HARDEN/LIN Potential to be best back court in the NBA with right coach?

No, Lin will never be a part of the best back court because he is a mediocre player.

 

He is a good role player, he can be an effective player. However I agree with you, as a good role player he will not be part of the best back court in the NBA.

 

They need a coach that has the balls to stand up to Harden.

 

Nah coach is fine.

 

No coach that has zero control over his star players is fine.

 

Not a chance. There is a reason Harden comes off the bench at OKC. He can't play defense over long stretches.

 

no. HARDEN/XX will never be the best back court. not even with cp3.

 

Harden said no. He wants to do both PG/SG.

 

I agree. Talk went from best back court in the NBA to Lin as 6th man because of a lack of a coach with offensive schemes that can tell the players what to do and when to do it. I think this vanilla point guard fits Harden on the Rockets better is a load of crap. Wade and LeBron have a lot of overlapping skills and weren't great for a long time before they learned how to use their differences and balance their playmaking/scoring. Wade took a back set to LeBron, now they are great together. But it isn't like Wade doesn't get his touches. Miami's ball moves, it doesn't usually stick. And go back and look at last year when Harden and Lin both played big games together. The successful games were when Lin got high teens to high 20s and Harden low 20s to maybe low 30s and both had 6 or more assists. Lin was allowed to do his thing and Harden had plenty of times to do his thing. Harden has a big deficiency in his game in that sometimes he wants to do everything offensively and doesn't allow the other playmaker to do his thing. He becomes a ball stopper and ball hog. He doesn't always do that, sometimes he keeps the ball flowing and passes and playmakes but in a more balanced way. A good coach gets that Harden to play while guiding Lin along and letting him play through acceptable, aggressive mistakes but rides him and screams at him when necessary too when he does bonehead stuff which he absolutely does sometimes. But he doesn't pull him for making lack of experience or growing pains mistakes. Lin has compromised his game and is willing to and Harden keeps looking to do too much in his game when he isn't controlled. But the first thing you have to do is stop the 6th man nonsense, have Lin as your starting point guard unless he's injured, and then use smart rotations to have his playmaking in other units when Harden is off the floor. Play together and stagger and you have a fine, fun to watch, effective back court. But Harden still has to play better defense even if he never becomes known for it.

 

Harden looks like he's 100 years old reaction. lol

 

That helpless/clueless look...I can't even get mad.

 

James Harden is the best player on the Rockets and McHale is fine. It has been a handful of games and the Rockets fought back from a 19 deficit.

 

You did notice in that same clip that Nash went right around Lin as well, correct?

 

lin could be up there with 19 pts. no excuse for a coach to not find a way to get his best shooter of the game more than 8 shots.

democratic ball is most effective for us. stick to it.

 

you did notice that Nash went around a screen, correct?

 

Yes, and you can FIGHT through a screen, something that the Rockets backcourt does not seem to get. Switching is good when needed, but simply because there is a pick/screen does not mean that you just throw your hands up.

A large part of the Rockets perimeter struggles last year defensively were the result of not being aware of screens, failing tofight through them and poor communication.

That was a mediocre screen as well.

I just find it humerous that people like to point the blame at one player, when in that same clip there were multiple mistakes made by several players.

 

LMFAO