1st Impression of Harden and Westbrook Sharing the Court Together

I'm not bashing the move, but I'm really worried. More than anything, when the two are together on the court. Westbrook had good moments when Harden was on the bench on the Japan game.

Yesterday we looked awful defensively for most of the game and Westbrook closeouts were defensively atrocious even compared to what we are used with James here.

I was cautiously optimistics until last night where I got really worried. I'm really rooting for this team, we don't have more cards to play really, there were many reasons to do the trade, but the end game is the on court product

 

I love RW and it's still way too early, but they look HORRIBLE together so far...Seems like Harden is on a mission to average 40 this year and win the MVP!! He isn't going to differ s*** to RW, sadly...

 

Nor the (post-buyout) salary.

 

Honestly, I don't have any real concerns at the moment, no more than I did when CP3 originally came along. WB and CP3 are nothing alike outside of being a bit ball-dominant in their own right, but with Harden reforming his game as a PG the prior season, I wondered how a new starting star PG would work in the rotation.

Honestly, while the first CP3 season worked wonderfully overall, a lot of times they were at their best separately. Through CP3's injury though, Harden developed the "it's all on me" mentality that really changed a lot about our halfcourt setup..... a lot A LOT of additional dribbling, less early passing, and this unnecessary need to take every single second up before crossing halfcourt. We lacked a lot of urgency last season, and as much as Harden is the answer, if he doesnt adapt his own game a bit then he will be a part of our problem as well.

That does NOT mean that I do not like Harden, I love the guy, but every superstar has weak points in their game, and of he could cleanup the unnecessary handling, then it would lead to quicker baskets, more teammate involvement, and less turnovers.

WB has the energy we need, and while he is not the smarter, safer player that CP3 was, he has an attack mode that is higher than most players in the league. Theres an athleticism and drive there that we need, but can he be sharper? Can he adapt as well? All-time, I would choose prime Cp3 over him, however at this point I do think that it was at-worst a lateral move for a completely different type of player, and like it or not he's here and he has his own set of positives.

I hope that he handles the ball more coming up the court, and I really like the outlet off rebounds to him streaking and attacking on offense. Our points off turnovers etc could definitely increase with him on the court. Harden will need to concede the ball more though initially, and I think JH13 accepting it after the halfcourt would be beneficial for us.

No more standing around..... waiting for 20secs for a play to start..... sigh. It wasnt like that 2-3 years ago, and it doesnt need to stay like that now. Other teams play smarter and faster than we do, and we can't just stand around dribbling at set defenses instead of breaking them down as early as possible. Capela just standing around.... Tucker waiting in the corner, etc etc.... my hope is WB once back in gear will give our team the spark it needs.

Our last couple of preseason games looked like crap, but wtvr its preseason. I think again that Harden and WB will probably look their best separately, unless Harden concedes the ball a bit to start. WB can flash early, but it's better to have the ball in the hands of Harden late in the shotclock so WB isn't jacking up some ill-advised shot. Either way, they both need to move, and pay great attention to the players around them, because we wont go anywhere with teammates just getting last minute set shots after long star dribbles.

I remember the players we started with last season.... I have no doubt that our team is beginning this year in a much stronger spot. They can make it work, Go Rockets!!!

 

They’ll be fine, Westbrook has issues with threes and TOS at times but he can finish so easily and pass very good.

 

Look, the Melo part 2 comment was not about style of play of the 2 players, just that NEITHER of them fit with a Harden led team - to me this is an example of Star ****ing.

CP3 fit, because he could also stand and shoot.....but anything that takes the ball out of Harden's hands and makes us worse defensively is a poor chemistry fit move, IMO.

Harden has the ball, we have 2-3 years left of him at a superstar level - we need to be adding COMPLIMENTARY players not guys he likes that need the ball 100% of the time and be much less efficient....not to mention SUCK at D.

Find complimentary pieces.

DD

 

Now that DD chimed in with his opinion, I fully expect WB to do great.

 

it's going to be UGLY at times.. but it's also going to be AMAZING.

there is going to be a settling in period of at least 40 games or so. MDA will try LOTS of rotations. CF will go in full on disaster mode multiple times during this year.

I'm excited.

 

Paul George scored more than Westbrook. Westbrook dialed back his shooting next to a more efficient scorer

 

Unfortunately harden and Paul grew to hate each other. Paul is a better fit but he's also older and injury prone

 

@Clutch

The dreaded double-drop defense on Harden.

 

OP, thanks for posting this. i was left with more questions than answers. But it's only been a couple preseason games. I think folks are gonna have to be patient in the early going. It's gonna take a little time for them to fit this thing together. But i honestly believe they will find a way to make this work.

...but for the love of God ...please don't just allow Westbrook to jack up a high volume of 3's. There's got to be some straight up common sense to this. That is not his game. Please don't relegate him to that.

 

It was a cupcake performance.
Actually it's preseason and Westbrook looked half baked like Dave Chapelle!

 

Let me spell it out to you, genius. The first year, there was no chemistry, but it was overshadowed by their success due to both stars being great ISO players. There's no star (or even team) chemistry requirement in ISO skills. The second year, Chris Paul lost those ISO skills, which made the star chemistry issue more evident.

 

I'd like to see Westbrook look good for a game. He's looked pretty bad thus far. I was opposed to the trade and he's not doing anything out there to win me over.

 

a preaseason game after an almost 20 hr travel across the pacific is far from an end product

 

I don’t think it’s necessarily harden and Westbrook, but those two with other non spacers tucker and capela. Tuck is a decent shooter but no one the defense REALLY has to worry about beating them. It’s still really early though so we will see how it goes

 

Harden refuses to play off-ball. This is why stars don't get along with him. He has to do his dribble-dribble thing or pass out and stand around? Rarely do you see him cutting off-ball or being the "popper" in the pick and pop.

 

They are not leaving Harden open, so maybe some off the ball screens along the baseline and going from one side to the other like Curry, Reggie and them would make it work, but not way Harden will work that hard for a shot. As much as I believe he works hard, Harden’s ego is still too big and or he just doesn’t want to do whatever it takes.

 

There is absolutely nothing sad about the fact James Harden will not be deferring to Russell Westbrook. He's a far superior player and shouldn't defer to him. Didn't know there was anyone out there who believed otherwise.