1. TMac was nowhere near for the Rockets what Harden has been for the Rockets. Not close. And yes, showing up matters. Being there when it counts most matters. Nowhere close. And Yao? Please. "If ever fully healthy" is literally the title of Yao's NBA career biography. 2. Dream wasn't known as a champ until he was a champ...neither was Dirk...they were both known as quite the opposite before they ever actually held up a trophy. That's entirely the point of the comparison...nothing more. No, Harden doesn't have the defensive impact Dream did...no one did, arguably, ever. But Dream didn't have the offensive impact Harden has. Only a few other players in NBA history have ever. Again, that's kind of my point. 3. Harden is every bit Dirk's equal on defense if you're talking about #1's who win titles. Come on. He was "soft" remember? No one thought he'd ever win anything. Can't win with a one-way player at that position, right? Ummmmm..wrong. He did it. He put a team on his back and did it. I think Harden can absolutely be that guy. No way to know if I'm right...but what's behind door #2 in the alternative doesn't excite me. Another bunch of young guys that Clutchfans will love who earn us the 8 spot because they play really hard? No thanks. You can keep those guys. Not interested. This is a league of superstars. We happen to have one, which puts us in a group of maybe....MAYBE....5 teams.
When you ask a guy to be literally everything...that's kinda hard. I can neither confirm nor deny that's happening with me at my place of business right now. Not easy.
so we can have two chokers disappear in crunch time? no thanks.. I much rather they go after Paul Milsap. Chris Paul is a undersized PG who has never won.. he's a flopping piece of crap and he's a locker room cancer. ALso undersize PG's decline fast once they lose their speed advantage.. no thanks
What makes Cp3 a cancer? Lol Milsap undersize and hasn't won **** ether. The only players who have won anything are on the Warriors and Cavs.
Milsap is a much better fit than Paul. He's not expected to lead but rather be a solid all star and better fit for this team. Plus he's not a cry bABY WHINING FLOPPING LIL PRIMADONA.. Not sure how much stock you want to put in to it but google Big Baby Glenn Davis's comments on paul. Do we really want the title of flop city with Harden and Paul in the back court?[/
I just watched the video of big baby and he did say Paul can be harsh with his teammates, but in the end he said if he owned the Clippers he'd get rid of everyone except him and deandre. He said they need a star wing player. He also talked about Rondo and how he liked playing with him more because of their personalities. Circumstances matter though. Paul came into the league with a lot of expectations. He was unhappy in NOLA and went to LA. He has had many playoff failures. Rondo came into the league and as a young player got to be the pg on a stacked team. He won a ring early in his career. There was not any pressure on Rondo. All those years of failure have probably rubbed off on cp3 and it probably has affected his attitude and intensity. People think harden has had it rough without having another creator that can score AND get others involved at a high level....look at cp3. He's been the only guy on that team that can do that for a long time. I think Harden and Paul, if they could find the right synergy, could be something special as a backcourt pairing. If you're able to keep Bev and Gordon off the bench then you're talking about some fireworks. If the Rockets can get Chris Paul I wouldn't even try for Paul George. I'd look at a sign and trade for milsap sending out Ryno and Lou. Capela Milsap Ariza Harden Paul With Bev and Gordon off the bench. That's a serious contender.
Nash made it to 36 as an all-star caliber player, MDA knows how to work his magic on his mid 30's un-athletic HOF PG's.
ha... don't be a dick... it's beneath you... have civil conversation here. Ok, so to be clear, you're saying he can be an average defender that can be an above average defender... but he's actually a below average defender, but not an incompetent defender. Is that about right?? I have no desire to wordsmith with you here. His actual defense, on the court, that he shows, 99% of the time is very bad. the end. If you want to nitpick now, who said about playing great defense ALL THE TIME?? In fact, who said anything about playing great defense at all. I'd be ok with your average defense to above average defense. At least that'd be a BIG improvement. But absolutely there are GREAT offensively players who have been above average to above above average, 99% of the game. In fact the NBA is littered with them throughout history. MJ, Kobe, Lebron, Hakeem, Shaq [had defensive weaknesses but was very good], Pippen, Ewing, Robinson, Duncan, Gasol, Chris Paul, etc, etc. Look at the history of the all nba defense teams. Here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_All-Defensive_Team Players with the most selections include KG, Kobe, MJ, Payton, Duncan, Pippen, CP3, Kareem, Hakeem, Lebron, Jason Kidd, Robinson... Kawhi now. Great players on both sides of the ball. Sure, there are specialists mixed in. So... tit for tat... do you even watch basketball?? How do you not know this? How do you not know the league is littered with great two way players throughout its history?? If those players can put in the effort most of the time, its absolutely ridiculous to insinuate its just too hard for Harden because he has to do too much. Just because Kawhi doesn't guard Harden all the time doesn't mean anything. You'd never have Harden guard anyone important in any important moment of the game. It'd be moronic. No, when he doesn't try hard he's worse than poor. He's getting back door cut, letting fast breaks go uncontested at all, getting driven on by Austin Rivers, etc. There's almost no proof of this. Maybe a possessions a year in the post. Besides which... who cares. Again it seems like your argument is Harden could be better. great... that helps in absolutely no way. Lose his man regularly? Maybe not. But he is regular poor defensively. His best attribute defensively, as is often the case for guys like you describe - guards who "could" be better defensively but aren't, is that he'll get a couple steals a game... typically because he's out of position for his guy but in position for a steal, or because he's going for a home run play of a steal because actually playing solid 24 second team defense is too much effort as you say. Again, I didn't say it never happens to the best defenders. I said it happens to Harden way too much... which it does. He is playing absolutely putrid defense way too many times in a game/season, and poor defense most of the rest of the time, with the occasional solid defense and once or twice a year great defense.... which averages out to bad, lol. I can't believe we're even having this argument. I think, but am not sure, it's all about whether Harden is completely incompetent defensively or just poor, but could be average, and occasionally above average, but he isn't and is indeed below average and poor... because he doesn't try. lol.
Antonio needed 3 All Stars to whin in Phoenix. How is that not the same?im all in if we can keep at least 2 good roll players. Ariza and Gordon or Sweet L (Nene signed)... I would trade capela if I could find a vet that would play like Nene last season. NO hesitation to win NOW.
I personally think it'd be a mistake to trade Gordon. I don't think I need to explain how important his perimeter threat is to our identity.
As much as I want any of the Paul's available, I don't want us to gut out the whole team and not have a bench. I still want to retain Gordon & Bev if possible.
Whats going to happen when CP3 is running the offense and sees Harden at halfcourt not doing anything? Recipe for disaster. Give me 5 minutes of beating the **** out off Harden. I'll fix that attitude.
Since I can see this discussion heading in circles, I am just going to end this now saying that I disagree with all your points completely. I could easily tear apart your arguments, but quite frankly, it's not worth my time or effort.
