From the New York Post:
Carmelo Anthony said he has no regrets about turning down the Rockets this summer, but acknowledged he took “a long, deep look at it’’ after Dwight Howard sold him hard.
As you may recall, I was strongly in favor of an Anthony acquisition this past summer, pegging him ahead of even Chris Bosh in terms of desirability. I felt that Anthony gave the team the type of midrange scorer it would need to challenge opponents in the later rounds of the postseason, when whistles are swallowed and shooters are chased off the three point line. Many of you contended that defense was the team’s biggest woe and that adding an offense-first player like Anthony would do nothing to change that. I responded that by the numbers, Anthony was adequate at the ‘4’, and that, more importantly, the defense would have to change from the hiring of an assistant coach, not by personnel. The thinking was that you can have the best players in the world, but with no set philosophy, you aren’t going anywhere. The Rockets’ start to the season has led me to think back upon these previous conclusions.
The question of Anthony ties in to the question of Bosh, and the greater question of responsibility for this almost miraculous turnaround in defensive proficiency. What is triggering this day and night change? There are a multitude of factors, from the hiring of T.R. Dunn, to the replacement of Chandler Parsons with Trevor Ariza at small forward, to renewed health on the part of Dwight Howard, to renewed focus on the part of James Harden. Which of the aforementioned has had the most overriding effect? While Howard has looked much better this season than last, we can rule that out because Houston has maintained its stinginess even in his absence from the lineup.
The examination is critical at least as far as examinations can be for meaningless thought games. Recall that Ariza was not just a replacement of Parsons. He was only obtained through the cap space retained from the failed Anthony/Bosh pursuits. So Anthony/Bosh with Ariza would not have been possible. It was either one of those two guys and Parsons, or Ariza and what we have now. That gets at the heart of the question: with Parsons, would the Rockets be playing like this? Because they’d have Dunn, they’d have the current philosophy in place, but without Ariza, would they be committed to it? As a trickle effect, would Harden be exerting as much effort when his counterpart (Parsons) also held no intent of trying on that end?
I asked readers earlier in the year if they would rather have Bosh and Parsons, or Ariza and Paul Millsap, with the assumption of course being that Millsap could later be obtained via trade. Many scoffed, but I don’t know that it is as much of a no-brainer as you’d think. The possibilities with Chris Bosh in this lineup are absolutely endless. He spreads the floor on offense, can blitz pick and rolls defensively, protects the rim, and would even fill in as backup center. In sum, Bosh and Howard would have been an absolute nightmare to gameplan against. But I don’t know that you can just undersell how large an impact Ariza has made. He’s basically the ideal fit at small forward next to Harden, and after watching him in the lineup, I’m more convinced than ever that we never could have won big with two matador defenders on the wings. That’s just suicide in the modern NBA that no amount of scheming can cover up.
If the Rockets could somehow miraculously land Millsap, you could make the case they end out with a lineup better than they had hoped for entering the summer. It’s a long shot and its debatable. But you have to feel pretty good that its even a possibility, considering the summer was universally deemed a disaster.
A final note on James Harden: The MVP is a 3-headed race right now between Anthony Davis, James Harden, and Marc Gasol as a slightly distant third. The only question at this point, in my opinion, is whether the Pelicans can finish high enough in the rankings for voters to feel they can justify a Davis vote. If Davis finishes on this 25/13/3 vintage Olajuwon pace, a top-6 seed might be all it takes. But if the Pelicans fall out completely, and Houston maintains its top-3 ranking, I think Harden takes back the award. It took a while, but you already see the narrative slowly shifting regarding his defensive efforts this season. Narrative is key, and Harden has that in his favor at this point in time. The production, of course, has been there from the start of the season.
