[ClutchFans] Houston shouldn't turn its back on Dwight Howard

Morey would be stupid not to kick the tires, and that will lead to leaks and leaks will lead to speculation and speculation will lead to questions and questions will lead to distractions, and you know how it ultimately ends?






Yoda

 

DMo wouldn't have contributed to the 2 main areas we suck in, defense & rebounding. His presence would be minimal

 

Wrong. DMo was a legit defensive force at center when Dwight was out. He was a huge reason the Rockets were able to sustain good defensive play last year without Dwight.

 

Same record with Dwight and without him, primarily because of Dmo.

DD

 

DMO was not a "force" defensively at center... He is nothing special as a help defender and teams drive the lane with ease when he is at the 5. He is a good positional defender at PF... When he has a legitimate defensive center next to him.

 

Are people really going to credit our defensive record to D-Mo? Offensively, he had a huge impact because he's a legitimate 2nd option but defensively, he's a liability.

Our defensive record last season was mainly down to Dorsey, Josh, Ariza, superior defensive schemes & hustle.

 

When was he ever going to be a "2nd option on O"?

Yeah he averaged 14 something points during a stretch of games but that was it.

Let's not talk who is the 2nd or 3rd option... just let him play some minutes.

The season is half way over.

 

I want to see proof of how DMO was a defensive force apart from the DMO homers throwing it left and right. Repeating it won't make it any more real. Proof?
Rim protection? Positional defence? (deterring shots)

 

I don't have a Synergy account but someone here posted his numbers last year and his defensive numbers were really good.

 

He had a good month in November and declined from there. Was our worst defensive big in opponent FG% last year, but that is the stat we get told he will help us with?

 

You have to watch the games. But yes, positional defender.

Here's a bit of peripheral evidence for you.

http://www.nbaminer.com/player-foul-details/

DMo was #11 in the league last season in offensive fouls drawn, trailing only Ilyasova, DeMarcus, and Speights among 4/5's. He also only committed 92 shooting fouls which is an absurdly low rate for a big man playing the minutes he played.


DMo was a very solid positional defender for us last season and held down the middle for us when Dwight was out before Smoove got here. He was playing out of position at center with guys like Terrence alongside him giving us nothing defensively. You would've had to have watched the games to understand what he did for us defensively. He was very good.

 

DMo was also a good defensive communicator on the backline. Mentioned this in a previous thread, the Rockets really miss that aspect.

 

I can agree that DMo is better than Howard on the offensive...

But you can bring up any stat in the world that you want, but DMo is not better than Howard on the defensive end.

Stats are so overly misused on this site to prove things that are not necessarily telling the entire story.

T_Man

 

Can you or someone else find the link of that post? I'm not a contributing member so I can't search myself.
The data that is available publicly after analysed show that DMO last year was a mediocre positional and rim protector as a combo big.

Yeah well bballholic..are you putting Ilyasova and Speights as examples of great defence? It immediately negates your own argument, and how important offensive fouls drawn actually are.
That is not a very useful stat at all.

I did watch and I think he's mediocre. Nothing special or elite defensively.

 

Dmos offense helps us get back and have a set defense instead of the other team running the fastbreak off long rebounds and turnovers from harden.

 

I think DMo worked because while he wasn't/isn't superb defensively in any one specific area, he is versatile. Takes charges, can alter shots, could switch on PnRs, etc. Josh Smith brings some of this defensive versatility. It's the Draymond Green position... they're just not at his level.

Dwight is great at defense in one area ... protecting the paint at getting rebounds. But I don't like him on picks, he never takes a charge, I don't want him on the perimeter in any way, and he gambles a little too much).

The Rockets were equally good last year in the regular season with/without Dwight and have a better record this year without him.

Everyone points to the playoffs. And he does play nice in the playoffs. But it's also just as hard to look at the playoffs as it is to gauge his real value. We have a first round loss and a WCF appearance with him. First round loss was a disappointment, regardless of whether Dwight showed up or not (and it's not like Dwight was stopping LMA that series). Last year was a "success", but was that on Dwight? Do we lose in the first round without him? Doesn't seem like it. We probably lose to the Clippers, but that nearly happened anyway, and if you replaced Dwight with a healthy DMo/PBev (which is changing history, but just in a hypothetical what if) can they beat the Clippers? yeah, maybe.

I'm just don't see the Howard/Harden tandem being the tandem to lead the Rockets to a ring... EVER. And Howard gets paid way too much, and will continue to do so.

I'm not turning my back on him... just stating what it is. Dude would be a beast added to the Thunder, or the Raptors, or Cavs... squads where he is clear option 4 type guy.

That's not the case here.

 

Yup. I like Howard as a 4th, maybe even 3rd option. As our 2nd best player, no rings.

 

Harden playing like this as our best player? How many rings?

 

4th and 3rd options aren't capable of 20+ a game for an entire season

 

Positional defense and help defense. His rebounding and rim protection were mediocre for his size but his positional/help defense were elite. He moves very well for a man his size.