Game 25: Portland vs Houston 7:00pm SNW

[Wizenheimer]

a final observation about Houston: there were several people her who thought that Harden/Paul was not going to work. Sure looks like it's working to me. It's early for sure and Paul was injured, but in games both Harden and Paul have played, Houston is 11-0

I was one of those who couldn't envision it working as well as it has. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Put two players that are incredibly good at passing---one who is a master of setting tone, tempo and running offense, and the other a generational scorer and you apparently have a recipe for success.

Add in a supporting group of players that fully buy into their coach's system and have the right talent to help it work, and you've really got something.

I had a little bit of doubt, but I also imagined that one or the other would be on the floor at all times so the overlap wouldn't be that large. It looks like that is what's happening. Personally, I think Houston's guard rotation of Harden-Paul-Gordon is probably the best in the league even though Gordon has been in a shooting slump this year. Problem is both Paul and Gordon have fairly extensive injury histories so their 'greatness' is resting on thin ice

I think the actual poor-mesh is likely the Westbrook-George-Melo troika in OKC. They are still struggling to find consistency. On the other hand, if they do somehow mange to develop synergy, they could be formidable

but that Oladipo + Sabonis for George trade is looking real good for Indiana. Have you seen what Oladipo and Sabonis are doing so far this season? Wow!

[zzaj]

a final observation about Houston: there were several people her who thought that Harden/Paul was not going to work. Sure looks like it's working to me. It's early for sure and Paul was injured, but in games both Harden and Paul have played, Houston is 11-0

I was one of those who couldn't envision it working as well as it has. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Put two players that are incredibly good at passing---one who is a master of setting tone, tempo and running offense, and the other a generational scorer and you apparently have a recipe for success.

Add in a supporting group of players that fully buy into their coach's system and have the right talent to help it work, and you've really got something.

I had a little bit of doubt, but I also imagined that one or the other would be on the floor at all times so the overlap wouldn't be that large. It looks like that is what's happening. Personally, I think Houston's guard rotation of Harden-Paul-Gordon is probably the best in the league even though Gordon has been in a shooting slump this year. Problem is both Paul and Gordon have fairly extensive injury histories so their 'greatness' is resting on thin ice

I think the actual poor-mesh is likely the Westbrook-George-Melo troika in OKC. They are still struggling to find consistency. On the other hand, if they do somehow mange to develop synergy, they could be formidable

but that Oladipo + Sabonis for George trade is looking real good for Indiana. Have you seen what Oladipo and Sabonis are doing so far this season? Wow!

Yeah, so far the OKC trio has a bit of a Whitsitt aroma to it. Things can change obviously, but it's nice to see Oladipo and Sabonis succeed. IMO, it shows how important the player to Coach/system relationship is...sometimes players get stuck in situations that aren't optimal for them as players.

I also had doubts about OKC, mostly because the nature of the way the 3 players added seemed in conflict with each other. Each one was used to being Alpha. Also, just generally I think it's harder to integrate 2 new high usage players into a system than 1 (see Houston).

[Downtown]

I can remember when we had the discussion about trading Oladipo for McCollum. That was back in his Orlando days. Imagine if we had a crystal ball? But it does show you how a player may change being in the right situation. Oladipo certainly wasn't playing like now with the Magic or Thunder.

Think we can convince teams of that with Turner or Leonard?

[BlazersBroncos]

Think we can convince teams of that with Turner or Leonard?

I truly think Myers is movable at this point. He has had a nice season offensively when given minutes, and is still a decent defender against post ups (But atrocious elsewhere).

The true albatross on this team is ET. He has basically slid into Luol Deng level unmovable. Going into the season I thought he was a step above that, he clearly isn't.