[Ringer] 30 Facts that Will Make or Break the Harden-Westbrook Rockets

Sigh.... several people on this same page are seeing the exact same thing as me. You are missing the point due to your bias. Keep trying buddy.

 

I’ve never been a Russ hater or got caught up in the 2017 MVP race and beyond like many on here.

It seems OKC’s blueprint was surrounding Russ with long, athletic combo forwards who would need to learn to shot post Durant.

 

Rockets fans liked to say that OKC had better supporting cast in order to prove that Harden was a better player (and a more worthy MVP candidate). I think that is unnecessary. (I have always felt that CFers are too obsessed about the MVP thing and clouded a lot of their objectivity). Harden was clearly the better player, period. No need to bring in the supporting cast argument.

Houston had better offensive players. But OKC was way ahead in terms of defense. The net quality was probably about the same. It's really difficult to measure.

 

The most common shooters other than Russ is Paul George.

I am willing to bet that he had over 50% of those shots, so in essence you are comparing George to Houston's entire roster other than Harden.

 

He was well under 50% of those shots, so you would lose that bet.

And I also didn't exclude Harden from any comparisons, because the question I was looking at was whether Russ's new teammates (including Harden) are better or worse three-point shooters than his old teammates (including George).

 

Please provide the numbers maybe I am wrong.

Ross's new teammates are definitely better 3 point shooters because more of them contributed to that 38% number.

You can't possibly be disputing that right?

 

I think you can pretty easily look up how many threes George shot and how many the team shot without my help, right?

And if you go by the numbers from last season, the Thunder (minus Russ) shot a higher percentage from three than the Rockets did last year (whether or not you include CP3). So no, it’s not at all clear that Russ’s new teammates are better three point shooters than his former teammates.

 

Yes, the non-Paul George shooters on the Thunder are worse than the Rockets. That's a little unfair though as he shared the floor with Paul George a lot.

 

Sigh.

As to Harden's greatness, he's the player who has the season with the most created offensive points in NBA history. Jordan's finest isn't too hyperbolic of a way to describe his talent and achievement. Except for the rings, of course.

All that said, I think you have to move him in a few years. Sooner if this WB acquisition doesn't work out. The alternative is treating him like the Lakers did with Kobe. How many years did that set their franchise back? They'd still be doomed if they didn't sit in a giant media market.

 

I thought since you said George was way less than 50 you had already looked them up, didn't you?

George made more than double the 3 point shots of anybody not named Russell on that team.

George and Russ accounted for almost double the 3 point shots made.

3 players accounted for over 50% of 3 points made and that includes Russ, so George and Schroeder account for most of that statistic as opposed to Houston's whole team.

 

@pippendagimp another day

 

What?

His entire point has been that OKC had as good as a 3 point shooting team as Houston based on that one statistic.

That one statistic is predominantly due to George.

How is that unfair?

Even you admit that the non George shooters are worse.

What is unfair was people trying to use that one statistic as a comparison to what Houston does and it's effect on Ross's play.

You did it as well.

 

is insufferableness a word?

 

Well the point was that OKC had good shooting. George was part of that. Their three best shooters were better than our 3 best shooters. You want to compare their shooters without their best one vs our best ones. It's not comparable.

 

Yeah, I looked it up an hour or two ago at my desk. I was on my phone for the last reply. George was about 33% of OKC's non-Russ threes last season, and about 28% of the team's total.

Not sure what point you're making about half of OKC's threes coming from two guys. Harden and Gordon combined for nearly half of HOU's threes last year, so whatever that point is, it doesn't really differentiate between the two teams.

 

On one end of the court, at least. Let's not forget Jordan won a DPOY and spent much of his career as one of the better perimeter defenders in the league.

 

Oh, agreed. Even though Harden last year was a much better defender than the national media gave him credit for. And offense is easier to generate in this area than in Jordan's. Still, I don't think many people grasp just how amazing a player Harden is, and how many deficiencies on this team that Harden's skill papers over.

We could watch Rockets games for 25 more years and not see his like on the team again.

 

So you just admitted that we have better non George shooters than OKC and their shooters are better?

You can't even get your argument strait.