The situation in the NBA is this. For us (or anyone else tbh) to have a shot at the title, we would have to add NOT ONLY someone on the caliber of Anthony Davis, but ALSO a John Wall. And this wouldn't even make us the favorites, it only means that we can compete. Wrap your heads around that. Then hope that Harden doesn't leave to join another super team. Actually, I'm not sure if I prefer being stuck in purgatory or just saying F it and trust the process.
in the age of advanced stats, it blows my mind how a lot of you here and on reddit dont know this about harden or overlook it. his overall playoffs efficiency is borderline. after 8 years in the po's he has yet to dominate a single series, something all superstars are more than capable of doing. he's more likley to have 3 straight bad games then dominat ea whole series. he is a robin. but they're not gonna admit that so they'll build around him. we had a threads like this how many times? hayward or pg would be good. a pg like cp3 is better but he's going to sas.
To really compete (for best non-Warriors team, obv) we don't necessarily need another superstar. Harden plus shooters gave us a top-tier offense and when people think of "superstars," they usually think about offense. What Houston needs is defense--if they surrounded Harden with excellent 3&D players and a center in the mold of DeAndre Jordan (who I wouldn't consider a superstar, nor does this hypothetical center even need to be as good as Jordan, just a similar skillset), they'd likely be as good or better than the Spurs. And better than the the Cavs, too, potentially. The problem is--acquiring that many good 3&D players might be just as hard, or harder, than getting another superstar. Right now, they just have guys who can shoot, not a lot of guys who can D up on the other end.
Well, the best 3&D guys we can add are players like Hayward, George...and they're stars. Adding two big 3&D role players like...let's say Ibaka and Holiday/George Hill would make us better, no question, but how much better? I get what you're saying about the need to add more defense, but the reality imo, is that we also need to add offense, we need another guy who can make plays when the game is on the line, especially if Harden is going to be a no show again. And btw, if you add a DeAndre (salary wise), you won't be able to get two players like Ibaka and Hill. I think at this point we can somehow get two players going forward to upgrade the roster, one in free agency, and one via trade later...like, if we can sign a top tier guy, we can go all in in a trade for the second/third star, but until we get a second/third top player i don't see Morey going all in, too big of a risk with Harden expiring in two years.
I think Paul George is the best fit we could hope for*. Acquiring a star center or ball dominant guard doesn't seem to be the way to go as their games haven't appeared to mesh well with Harden (See Howard, Dwight; Lin, Jeremy; Lawson, Ty) and don't generally play to their potential. However, versatile playmaking forwards have shown to flourish next to James. Harden and Parsons worked really well together and we caught some flashes of brilliance from DMo and Smith when playing with James. PG could do it more consistently than any of them and at a much higher level. He and James seem to have a good relationship from their interactions in the past and PG is good enough such that he won't be entirely overshadowed by the Beard. His defense would be praised endlessly and he's shown he can fill the stat sheet in the postseason. And I think at this point, PG will be willing to do whatever it takes to win. It would be a minor problem that he was trying to rebrand himself as PG13, but he and James could discuss that. *Assuming Kawhi and Giannis won't be available for the foreseeable future.
Imo, looking at our roster and how the game is played today, what we would like to get is a SF and a 4 who can also slide at the 5 (that's probably why we went after Horford i guess) so...looking at the best players available (in one way or another) i'd say the Rockets will try to get one between Hayward and George and then i don't really know who fits the 4/5 right now, Millsap or Ibaka i'd say...maybe Cousins? Personally i expect us ending up with Gallo or Holiday...not what we hope obviously, but still upgrades i guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Not happening...Giannis just resigned a long contract and Kawhi is probably going to retire with the Spurs, he's just a perfect fit with that organization...i mean, everything can happen but, yeah...
Well, what I meant was if you replace guys like Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon with guys like Danny Green or Khris Middleton--guys who aren't stars (like George/Hayward), I think the team becomes a lot better. Because while you don't drop off offensively, you become a lot less exploitable defensively. And I didn't mean a player as established as DeAndre Jordan. Even someone like JaVale McGee--basically someone who can provide rim protection and catch and finish lobs off the pick-and-roll. It doesn't necessarily need to be McGee--but that kind of skillset in a non-star player. Honestly, that part isn't a huge deal. Clint Capela is likely fine for us. I just think, in this era, you either want a center who can either shoot or else be a threat as a roll man, in addition to providing rim protection. You have to have every player be a threat on offense while still helping the team defense and the easiest way to do that (since "offensively skilled centers" are usually rare and expensive) is a defensive guy who can set screens and catch and finish lobs. Again, Houston's offense was really strong. Yes, it can be streaky at times but I think you mitigate that by developing a defense that can get you through slow offensive periods, rather than trying to upgrade what is already a strength with superstars. I don't think my plan is "easy," of course. Green and Middleton aren't available--finding new versions of those guys is pretty tough. But it might be easier than finding a young superstar or acquiring an established one.
LMAO. Paul George is a bonafide hoss. His injury probably slowed him down a bit but when healthy he's the perfect compliment to James.
he started the dallas series with terrible efficiency getting shut down by wes. in the po's, when a superstar has ab ad game, they rarely, RAREly repeat it the very next game. a superstar as in first option btw. he did dominate in 2012 v spurs but not as the 1st option. as the first option it took him 11 po games to have a good shooting game - game 6 vs blazers. if he had just one more good shooting game in that series rockets would've won.
Great point about BG in those playoffs. And before breaking his leg, PG13 wasright behind LeBron as the best 2 way player. There's nothing he doesn't do well. Replace PG13 for Ryno. Keep Lou and Nene. Upgrade PF through draft.
First thing we gotta do is lose this whole 'Robin to his Batman' line... Then we gotta elininate this whole 'cornerstones' and 'roleplayers' nonsense... Then we gotta get the best players we can. Next we mold them into a team where everybody tries to do the best they can - at everything... or you ride the pine... Then we devise a gameplan that will best allow us to maximize the talents we have at our disposal... and then we kick ass! doesnt seem that out there does it? ...but it sure aint what we do... lol
My point about PG13 is that the wholenwouldnt be greater than the sum of its parts... though it still be pretty amazing given their some good parts. But it's not worth discussing. There's 0.000001% chance of obtaining Paul George.
Need to sign the injury fairy to be on our team. Only shot we got. God knows that nasty woman has played against us long enough!
