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Members of the Houston Rockets, most notably Chris Paul, had spirited discussions with Mike D'Antoni throughout the season about incorporating more movement within the offense.

D'Antoni adapted his offense to be more isolation based to allow James Harden to succeed.

The Rockets have had success playing this way in the regular season, but defenses can key in on these types of tendencies in the playoffs with more ease.

Harden and Paul had tense moments with one another throughout the Rockets' Game 6 loss to the Warriors, culminating in a verbal back-and-forth postgame that went into the locker room, according to sources. The exchange was about ball distribution in Game 6.

Via Shams Charania/The Athletic

Paul to the Lakers this summer groundwork being laid.

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DoItALL9 wrote:Paul to the Lakers this summer groundwork being laid.

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Surely the Lakers aren’t THAT dysfunctional yet. Paul is WAY past his prime and he has a terrible contract.

DoItALL9 wrote:Paul to the Lakers this summer groundwork being laid.

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At first I didn't believe it but now with this story coming out (if true) does possibly lay the groundwork. Although, I don't believe trading for Chris Paul is in The Lakers best interest. I love Chris Paul and his game but he's on the downside of his career and I just don't see him giving the production Lebron would need.

Secondly, Lebron should move to PG going forward in my opinion to get the most out of him especially as he's starting to decline. By doing this he would take less hits on the inside and preserve his body. Even for a guy like him that goes hard all the time I really think it would benefit him. He would still naturally find his way to the rim to grab boards but I just feel this would be best way to keep his body from getting banged up constantly.

More importantly, did they flop on each other during that verbal confrontation?

"Verbal back-and-forth" as opposed to sniff-snoff? LOL

DoItALL9 wrote:Paul to the Lakers this summer groundwork being laid.

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Signing Irving or Kemba Walker are much better paths for Lakers to take with cap space.

To be expected. Last season the Rockets were robbed of a title by bad officiating. This season - no matter how you slice it - was a disappointment. They simply failed to meet reasonable expectations. (Not saying it was a disaster or they failed by much; just saying they did indeed underachieve as a team/organization.)

If the Rockets trade Chris Paul, I'd be 99% sure Morey would come out ahead (not in relation to the other team, but for the organization itself), so I'd be all for it, assuming Morey was fully on board with it.

In regards to losing to the Warriors in 6, I said since January that Danuel House might be the x-factor that would put us over the hump against Golden State. He was hurt for most of the series. We'll never know, of course, but it sure would have been nice to see him on the floor.

They just need the State Farm Guy to fix things for them...

I fully side with Chris Paul on this, James Harden is far from an elite 3 point shooter and took 12-15 3's a night. Against a defense like Golden State you can't have James Harden isolating 70 percent of the time into step back 3's when you have arguably the greatest floor general of all-time in Chris Paul out there.

Anyone who saw the series would know that when Chris Paul was running the offense Capela,Gordon,Tucker,etc were all scoring and feeding off his assists. The Rockets are a disaster, seriously Mike D'Antoni wanted to give James Harden the green light to iso more and more for his success? Mike D'Antoni is a joke, get Chris Paul off the Rockets he is wasting away playing with that overrated ball hog in James Harden. They got him an actual play-making point guard in Chris Paul to alleviate point guard dutites from Harden and he has completely stripped Chris Paul from being able to anchor an offense.

The best bet would be to trade James Harden. He has climaxed as a player, and he will not win with his currently ball dominant style. Trade him and you get a better haul back than Paul and can still win now. His value will never be higher than it is now.

scrabbarista wrote:To be expected. Last season the Rockets were robbed of a title by bad officiating. This season - no matter how you slice it - was a disappointment. They simply failed to meet reasonable expectations. (Not saying it was a disaster or they failed by much; just saying they did indeed underachieve as a team/organization.)

If the Rockets trade Chris Paul, I'd be 99% sure Morey would come out ahead (not in relation to the other team, but for the organization itself), so I'd be all for it, assuming Morey was fully on board with it.

In regards to losing to the Warriors in 6, I said since January that Danuel House might be the x-factor that would put us over the hump against Golden State. He was hurt for most of the series. We'll never know, of course, but it sure would have been nice to see him on the floor.

Somehow, the LAKERS get involved (again) on a thread that has NOTHING to do with them. Some of you should just change your last name to BUSS since you love the Lakers too much.

CP3's contract is about as close to untradeable as it gets in todays nba he and john wall's

liquid_ja wrote:The best bet would be to trade James Harden. He has climaxed as a player, and he will not win with his currently ball dominant style. Trade him and you get a better haul back than Paul and can still win now. His value will never be higher than it is now.

scrabbarista wrote:To be expected. Last season the Rockets were robbed of a title by bad officiating. This season - no matter how you slice it - was a disappointment. They simply failed to meet reasonable expectations. (Not saying it was a disaster or they failed by much; just saying they did indeed underachieve as a team/organization.)

If the Rockets trade Chris Paul, I'd be 99% sure Morey would come out ahead (not in relation to the other team, but for the organization itself), so I'd be all for it, assuming Morey was fully on board with it.

In regards to losing to the Warriors in 6, I said since January that Danuel House might be the x-factor that would put us over the hump against Golden State. He was hurt for most of the series. We'll never know, of course, but it sure would have been nice to see him on the floor.

I would disagree. Harden can adapt his style. He's already proven this. Harden is one of the few players in the league who can make a super-max and still be worth more than his contract. The odds of getting even equal value for him are almost nil.

Harden's scoring efficiency depends on free throws from flopping and touch fouls, and his free throw rate drops greatly in the playoffs. During the playoffs the last 2 seasons, his shooting efficiency ts% drops to average level.

The Rockets' tactic doesn't work. They want to get away with all the grabbing and holding against the Warriors, while getting all the flop and touch fouls they get in the regular season (thus Morey's "report" sent to the league). Not going to happen in reality.

Bottom line is, during the playoffs, you need to find a way to put the ball in the bucket yourself. The refs are not going to help you by putting you at the line. You might be able to fool them during the regular season, but not in the playoffs.

ts% regular season / ts% playoffs
17-18: .619 / .548
18-19: .616 / .567

ftr regular season / ftr playoffs
17-18: .502 / .345
18-19: .449 / .371

Not again Chris. I like Chris but I'm starting to think he's toxic as a teammate and a player, honestly. His mouth tends to get him in all sorts of on-court trouble a lot, man. Dude always picks on someone to call out and that's just cold. We don't have the complete details on this exchange but you can safely think Chris started it based off their reputations.

Maybe it's time to admit that Chris Paul is a lockerroom issue, and is not good enough to be a winner. Three stops in the league, the last two with championship level teams, and he could never get it done and has had issues with teammates at every stop.

He's one of the mouthiest players out there, plays dirty, gets into fights etc. His off-court persona that he tried to maintain isn't who he truly is.

liquid_ja wrote:The best bet would be to trade James Harden. He has climaxed as a player, and he will not win with his currently ball dominant style. Trade him and you get a better haul back than Paul and can still win now. His value will never be higher than it is now.

scrabbarista wrote:To be expected. Last season the Rockets were robbed of a title by bad officiating. This season - no matter how you slice it - was a disappointment. They simply failed to meet reasonable expectations. (Not saying it was a disaster or they failed by much; just saying they did indeed underachieve as a team/organization.)

If the Rockets trade Chris Paul, I'd be 99% sure Morey would come out ahead (not in relation to the other team, but for the organization itself), so I'd be all for it, assuming Morey was fully on board with it.

In regards to losing to the Warriors in 6, I said since January that Danuel House might be the x-factor that would put us over the hump against Golden State. He was hurt for most of the series. We'll never know, of course, but it sure would have been nice to see him on the floor.

Harden is 1 year removed from a MVP season, and is top 3 this year easily. You think he's past his peak? If you think that, then what do you think of Paul? lol...
You don't trade a top 5-10 player like Harden. You find a way to work with him.

likashing wrote:Harden's scoring efficiency depends on free throws from flopping and touch fouls, and his free throw rate drops greatly in the playoffs. During the playoffs the last 2 seasons, his shooting efficiency ts% drops to average level.

The Rockets' tactic doesn't work. They want to get away with all the grabbing and holding against the Warriors, while getting all the flop and touch fouls they get in the regular season (thus Morey's "report" sent to the league). Not going to happen in reality.

Bottom line is, during the playoffs, you need to find a way to put the ball in the bucket yourself. The refs are not going to help you by putting you at the line. You might be able to fool them during the regular season, but not in the playoffs.

ts% regular season / ts% playoffs
17-18: .619 / .548
18-19: .616 / .567

ftr regular season / ftr playoffs
17-18: .502 / .345
18-19: .449 / .371

I agree... but that has been a problem since before Harden was born. The league needs to figure out how they will call it and call it the same from October to April. And as much as I dislike the iso ball that HOU plays, when Harden steps back and to the right 3+ feet and then jumps toward the basket with his jump shot and gets hit... that is a foul. The defender must stay vertical, the shooter does not need to. If both players are moving it is a defensive foul. The GSW scouted his landing spot and defended his jumper by moving into his landing spot. That is a very smart... but it is a foul... a dangerous foul. And Harden expecting that call isn't "foul hunting". He worked on that shot all summer to create space, not draw a foul. Haters will see it differently.

And so it begins: CP3 throwing his teammates under the bus for his playoff failures, just like he did in LA. Typical.