Comments on: Thunder at Rockets: Pregame Primer

By: Kev

Kev — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:10:38 +0000

excellent post . . . I actually think Thabo deserves more time, not less, but I like the idea of Harden and Thabo in the backcourt . . .

again, no one was probably more critical of RW than me last year, but the first two games proved to me he can be a very good pure PG – he just regresses when he faces adversity . . . I still think when he matures some, he can be the PG we all want . . .

I am with you 100% on Harden being a PG – he just knows how to play the game . . .

By: The DON

The DON — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:04:17 +0000

Kev :
The DON :I too am sick of Harden being treated like he’s not the 3rd pick on a terrible team. They’re trying to bring him along slowly as if this is a good team and he has to find his way. No, he is a top-3 pick, a great talent, playing on a team short on talent. he needs to get A LOT of playing time. He is not erratic, he is composed, crafty, smart, amazing passer, and makes people better. There is no excuse for why a talent like him should be getting wasted on a talent short team like this. He is part of the core and one of the building blocks. the team needs to not only develop him for the future, but realize that he can immediately be a positive force on the court. Play the man, and play him A LOT!
all valid points. now – whose munutes are you going to take in order for him to see more of the floor??

You cut into a combination of Thabo' and Westbrook's minutes. Shave about 6 mins off both of their minutes and give it to Harden. In particular, I REALLY want them to use a backcourt of Harden and Thabo where Harden initiates the offense. Watch how much smoother the offense will run compare to when westbrook is running it. Also, when you have Harden & Westbrook are on the court, I would actually have Harden running the offense in the halfcourt. So have Westbrook bring the ball up, pass it off to harden, and have the two of them do what each does best: Harden being the playmaker, and westbrook being the slasher. that way we can stop pretending westbrook is a PG and we can make use of harden's strength, which is passing and creating. It's a win win situation. Westbrook can concentrate on scoring, which he does anyway. It's as if his role of being a creator is a hinderance to his scoring. Thats how he plays. And now, we could actually have him be what he is.

By: Royce

Royce — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:48:01 +0000

Of course I said “Go team in blue” and OKC wears the home whites last night…

By: Kev

Kev — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:39:04 +0000

The DON :I too am sick of Harden being treated like he’s not the 3rd pick on a terrible team. They’re trying to bring him along slowly as if this is a good team and he has to find his way. No, he is a top-3 pick, a great talent, playing on a team short on talent. he needs to get A LOT of playing time. He is not erratic, he is composed, crafty, smart, amazing passer, and makes people better. There is no excuse for why a talent like him should be getting wasted on a talent short team like this. He is part of the core and one of the building blocks. the team needs to not only develop him for the future, but realize that he can immediately be a positive force on the court. Play the man, and play him A LOT!

all valid points. now - whose munutes are you going to take in order for him to see more of the floor??

By: The DON

The DON — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:22:57 +0000

I too am sick of Harden being treated like he’s not the 3rd pick on a terrible team. They’re trying to bring him along slowly as if this is a good team and he has to find his way. No, he is a top-3 pick, a great talent, playing on a team short on talent. he needs to get A LOT of playing time. He is not erratic, he is composed, crafty, smart, amazing passer, and makes people better. There is no excuse for why a talent like him should be getting wasted on a talent short team like this. He is part of the core and one of the building blocks. the team needs to not only develop him for the future, but realize that he can immediately be a positive force on the court. Play the man, and play him A LOT!

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:01:03 +0000

Thanks guys. The Recap is up.

By: Chas

Chas — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:40:58 +0000

Ollie should never log more minutes than Harden. I’m not usually so critical because I see this as a growing team, but the coaching moves have been suspect at best. It seems like we sometimes are playing Ollie so he doesn’t lose the game for us, but we don’t have that luxury. If we have Livingston, play him. He’s still young so that can be considered part of the rebuilding process and he might make a move to put us over the top while Ollie just pounds the rock. We must play Harden 20 minutes. He needs the reps and he has shown he can help us win games (or lose them, but at least we aren’t spinning our wheels). And please, can we have a half court set that does not completely rely on the ingenuity of our players? It’s obviously frustrating to them that they don’t have a go-to play (how ’bout we throw in a second one while we’re at it).

By: Chas

Chas — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:14:54 +0000

Another 40+ minutes expended by KD (and Westbrook, it’s either him or Green). Super.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:12:45 +0000

Serge would have been good to try in this game to protect the rim because in order to cover the 3′s we has to give up some driving layups. DJ White, and Collison didn’t even attempt to contest a lot of those. Ibaka I gurantee you would

By: Royce

Royce — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:02:04 +0000

Of course a win would have been nice, but we’ve got to stay level-headed. That Rockets team isn’t bad by any means. Get something from Jeff Green and OKC is right there. They hit shots, we didn’t. They played with some energy, we really didn’t.

I’m a little baffled by some of Scott Brooks’ decisions there, but he gets to make them, not me. He might have had reasons…