slick_watts wrote:the andre roberson haters don't know what to do. dre is 8th in the nba in drpm right now. our defense turns into mush when he's out of the game. against the two best teams in the nba- the teams that he was supposed to be unplayable against- our offense had no problems with him in there.
there were three plays alone where dre got the steal and made a perfect pass to a streaking teammate for a fast break bucket. that's a potential 17 point swing right there alone (rockets could have scored 9 points on threes in those possessions, instead we scored 6).
sleestak looking foolish complaining about harden's productivity when he looked downright scared whenever dre was on him, and did virtually nothing in those instances. the rockets spent 10 seconds every possession desperately trying to screen him off. then he blocks harden on the potential tying FG attempt.
yes the free throw thing is annoying, but even hubie brown said it during the game- that dre (and adams) do a lot of moving around on the court that creates vertical spacing. we're at our best when he's used as a screener on the ball, back screener, etc. he had three hockey assists last night as a roll man in the pnr, and 5 'normal' assists overall.
it's not too late to get on board.
Look, he's a very good defender, nobody is debating that. But you have to see the stats you live by supporting him are inflated. He plays majority of his minutes alongside George, adams, and Westbrook. Does the defense turn to mush when he goes out, or when him and adams go out and abrines (or felton, or huestis)and the first bench 'big' of the day come in?
Defense is played as a team, and a team is generally as good as their weakest links on that end. This drives his numbers up defensively, and while he and George are the best wing duo defensively in the league, it skews dres numbers positively as he essentially only runs with the starters.
Say for instance his minutes were switched with Huestis, consistently, for a month straight. Huestis ran 27 minutes a night with mostly starters, and Roberson got variable minutes with inconsistent, mismatched bench units. Do you think huestis impact numbers defensively would be helped or hurt? How about Robersons, playing with the likes of abrines, patterson, and grant instead of Westbrook, George and adams?
Your quote about the potential 17 point swing is just idiotic. It assumes best case scenario for houston/ worst case for okc on all those possessions, and examples like that can be used throughout the game. Itd be like pointing out Westbrook potentially creating a 17 point swing because he gets 3 defensive rebounds other pgs wouldn't and then leads successful transition opportunities on the ensuing possessions, which he does all the time.
Sleestak is saying despite Robersons great defense, harden still played very good. There is truth to that. Yes he did shoot slightly worse, but got to the line and set guys up at will. Sure he was slowed down, but you guys are acting like harden was a non factor, when he had 29 and 14 and repeatedly got to the line, which is a problem. But he does that against everyone, it's James harden.
On dre's offense, he at least has been chipping in with several layups per game lately, and completely abandoned his 3 point attempts after all these years which is good, as they like his foul shots are basically turnovers. He is a good screener, and better be as aside from layups it's really his only other way to contribute on offesne. You can't however, acknowledge all the little things he does well, and the effects they have without also acknowledging the effects of him not being able to attempt 3s or create anything for himself or others in the half court have on the teams offensive ceiling.
