I agree with what you are saying. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When one guy gets beat constantly by his
opponent or if players lose track of their assignment it forces other guys to leave their assignments to help out. Everyone
then has to rotate accordingly. When Lin played for the Rockets I felt every Rocket player on the court had to cover more
ground to make up for both Lin and Harden's lapses in defense. Lin is gone; and it was futile to crack the whip on Harden
about his defense. The issues ran too deep. I'm not a psychologist or a counselor and I don't pretend to be one.
In the vampire movie series Twilight, their fans often felt they had to pick a side: Team Jacob or Team Edward. Well the
Rockets players this year had their very own struggle (drama) with deciding on who or whom to support: Team Howard
or Team Harden? It was a struggle between two evils, two major egos and different styles in play offensively. D12
wanted to get his numbers offensively through post plays (Less by PnR) while Harden wanted to move to an uptempo
press on the throttle style. What does that have to do with defense? *****JUST MY OPINION***** Did Harden want to
see Howard's post up game succeed? IMO no. Did Howard want to Run n Gun up and down the court and succeed in
Harden's style? IMO no. Each rebelled or resisted against the other and didn't give full effort. I doubt Harden would
admit it; but D12 has admitted he was disinterested at times when he felt his role was decreased (that means when they
played Harden's style IMO). Now the other players are watching them go at it all year like two parents headed for
divorce. The kids have to pick a side. The smart players had to know that Harden was the long term Rocket choice
and he was the one that they should support. One has to know which side of your bread gets buttered. I'm sure
Dwight had his co-workers that tried to stay on the fence or play both sides. I know, they are professionals!!! But
they are 20 y/o professionals. A few years removed from highschool. The best thing for these two is to be separated.
Howard will be bouncing on his new team around like he did in the first round in 2014/15 playoffs vs the Mavs
while Harden hopes to recruit Durant (DRtg 104), Horford (DRtg 101), Bazemore (DRtg 100.. Horford's
co-worker), Augustine (played at U of Texas as Fr with Durant in 2006/07 & recently with OKC). I'm confident
the Rockets defense will improve with addition by subtraction (remove Howard and bring in players that are
all on the same page).
And then Bzdelik and Roy Rogers and get their hands on them.
Edited by Jatman20, 05 June 2016 - 12:30 AM.
