Fair assessment. I agree, last year's cp3 was a whole level or even two worse. And it's obvious we're better with a 30yr Russ than a 34 yr old cp. As far as Russ' game goes, I don't mind his confidence and swagger. I just hope that he knows how to control it and unleash it at the right times. He's shooting 3s very early into the shotclock when it's those debatable shot attempts that EG also takes all the time. I won't complain if Russ make 4/10, but if it continues at 3/11, it's gonna be rough, especially in the playoffs. Granted, all this is preseason, so it's not a real eye test quite yet. Also, Russ' size will help with the rebounding. Looking forward to seeing that when the regular season starts.
Just bouncing the ball off his own foot and literally having it slip out randomly. Definition of rust. Paul actually looked agile especially defensively.
The man is unguardable penetrating and slicing up defenses. Sure he can’t shoot we know that but he does so many other things on the court. As great as cp3 was he couldn’t blow by defenders and had to use veteran savvy and smarts but still wasn’t enough.
he’s a CP Only FAN...u can’t expect him to be objective...according to people like that, Chris Paul can do no wrong
It’s really the defense we need to worry about. Hopefully they get to that same level of communication on defense that they had in the 65 win year. Helped to have super glue guy Ariza!
Whilst I agree MDA made him a PG on steroid but under Kevin, harden finished second in the MVP race and probaly would have won it if not for the Warriors going 73 wins. Harden was MVP level before MDA but with Mikes arrival now he has been elevated to all time great status and mentioned with the Jordan’s of the world as the greatest offensive player to lace them up
Sam and others fail to see the obvious that Westbrook is a better player than Chris Paul, so he makes the team better. Pretty simple really.
Westbrook and Harden are more than just friendly they have a long time relationship. More importantly the both have the same goal. From my point of view, Paul’s goal was his contract because he changed after he got it and the whole recommitment to eating healthy confirmed it. If one is truly focused on the goal at hand, why then do they let themself get that out of sorts.
still, everytime WB touches the ball, i just feel like he is gonna make a bone headed play, that's not how u feel about your super star, not good
Harden's elevation has very little to do with MDA because even according to MDA and his staff they just have 6 total plays with like ~20 variations. And its not like those 6 plays are evenly distributed most of our possessions are either Horns or the "T" formation, there is no variation to what the Rockets do that's why they always get out coached in the playoffs. Other than those 6 plays MDA relies on Harden for everything, the assistant coaches even give him the analytics report during timeouts and ask him to freaking counter the opponent. Tbh Harden is like a player coach out there, he is the one thinking of schemes while he should be resting and catching his breath. So I really disagree with MDA elevating Harden's game because tbh I don't think he has done jack **** for Harden except give him the keys and telling him to drive. But our team just has 1 star anyway its gonna be Harden centric no matter who the coach became. Our team in the MDA era reminds me of Lebron's Cavs with Mike Brown except whereas Mike Brown was good at defense but inept at everything else MDA is kinda like the opposite.
WB isn't a superstar though, IMO he is barely an above average player because all he has is athleticism and rebounding, everything else from bball IQ to jumpshot is subpar. The good news is an above average player like WB is still much better than old ass CP3 when playoffs come around. WB at least has height to defend his opponent and has lateral quickness to keep up with anyone assuming his head is in the game. Cp3 has one of the highest bball IQ in the league but he is barely 6 feet and is super old now, even if he knows what to do his body can't keep up.
that's what people are hoping will happen but hasn't been true, especially in the last couple of years where he's been horrendous. whether that downward trend continues, remains to be seen. WB's height and quickness means nothing when he is still bad defensively. he's never been a good defensive player
Russ pushing the pace is a plus. I don’t like him shooting threes. He just needs to attack the rim and force defenses to collapse.
