The Harden & Dwight effect on the same team was never a good idea.

Howard on any team isn't a good idea

LOL, when he finds the right team?!?! Let me know when that is.

Petulant, over-rated, whiny non-winner.

Yeah, Dwight Howard's career trajectory ever since that Magic finals series has been steadily trending downwards...

Harden is a flat out scoring machine and a pretty good playmaker. Sure he dose not play much defence, but with his skillset and age(only 26)he has much more value then a decling malcontent like D12.

DECLINING

Jalen Rose said on the weekend that if you were starting an NBA team you'd rather have Festus Ezeli as your centre than Dwight Howard and it's hard to argue with that give Howard's disgraceful attitude, laziness and general lack of skills apart from his athleticism and strength.

Yeah it's a shame Howard has never accepted his limitations and either worked harder on them or accepted a lesser role offensively. He could still be a great asset to a team defensively and on the glass, but seems to insist on being treated like a superstar and given lots of shots.

Harden is a tough one. I've been a fan since seeing him for asu. Having said that he again needs to come to terms with his weaknesses. Defensive weaknesses specifically. But he also needs to learn to play off the ball so this Houston can go after another creator to help free him up. Houston in general force way too much and don't get enough easy looks from their offense. Watching them against gsw shows the stark difference in the styles.

I don't know what the Rockets can be do going forward. They'll probably steal one game here when the warriors let up and Harden goes for 50. In the future they have plenty of assets but I can't think of any available stars who they might be able to get.

Harden couldn't defend a chair

What really annoys me about Harden is that his lack of defensive skills are caused by total laziness and a lack of effort.

He will just 'give up' on plays so many times.

If i was someone like Trevor Ariza i would be terribly p***** off that I was busting my gut defensively all for Harden's lazy defence to let it down.

You can be a half-decent defender on heart and effort alone. It's even more funny that Harden is happy to use all his attributes for offensive purposes, but not defensively.

If I was the Rockets GM, I'd be doing anything to move Harden and Dwight and i would happily trade both for two non-all stars. It's one thing I like about Australia and in particular NZ sport - it doesn't matter if your the king of your sport or you're a benchwarmer..every coach, your teammates and fans will hold you accountable and no one is "above the team".

^^^^ Nonsense!. Paul Pierce made a career of living at the free throw line as did Allen Iverson.Durant is doing the same now. Sure Harden sells a lot of those calls but majority of the time the guy gets hacked because no one can stop one on one because of his quick first step and that combination of size and strength.

I honestly think if guys just didn't reach when he holds the ball out, he wouldn't get half of the calls... But they reach, every time.

Harden had more isolation plays this season than the entire GSW team put together. There is no doubting his talent, but he isn't a winner

Brilliant game by Harden including a huge game winners. Kudos to him but he is the only real star they have and without any help he and the Rockets are going no where

Yeah they're in that situation where they have so many rotation players, but not enough top end talent.

Just look at the forwards, Smith, Montiejunas, Capela, Jones, Beasly. Plus Ariza and Brewer at the 3. But none have been given a consistent shot to make the position theirs.

I think their biggest focus in the off season needs to be upgrading starting pg and then working out which of their bigs are keepers. They need a pg who can create but doesn't need to dominate the ball. Perhaps one of Phoenix guards?

Then they need bigs who can space the floor but also play some d. Who doesn't?

If the Jeff Van Gundy rumours are true expect the Rockets defence improve next season as he is a defensive genuise.

Offence will never be a problem for any team with Harden on it but what killed them this season is terrible defence and poor defensive rebounding.

They need to get rid of Corey Brewer, Josh Smith, Trevor Ariza(for a good deal in return) and Terrence Jones.

Re-sign Montijunes and go after Horford and Noah who could thrive under JVG if he ever gets fit.

Beverley
Harden
Ariza
Horford
Noah


keep Beasley and Montijunes. sign some vets on the bench

Horford would be perfect no doubt. Difficult to get him though.

More likely is someone like Vucevic. Sure his D isn't great, but he has range from the 5 and doesn't tend to crack the sads. With Capela next to him at the 4 his D won't be as big of an issue.

I still say they need to get a better pg. They need another creator. Beverly is good, but you can't have 3 and d at both the pg and sf and expect Harden to do it all.

I mentioned Knight or Bledsoe before, but I think the most perfect option is either Conley or Teague. Both cab shoot and hit big shots but don't need to dominate the ball to be effective.

Teague
Harden
Ariza
Capela
Vucevic

Could be a very good team

Beasley can create his own shot and score in bunches. Plus he has a nice pick and pop and roll game going with Harden. Something Harden and Dwight just cant get going. Those two play well off each other and once he has a proper preseason with the team he can be one of the best scoring bench players off the bench in the entire league.

Beasley is a great scorer and Houston has a team option on his contract worth a million which is a bargin.

Bledsoe is a unrealistic option as the Suns would want a lot in return which Houston dose not have.Houston's trade assets outside of Harden and Capella are not great. Harden is not getting touched and Capella would need to be a very good return for Morey to even consider trading him.

As for Vucevic I think he just signed an extension so I cant see the Magic giving him up especially with the nice team they are building with Gordon, Payton and co.

HOUSTON'S PIPEDREAM is Durant but I highly doubt that he is leaving OKC anyway.