By Signing Carmelo Anthony, the Rockets Have Given Up on the 2019 NBA Title

Carmelo Anthony has verbally agreed to sign with the Houston Rockets. I know that I have been hard on Anthony lately, and today will be no different. But, all the hate will not be thrown his way, the Rockets are going to take the brunt of it today.

Lets get the Carmelo hate out of the way first. As I stated about a week or so ago, Carmelo is washed. He is no good to any  team anymore. He is a horrendous defender. He is not nearly the lethal scorer. He is still not willing to come off the bench. He still thinks he is a top 15-20 NBA player. All of this is crazy. As I have stated many times, I used to love Carmelo. When he was in Denver, he was must watch TV. But, for about the last 4 or 5 years, he has become a shell of the player he once was. He is a joke. Sure, there a tons and tons of videos of him hitting jump shots in rec league games and pickup games and playing one on one against other pros, but so what. Any player worth their salt can do the exact same thing, and do it better. In one of the videos I saw, where he played with Chris Paul and James Harden, his new teammates, he did nothing that impressed me. In fact, what I noticed most was his unwillingness to pass the ball. The video was about 90 seconds long, and every single time he touched the ball, he shot it. I mean, even Harden was dishing it here and there. Also, Carmelo was trying much, much harder than any of those other guys on the court. Then this morning I saw him playing one on one against Brandon Jennings, and then Stanley Johnson. Those are not big name guys, and while he was scoring at will, so were Jennings and Johnson. Johnson was beating him up, and Jennings was hitting step back after step back on him. Jennings is about 5 inches shorter than Carmelo.

Had this latest Carmelo move happened a few years back, when the Big Three in Miami broke up, I would have been stoked. The fact that he is joining the Rockets now, I just see it messing up what they did so well last season. Which leads me to my Rockets hate portion today.

Last year the Houston Rockets had one of the best offseason, and trade deadline moves. They picked up Paul in the offseason. He was the big name on the free agent market last year. They got him to come in and play alongside Harden, and it worked so well. They also picked up PJ Tucker, and he added the exact toughness that the team needed. He can also hit the corner three, so that was just an added bonus. They also integrated Clint Capela perfectly. He became the perfect big man for their pick and roll that they love to run. They also started to phase out Ryan Anderson because he is now a defensive, and quite frankly, an offensive liability. They crushed it last year.

This offseason and summer has been the exact opposite for the Rockets. They let Trevor Ariza leave. I know they weren't going to be able to give him all the money they wanted, but they could have tried to work with him. They decided not to, and now he is gone. Then after he left, they gave Chris Paul a 4 year 140 million dollar deal. I know, again, they had to do this, but this deal is going to look absolutely awful next season. They gave him a max deal that is really only viable for one season. Paul is continually hurt, especially in the playoffs, and he is a very tough teammate by all accounts. He will also be in his mid to late thirties when the deal is in the final year, and they will have to pay him the 30 million plus. That is a disaster. They then made Capela wait and wait and wait for a deal. This apparently upset him, which is never good for the future, and by all accounts, they were only a minuscule amount of money apart, but this was where they decided to not budge. They dumped money on Chris Paul's lap, who is almost my age, but they waited to give their center, who is one of the better modern centers in the game, and who happens to also be very young, his contract. If I were Capela, I would still be pissed off.

But, the cherry on top of their crap offseason and summer is the Carmelo news. Why do they want him? Do they really think this is a new Big Three? Why do they need him? What does he add? Did they even watch him play at all last year, or the year before that, or the year before that? He is washed. He is not going to be Olympic Carmelo. That was what everyone thought he would be for the Thunder last year, but after refusing a bench role, he had a disaster of a season. So I just don't get why the Rockets want to do this. As I said awhile back, they were phasing out Ryan Anderson. Now, they basically have a Ryan Anderson clone, who isn't as good a three point shooter. Carmelo is also refusing to come off the bench once again, so for those saying the Rockets will get Olympic Carmelo, that dream is out the window. Carmelo also proved last season that he is not a viable Big Three guy. I know it is hard to play with Russell Westbrook, but he couldn't even coexist with Paul George. George is a decent passer and great defender, and all Carmelo did was bitch about him. Putting him next to Paul and Harden will fare much worse in my opinion. The Rockets proved me wrong last year, when I said that Harden and Paul would fight to be primary ball handlers. But, I have zero doubt that Carmelo will be happy only taking 6-7 shots a game. He will want double figure attempts at least. The Rockets also do not need him. They needed to keep Ariza. Ariza was their best three and D guy. And I know his defense has taken a bit of a step back. But, wait until you get a load of how little Carmelo plays, and cares to play, defense. Rocket fans will be opining big time for Ariza.

Finally, we have already seen a team coached by Mike D'Antoni that featured Carmelo Anthony, and it was a nightmare. They hated each other. They openly expressed their dislike for one another to the media. The system D'Antoni runs does not fit what Carmelo wants to do. I saw a Bleacher Report article that said, "This time it will be different" in reference to Carmelo playing for D'Antoni. I didn't even read the article because that headline was dumb enough. It won't be different. Carmelo Anthony is who he is, and he hast changed since entering the league.

The Rockets had an awful offseason, they will regress this year, and it will be because of Carmelo Anthony. What a stupid decision by the one team that may have actually been able to challenge the Warriors.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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How the Rockets are Beating the Warriors

Last night the Rockets took a 3-2 series lead on the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

I have to admit I was wrong first of all. After game one I wrote that the Warriors were locked in, and that should run away with the series now that they were actually trying. Well, the Rockets have muddied up the game, James Harden and Chris Paul, and the Rockets bench, are playing much better, and they have total control of the series. They can close it out on Saturday night, and it would not surprise me. I know that Chris Paul is officially out of game 6 with a hamstring pull, but I do not think it will matter much. I also realize that the game is in Oracle, but again, I don't think it will matter much.

The problem, after game one, the Warriors returned to how they have played this entire season. They have only really showed up when they need to, and they have played bored and careless almost all season. It is all coming back to haunt them now. After game one, they have only played one other game, game 3, where they have looked like the team that they are supposed to look like. In games 2, 4 and 5, the Warriors have looked helpless and lost. They are playing way too much isolation basketball. They are playing right into the Rockets hands. They are doing everything that the Rockets want them to do. The Warriors are letting the Rockets shoot threes. They are letting Harden get to the hoop unimpeaded. They are letting Clint Capela constantly burn them on pick and rolls. Their bench, or lack there of, is hurting them. Their old school centers are pretty much unplayable. And the Rockets are taking total advantage of all this, and more. Props to Mike D'Antoni for letting his team play like they have all year, and letting Harden run the show. Props to Harden for getting the playoff choking moniker off his back. Even if the Warriors wake up and win the series, Harden has been very solid. Props to Chris Paul for going out there, playing his game and not letting the moment get to him. I'm actually a little bummed that he is out of the next game because I want both of these teams at full strength. This series has gone the exact opposite of how I thought.

Maybe I should have seen this coming. As I said, the Warriors have lacked the killer attitude all year long. They do not seem to care, no matter how big the moment. Steph is playing better, but he is still getting exposed on defense. Every night there is a highlight of him getting shook by Harden or Paul. Klay Thompson is hurt, and has gone ice cold from the field. He cannot hit the ocean, and he is getting torched on defense. KD has been scoring a ton, but that is really it. He has a very small amount of assists. Besides game one, his defense has been mediocre at best. And he is playing far too much iso ball. Dare I say, he has become the Warriors version of Russell Westbrook. Draymond Green has been horrendous in this series. He cannot score, he is getting dunked on every night, and he keeps talking shit as if he is doing something. Even his own mom called him out on Twitter for his poor play.

The most egregious performance, at least to me, is Steve Kerr's coaching. He is being wildly outcoached by D'Antoni. His willingness to let his players play through big runs is shocking. His decision to not call timeouts has been Andy Reid bad. Then his attitude, for example his, "I feel like we are in a great situation" quote after last night's game, has shocked me. This team is on the brink, and he is acting as if it is game 30 of the regular season. And I say again, that has been the problem all year. They just do not seem to care. They look like they will be just fine going on vacation after tomorrow night's game, if they do not win. They just seem disinterested. And the Rockets are taking full advantage of it all.

Hopefully the Warriors find their mojo again, because I'd love this series to go 7. But, the way the Warriors have come out the last 2 games, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Rockets end it tomorrow night. We will just have to wait and see.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on all the internet.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

James Harden and Mike D'Antoni Choked in the Playoffs, Again

Maybe some playground hoop practice will help D'Antoni and Harden next time

I, much like any NBA fan, assumed that the Rockets would win game 6 last night. Kawhi was ruled out for the game. The game was in Houston. The Rockets were going to make a million threes. Tony Parker has been out since game 2. Everything was in the Rockets favor. Then, the Spurs went out and won by 39 points.

The Rockets, in a potential season ending game, at home, with one of the 2 MVP favorites, the Spurs down their 2 best players, lost by 39 god damn points. That is pitiful. I already wrote yesterday about how bad these NBA playoffs have been and last night was a prime example why. So no, the Rockets loss is not the basis of my piece today. The question I want to pose this afternoon, is James Harden and Mike D'Antoni overrated, and why do they always choke in the playoffs?

First, let's take a look at D'Antoni. Mike D'Antoni will be the Coach of the Year this season. There is no doubt about that. The Rockets had a great regular season. They played a real fun style of basketball and they won a lot more games than I, or a lot of people, foresaw. His decision to put Harden at point guard and surround him with great three point shooters and great bigs that are perfect for pick and roll basketball was genius. But, when he needed a great game from everyone last night, himself included, he laid a total egg. D'Antoni had that game on a silver platter for him. I already mentioned all the reasons as to why they should have been the team to win by 39 points. But, by the middle of the third quarter, D'Antoni looked beat. Go check out the memes and everything on the internet from last night. There is a picture of him where he just looks like he had given up.

So, we have last night as a reminder of his notorious choke jobs in the playoffs. His time in both, LA with the Lakers and New York with the Knicks, are not something we need to look at. He was put in bad situations in both places and he did not use his personnel correctly. Both he, and those franchises, are to blame for his failures as the head coach. But, when he was with the Suns in the mid 2000's, those teams were fun as hell to watch. They were like watching this current iteration of the Rockets. Steve Nash was the perfect point guard for his system. He had guys like Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion and Raja Bell that played their specific roles perfectly. But, those Suns teams never made it out of the West Finals. Yes, they were royally screwed by the refs one season, but other than that, those Suns teams had great regular seasons only to bow out of the playoffs with a whimper.

D'Antoni has won coach of the year awards and has a great offensive mind, but his defense is atrocious, and he sticks to his style of play to a fault. That Rockets team had no shot from the tip last night. But, even when they were down 20 plus points, they just kept jacking three after three. They could have cut into the lead if they ran some more pick and roll or drove to the basket looking to score or draw a foul. But, they just kept bombing threes, no matter how many they were clanking. To me, that is on Mike D'Antoni. He is a good regular season coach, but I do not think he is a good playoff coach. He couldn't beat Phil Jackson or Rick Carlisle when he was in Phoenix, and now, Greg Poppovich absolutely owns him. I guarantee that D'Antoni has nightmares about coaching against Poppovich.

The coach only draws up the game plan. He does not play in the game. That is on the players, and the Rockets best player, an MVP favorite, James Harden was MIA last night. He was absolutely abysmal. This was probably the worst game by a "top ten" player that I have ever witnessed. I do not know what he was thinking, but to have only attempted 2 shots by halftime, what was he thinking? I don't know if he was hurt, scared, playing possum, shaving points or just mad at his teammates and the media for saying how shitty he has been all playoffs. Don't get it twisted either, he was garbage throughout the 11 games the Rockets played in the 2017 playoffs. He was a complete disaster. After witnessing his 10 point, 6 assist and 7 turnover game on something like 2 of 10 shooting, I started to think back to his time in OKC and his first couple of years in Houston, and I remembered how unreliable he is in crucial games.

Lets first look at his 2 years at Arizona State. In is freshman year he was fine, but ASU went 21-13 and lost in the third round of the NIT. I do not even remember him during his freshman year. Then he exploded as a sophomore, averaging around 20 ppg and guiding ASU back to the tournament. But, in the second round he shot 2 of 12, or something like that, and ASU bounced out of the tournament with little to no consequence. So, we should have known that maybe he wasn't a prime time player back then.

Then, while with OKC, he was a great sixth man. He was instant offense off the bench. When came in and teamed up with KD and Westbrook, man were they fun and hard to stop. In his third year he won sixth man of the year and the Thunder made it to the Finals, in large part due to Harden's play early in those playoffs. But, when he was looked upon to come in and neutralize the Heat, he was a no show. He was so bad in those Finals. He disappeared. It got so bad, he looked scared to shoot whenever LeBron or Wade would come out and guard him.

Harden was traded, much to the chagrin of a lot of people, most notably Bill Simmons who still won't stop talking about it. He wanted to be "the man", and Houston provided him that option. He has had 5 great regular seasons with the Rockets. Well, maybe only 4, but still, he has been good to great in the regular season. He has made 5 All Star games, been on the All NBA first team a couple of times, and has been in the MVP conversation 2 of his 5 years there. But, every year, when he gets his chance to shine, he chokes.

One of his first playoffs with the Rockets, they played the Thunder, and the Thunder wiped the floor with them. This was the series where Patrick Beverly cheap shot Westbrook and knocked him out for the playoffs, but KD won that series. Harden was so so, and couldn't capitalize on Westbrook's backups that came in to guard him. Then, with the Rockets looking dead, mainly due to Harden's play, Kevin McHale benched him and the Rockets came back fro down 3-1 against the Clippers. The "Clippers Collapse" had nothing to due with James Harden. It had more to due with guys like Josh Smith, Corey Brewer and dare I even say, Dwight Howard. When the Rockets completed the comeback, they faced the Warriors in the West Finals, and we saw all we needed to see from Harden in game 1. He had multiple chances to win that game, but both Steph and Klay flat out stopped him. He was busy looking for his mouth piece as opposed to hitting big shots. The season after that, when Harden came in out of shape and dated a Kardashian, he was bad all year, and so were the Rockets. That season was dreadful and they bowed out easily in round one. The team followed the lead of their leader, Harden, that whole season, and they stunk.

Coming into this year no one knew what to expect from Harden and the Rockets. Well, Harden looked locked in and the Rockets were humming. The Rockets and Harden looked awesome. He was putting up great numbers and leading his team to 50 plus wins. He is a legit MVP candidate. But, then the playoffs started, and he played like garbage, as I have said. Yes, the Rockets beat the Thunder in 5, but it wasn't anything that Harden did. He played well in game 1, but that was it. Westbrook balled out, but he had zero help. I wrote an article about that last week. Looking back at that series, I still feel like Westbrook was the MVP.

Then, after the last 6 games, I am even more certain that Westbrook deserves the MVP. Harden never really played all that great. He never seemed locked in. The block in game 5 was tremendous for many reasons. Harden got a good look. He probably offensively fouled to get open. He played half decent in that game. But, 40 year old Manu Ginobli perfectly timed his jump and ripped the ball out of Harden's hands with no time left. I think that stayed with him, especially after watching him last night. Harden was just dreadful last night. I cannot state that strong enough. He looks so terrible. I still am baffled at his play. I guarantee that Westbrook wouldn't have gone out like that. Hell, in game 5 against the Rockets, Westbrook did all he could, he just had no help. What Harden did last night further proves to me that he is not a prime time, big shot, the guy that strikes fear in opponents hearts type of player. He doesn't seem to care how his team does in the playoffs. He just looks kind of aloof and careless in the most important moments of the biggest games on the biggest stage.

Finally, last night proved to me that Mike D'Antoni is an okay coach, in the regular season. Last night also showed me that James Harden is a great player, in the regular season as well. But, the main thing I took away from last night, both guys are chokers and cannot handle when the most important games ae happening. They are not clutch. They are not MVP caliber player and coach. They just cannot be counted on to win the big time. They no show when they are needed most. Maybe this will change, but it hasn't changed for D'Antoni since 2004, and it hasn't changed for Harden since 2008. I think they are who they are, and that is 2 guys that clam up when they are counted on most.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.