If Harden were the problem, firing him would be the easiest thing. I'm getting tired of this. You can't have somebody to hijack the whole organization, no matter who he is. Let's rebuild if that's what has to be done.
This team's problems are on the defensive end. We are playing JET as our starting point guard. He was totally ground to powder by Conley/Chalmers tonight. He has NO CHANCE defensively to slow anybody down. He's 38 years old. That ain't gonna fix no matter how many 3's he hits. We're playing Terrence as our starting 4 man. Terrence cannot defend nor rebound against any decent playoff team. He isn't big enough, skilled enough, nor smart enough to compete against the better teams. He hit a 3 but gave us nothing...actually he gave us negative play across the board. We have exactly 2 guys in the starting lineup that can D up, Dwight and Trevor. Not only can the other 3 guys not D up but they are some of the worst defenders at their position starting in the NBA. For real. Harden, Terry, and Terrence are 3 of the very worst defenders starting at their position in the NBA. And we're running them all out there together. We have one defensive gambler on the bench (Brewer) and he can't shoot for nothing. And we've got a defacto defensive PG (Beverley) who absolutely got smoked tonight by the same combo that chewed up JET. Bev can't get over screens to contend and he has no explosion to defend guys cutting back door on him. He got slammed through the wood chipper when he was out there. It was terrible. Right now...even with Bev coming back...we have NO DEFENSE at the point of attack...NONE!! And you wanna talk about shooters gonna fix this????? No...they won't.
Might as well say it. Harden wants Dwight out because Durant wont consider Houston, as long as Dwight is here.
And like I said if we can find away to make our open shots our D is going to look a lot better. Teams won't have easy fast break opportunities because Houston is clanking 3s off the rim left and right. We are shooting god awful % this year. It's disgusting. Since JB took over I think our defense has gotten a bit better too because guys are putting forth a lot more effort than they were. Also for what it's worth Ariza and Dwight are not playing up to par on the defensive end this year either. The whole team is just in a shell. There isn't one guy I trust to lock down their guy anymore.
He can go to sactown for cousins. Really, this doesn't make sense. DMo is still on the team and missed the whole playoff run last year. Josh Smith played half the year for us and was a spark but he's been terrible in LA. It's not about scrubs nick Johnson or kpap. Must be about team chemistry or hardens dropoff
We can't make enough 3's to overcome our poor defense. Harden is giving no defensive effort. He let Memphis run past him a half dozen times tonight. This was a Memphis team playing the second night of a back-to-back on the road. And we were at home rested. And they thunked us. They didn't need fast breaks to thunk us. All they had to do was set up and set a pick for their point guard and we were done. We have no defense at the point of attack.
Plot twist: I'm pretty sure KD won't consider Houston as long as it continues to slide completely out of the playoff picture. But honestly, wasn't the rumor that Harden & Dwight were over each other after that Portland series? I remember back then that people were hoping they might have a Lebron/Wade-esque summer meeting of the minds to repair the perceived fracture. They didn't, AFAIK. Perhaps last year put a pin in the disconnect because Dwight missed half the season and was pretty deferential when he returned? IDK -- what I do know is that the fan in me really wanted to doubt cyberx when he kept saying that relationship was strained, but it sure looks that way. I don't care if they aren't fond of each other off the court, but the difference in the way Harden/Clint play and the way Harden/Dwight play really can't be denied.
Durant won't consider Houston, as long as Houston is/looks like the lottery team they are. Better stay put. ___________________________________ http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/teams/rockets/2015/11/26/1448513139467-jason112515.mov-138424
Not likely, he's now comfortable in his enabling environment where no oneholds him accountable... He's 26 years old now, good luck finding someone to reach him now... Stephen Curry wins the championship, comes into the next season with a chip on his shoulder to show it wasn't a fluke... Harden get's to the Western Conf. Finals mainly due to the "role players" he casually dismisses and Dwight Howard, comes into the season believing he's accomplished plenty to earn the right to coast... Many of us have been trying to highlight the importance of proper coaching, mentoring, teaching and guidance for a player like Harden while he was still young enough to reach.... Others said it would all work out, it wasn't that important because Harden's really talented and so on talent alone his maturity would come.... well, here we are...
So the path to the chip is to cut Howard and beg Brooks to be our coach. Make Brooks the highest paid coach in the league history. Get it done Morey.
What kind of team was Miami, the year before Lebron? 47 wins im the east..probably 40 wins in the west....if we continue like this, but get healthy, that's about where we'll end up. It's all about what durant believes he can do with Harden and whoever else he has in mind. Maybe he's just that sure of the possibilities, like Wade and Bron were.
Even though Kobe and Shaq had chemistry problems, they still found ways to win games. Remember 2001 when they dominated in the playoffs? The thing is that Dwight is nowhere near as unstoppable as Shaq was. The sad thing is that Harden isn't anywhere near as good as Kobe was either.
Lawson needs to be out as soon as possible... Like I get its a huge loss but if he is affecting morale like this he needs to be out of the locker room today
If -- and this is a big IF -- Harden is the type of guy who would purposely marginalize a current team member as part of a scheme to lure someone else here, he isn't a guy I want to build around. I want to go on record saying I don't believe that's what he's doing... that's beyond comprehension for me right now, I think.
