturally come back down to earth and play like a second year guy who is still learning. Same with Harden. People on this board forget how young Harden is and the fact that he is only into his second season as a first option starter. He's still learning too.

When we got TMac he was already a bonafide scoring machine who was a perennial all-star. We had a right to scrutinize a great player in his prime with his experience in the league. When we got Harden, he was a solid 6th man on a championship team that had never been an all-star. Give this team some time before we play this "is this team better without ......" game.

 

Is there any statistical evidence for this? His Usg% (from basketball-reference.com) is down (29.0% to 27.9%). The percentage of field goals unassisted by teammates is also down slightly this year -- it was 68.7% last year, and its 67.9% this year.

NBAWowy.com reports that his USG rate was 36.2 with Beverley and no Lin last year versus 27.9 with Lin and no Beverley. However, this season, his USG rate is only 27.6 with Beverley and no Lin (it is 26.8 with Lin and no Beverley).

 

Only stupid people make that kind of assumption.

 

Usage rates don't say it all, eye test is best in this case, their are plenty plays he kicks to someone late in a shot clock

I'm sure u watched all games just like me last year, so do u think bev or Lin handled the ball, took more shots, fast breaks etc compared to the sample size of this year?

 

You're wrong. Unless you're Yao, if you're Asian, you have no credibility here.

 

Which game did Harden play in, and which one did he miss?

Harden is the root of "Sticky ball"

The Rockets are SOOOO much better when he stays within the flow and doesn't try to do too much.

He does not need 30pPG this year.....he has enough talent around him to score 20-25 and be efficient.

DD

 

This team is better with Harden playing how Chandler Parsons does. Good movement off the ball and iso'ing when he needs too. Dwight is a mismatch to every center in the league. He will get the team plenty of good looks. Feed the MONSTER.

 

Harden is a very smart BB player DD. The coaching staff is one of the best in the league. Harden will review many hours of film. The coaching staff will view countless hours. It takes time for a team to integrate a massive talent like Howard. The Lakers never managed to do it. The game against Detroit was an eye opener. Its implications will not be lost on the coaching staff or Harden.

 

Woah - I agree Harden is very smart, but I think our coaching staff is not attention to detail oriented, and is NOT one of the best in the league - not by a long shot.

There have been many chances for EYE openers from Harden, until he CHOOSES to learn, we will underacheive.

While he is good enough to carry a team some nights, he is not good enough to do it consistently - and this team is better off playing team ball.

If the coaching staff was all that great - they would take the ball out of Harden's hands a LOT more often.

DD

 

Wonderful... now a sprained ankle is equal to a torn acl and torn meniscus...


And, I'm sure that after you suffer a sprained ankle so bad that you required crutches for 3 weeks... you headed out to the blacktop and insisted on one on one battles against the best in the block...to the point of taking most of the shots in your team... and failing hard, while expecting post-game kudos from your comrades for your "heroic" effort...

 

people need to start getitng banned for making stupid threads like this.

 

Harden knows and watched film on his defense that's why he has improved. When he was out with the foot problem, he was interviewed on "csn" in the weight room on how the team looks in the games they have won. His reply was he likes what he has saw with the ball movement players getting involved & how we have to trust each other on offense because our team is deep.

Harden is a smart player like you said so he knows.

 

Knowledge is moot if not applied...

 

Exactly - actions speak louder than words.

Harden will get there, it took Hakeem and MJ years to trust their teamates.

DD

 

He will just be another T-mac with some wonderful years
and fade away quickly.
Keeps playing under hurt is ridiculous.

our coaches and offices are just really short-sight seeing