Bruce Bowen rips McHale and Harden

[Mr Exlax]

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2014/09/22/bruce-bowen-on-kawhi-kobe-and-dealing-with-pop/

[QUOTE]

See, I don

[Milbuck]

Sounds like the usual bullshit excuse making from Rockets fans.


Interesting how Beverley is one of the best defensive players for his position...in the same team, under the same coach, playing in the same damn system.

[YouGotServed]

Sounds like the usual bullshit excuse making from Rockets fans.


Interesting how Beverley is one of the best defensive players for his position...in the same team, under the same coach, playing in the same damn system.

I get what you're saying. Harden gets paid millions of dollars to do his job and he's grown man. He shouldn't need a coach to push him in order to play defense. Defense is all hustle and effort.

But you gotta understand man, Houston wasn't a good defensive team last year. it was all run and gun. the blame goes partially on McHale and the coaching staff no? I say is 50/50

[UK2K]

Sounds like the usual bullshit excuse making from Rockets fans.


Interesting how Beverley is one of the best defensive players for his position...in the same team, under the same coach, playing in the same damn system.
Beverley was also playing in Asia a year and a half ago. He showed up day 1 with a high defensive ability.

[Kvnzhangyay]

Beverley was also playing in Asia a year and a half ago. He showed up day 1 with a high defensive ability.

His defensive ability is not even that good.. its more that he is an energy/hustle player

[Smook A.]

I get what you're saying. Harden gets paid millions of dollars to do his job and he's grown man. He shouldn't need a coach to push him in order to play defense. Defense is all hustle and effort.

But you gotta understand man, Houston wasn't a good defensive team last year. it was all run and gun. the blame goes partially on McHale and the coaching staff no? I say is 50/50
Gotta agree with this right here. We're not putting all the blame on the coaching staff. No way. We're just saying that they deserve some of the blame for Harden's atrocious defense. Coaches know their players' weaknesses. McHale has been coaching Harden for 2 whole seasons now. If he actually told told Harden to improve on defense, then we would've seen a bit of an improvement from last season. That obviously did not happen. In the end, some of the blame goes on the coaching staff, yes. The rest of it goes on James Harden.

[YouGotServed]

His defensive ability is not even that good.. its more that he is an energy/hustle player

Nah he's a good defender. His only flaw is he plays his man a bit too aggressive sometimes and gets called for fouls. He needs to know when to tone it down.

[UK2K]

I get what you're saying. Harden gets paid millions of dollars to do his job and he's grown man. He shouldn't need a coach to push him in order to play defense. Defense is all hustle and effort.

But you gotta understand man, Houston wasn't a good defensive team last year. it was all run and gun. the blame goes partially on McHale and the coaching staff no? I say is 50/50

The thing is Houston wasn't a bad team defensively.

#13th in defensive efficiency.
#13th in opp FG %

They were near the bottom in ppg but near the middle in defensive PPP.

Their 'bad' defense is way overblown. Yeah its not great, but its clearly enough to get them to the playoffs and if they can improve even slightly given their young age, it will be enough to make a second round appearance or beyond.

[UK2K]

His defensive ability is not even that good.. its more that he is an energy/hustle player

YouTube him.

He locked down Steph Curry to the point where the ref called a foul on him because he felt bad for Steph.

He's an excellent defender with an unlimited amount of hustle and energy.

[YouGotServed]

Gotta agree with this right here. We're not putting all the blame on the coaching staff. No way. We're just saying that they deserve some of the blame for Harden's atrocious defense. Coaches know their players' weaknesses. McHale has been coaching Harden for 2 whole seasons now. If he actually told told Harden to improve on defense, then we would've seen a bit of an improvement from last season. That obviously did not happen. In the end, some of the blame goes on the coaching staff, yes. The rest of it goes on James Harden.

People like to overlook the fact that Harden wasn't the only bad defender on the team last year. Literally everyone on the roster other Howard and Beverley for Houston is a below average defender.

Harden was the worst but he wasn't the only bad defender. Parsons and T-Jones lol :lol So bad. And Harden needs to improve his conditioning. Fat **** needs to stop drinking and take care of his body.

[Milbuck]

I get what you're saying. Harden gets paid millions of dollars to do his job and he's grown man. He shouldn't need a coach to push him in order to play defense. Defense is all hustle and effort.

But you gotta understand man, Houston wasn't a good defensive team last year. it was all run and gun. the blame goes partially on McHale and the coaching staff no? I say is 50/50
This I can get behind. Not the motivation part Exlax is constantly talking about, but the actual Xs and Os behind it. They need a more structured half court offense, and more generally, the ability to dictate the tempo of the game on both ends..Slow it down when you can, and the defense can set...after that is when the effort and hustle on defense comes in. They need some poise, they're relying too much on raw talent.

Aside from defense...

Part of the reason I've grown to dislike Harden so much on the court is because he could be far and away the best SG in the world with just a few changes in his mental approach to the game..and he's sleeping on the opportunity.

Seriously, the dude has the potential to be a huge, athletic (if he puts in the work) version of peak Ginobili on offense with great defense (I've seen it, before superstar status got to his head). That's a first ballot hall of famer and easily a championship caliber #1.

But the dude insists on sticking to the same tired, easily exposed scoring arsenal...step backs, driving for the call, pull up 3s, etc.

Dude needs to get in the gym and build a solid set of go-to moves that can't be easily exposed in the playoffs. He's strong as hell for a 2, work on the post game. Develop a consistent spinning fadeaway like MJ/Kobe. Work on the midrange. Accept that calls fade in the postseason, learn to finish at the rim using his footwork rather than ability to draw contact and get to the line.

And I know he can do all of this and more because he has the natural feel for the game..people always talk about physical gifts like strength, speed, explosiveness...but natural feel and instincts gets shoved to the side. That to me is the biggest difference between a prospect like Wiggins, and guys like Wade, Kobe, Lebron, etc. You're born with that stuff, and Harden has that at the highest level, he just refuses to harness it 100%...and that ****ing sucks for basketball fans because we're missing out on potentially the craftiest player of this generation.

[Kvnzhangyay]

YouTube him.

He locked down Steph Curry to the point where the ref called a foul on him because he felt bad for Steph.

He's an excellent defender with an unlimited amount of hustle and energy.

I watched all the rockets games- his man defense is pretty good, but he just is bad at playing through/around screens. Also, just as an eye test so not sure if this is true or not but Bev fouls quite a lot

[oarabbus]

Nah he's a good defender. His only flaw is he plays his man a bit too aggressive sometimes and gets called for fouls. He needs to know when to tone it down.

I remember a couple seasons ago, just watching McHale playing Toney Douglas in OT or crunch time :roll:


Guy is an ok good pressure/onball defender, but is kind of a scrub... Beverley is a massive upgrade, he is a damn good defender. One of the most impressive defensive PGs for sure. but he also needs to not pull shady shit. Like when he pulled the "timeout play" against Westbrook after he came back from his knee surgery.

Definitely the type of player you absolutely love as your teammate/on your team, but your opponents hate.

[Cocaine80s]

YouTube him.

He locked down Steph Curry to the point where the ref called a foul on him because he felt bad for Steph.

He's an excellent defender with an unlimited amount of hustle and energy.
my favorite moment is when he single handedly destroyed Jrue Holiday with just his defense :applause:

[oarabbus]

YouTube him.

He locked down Steph Curry to the point where the ref called a foul on him because he felt bad for Steph.

He's an excellent defender with an unlimited amount of hustle and energy.


Oh yeah? Was that the game Steph dropped 25/6? Maybe it was his 20/9 game. Or the other GS vs HOU game where Steph dropped 22. I can't remember which one Beverley locked down Curry in.


inb4 "he scored all his points on Lin"

[UK2K]

Oh yeah? Was that the game Steph dropped 25/6? Maybe it was his 20/9 game. Or the other GS vs HOU game where Steph dropped 22. I can't remember which one Beverley locked down Curry in.


inb4 "he scored all his points on Lin"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=preYt4ux9sE

His 20-9 game he was 5-12 and 1-5 from deep, but shot 9/11 FT's (Beverley also almost outscored Curry, but thats not important).
That 'other' game he was 5-14 and shot 1-5 from deep but shot 11 FT's
I think the last game though, Steph Curry finally got the better of him. What a hero.

The fact that you have to defend Curry in an argument against a min wage player who was playing in Asia 18 months ago says that Beverley has been everything Houston has needed and more. Dude has shown tremendous upside in his short time in the NBA.

If you look closely at the 1:05 mark, you can actually get a sense that the ref felt bad for Curry.

[oarabbus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=preYt4ux9sE

His 20-9 game he was 5-12 and 1-5 from deep, but shot 9/11 FT's (Beverley also almost outscored Curry, but thats not important).
That 'other' game he was 5-14 and shot 1-5 from deep but shot 11 FT's
I think the last game though, Steph Curry finally got the better of him. What a hero.

The fact that you have to defend Curry in an argument against a min wage player who was playing in Asia 18 months ago says that Beverley has been everything Houston has needed and more. Dude has shown tremendous upside in his short time in the NBA.

If you look closely at the 1:05 mark, you can actually get a sense that the ref felt bad for Curry.


Don't get me wrong - I'm not hating on Beverley. I'm pretty high on him actually, I think he is a great player and can definitely be the PG for a contender. I have respect for how hard he worked to get where he is now and how good he's been.

I'm just saying "locked down" is a bit extreme, especially since you guys constantly hated on Lin's defense, but there was a stretch of games he was holding opposing PGs to single digits. Mike Conley, Jrue I think and a few others. Never heard a word about him locking someone down... of course, he wasn't guarding Curry or anything though.

[UK2K]

Don't get me wrong - I'm not hating on Beverley. I'm pretty high on him actually, I think he is a great player and can definitely be the PG for a contender. I have respect for how hard he worked to get where he is now and how good he's been.

I'm just saying "locked down" is a bit extreme, especially since you guys constantly hated on Lin's defense, but there was a stretch of games he was holding opposing PGs to single digits. Mike Conley, Jrue I think and a few others. Never heard a word about him locking someone down... of course, he wasn't guarding Curry or anything though.
I think Lin was and is an above average defender, but Im in the minority. Mchale even put Parsons on CP3 when Beverley was out because he didn't trust Lin's defense.

I think anytime you hold a perimeter star player to less than 50% shooting, you're doing something right. Of course, Curry still got his free throws, which is to be expected.

Beverley made 2nd team all defense for a reason, and playing in a position packed with elite players, he's a huge asset to this team, especially where so few others in the league can defend primary ball handlers like he can.

The moral of all this is, Beverley came to the states an elite defender. Mchale had nothing to do it.

[All Net]

If I anybody can be critical Bruce can.

[Mr Exlax]

There's so many things wrong with McHale's coaching. No surprise that they were calling for his head in Minny. Get us a coach that will put in some kind of system and bench the players not executing that system. It'd be different if they gave the effort. Parsons regressed on defense and I imagine it was from watching Harden and then McHale not doing anything about it. The only person that got benched for screw up was Lin.

[oarabbus]

I think Lin was and is an above average defender, but Im in the minority. Mchale even put Parsons on CP3 when Beverley was out because he didn't trust Lin's defense.

I think anytime you hold a perimeter star player to less than 50% shooting, you're doing something right. Of course, Curry still got his free throws, which is to be expected.

Beverley made 2nd team all defense for a reason, and playing in a position packed with elite players, he's a huge asset to this team, especially where so few others in the league can defend primary ball handlers like he can.

The moral of all this is, Beverley came to the states an elite defender. Mchale had nothing to do it.

I'll agree with that. Beverley is a defensive talent. If only he could avoid the "dirty" plays, I'd like him a lot more than I do now.

[BigMacAttack]

Sounds like the usual bullshit excuse making from Rockets fans.


Interesting how Beverley is one of the best defensive players for his position...in the same team, under the same coach, playing in the same damn system.


Some guys will go hard on both ends in any system its just their nature.

[iznogood]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=preYt4ux9sE

His 20-9 game he was 5-12 and 1-5 from deep, but shot 9/11 FT's (Beverley also almost outscored Curry, but thats not important).
That 'other' game he was 5-14 and shot 1-5 from deep but shot 11 FT's
I think the last game though, Steph Curry finally got the better of him. What a hero.

The fact that you have to defend Curry in an argument against a min wage player who was playing in Asia 18 months ago says that Beverley has been everything Houston has needed and more. Dude has shown tremendous upside in his short time in the NBA.

If you look closely at the 1:05 mark, you can actually get a sense that the ref felt bad for Curry.
I always thought one of the keys to Beverly's success was making a lot of fouls which he doesn't get called for. He's hand checking his man most of the time and never gets called for it. He also fouls often when he reaches in for the ball and rarely gets called for this kind of fouls as well. I think he gets similar benefits some of the "elite" defensive big men get because he's known as a very good defender. I think his defense is reckless at times. I don't think he's a dirty player like J.R. Smith, but he sometimes does shit that would get your ass kicked on most of the playgrounds. That being said, I do love the way he pushes himself on defense. But I still think if he'd actually get called for all the fouls he did, he'd be out by the half-time.
The call at 1:05 is exactly what I'm talking about. You're not allowed to hand check, yet Beverly does it all the time. You can see the referee was in a good position and didn't hesitate on the call. Also notice how Beverly raises his hands to make it look like he didn't use them as soon as he hears the whistle. Just look at how he does it again multiple times at 1:55. He also brushes O'Neal at 1:47 when he's contesting his jumper from a close out and again doesn't get called for a foul.

[G-train]

Sounds like the usual bullshit excuse making from Rockets fans.


Interesting how Beverley is one of the best defensive players for his position...in the same team, under the same coach, playing in the same damn system.

A point guard whose main strength is one on one defence and effort will perform ok regardless of the team defensive structure.