But In our Team, Asik > Howard. I cannot explain, I cannot expect, but now i can the see the difference compared with last season.
Don't say it is just one game, If you watch all games this season like me, you should know what I mean.
Don't confuse the Howard fans with the facts. Howard thinks he is allowed to miss free free throws like he is Shaq. Guess what, he is not.
You're not totally off although you will get slammed for saying it. Overall Howard is better but we didn't have to look for Asik when he was center. His points came naturally. Not so much for Howard. He needs touches and expects some. Plus Asik is a better ft shooter. Those two facts change the dynamic of our team. Howard's a better talent no doubt and we are better than last year. But if we had Asik and traded Howard for someone like Lamarcus Aldridge would we be better? I think so? Asik won't get you Aldridge but Howard might or he might get you Bosh? It won't happen but the game has changed. Howard makes too many turnovers down low and when he gets fouled it's always a crapshoot.
Harden is getting burned too much. There is real defense, which Avery Bradley and Jordan Crawford showed us and then there is Harden's defense. It is essentially cherry-picking the whole game. He actually wants to let his man blow by him so he can try that back swat to bump it forward into a defender's hand. This puts him in easy position to fast-break. Parson's does a bit, but James has taken it to a new level. I wish someone could show me a blow-by chart. Seriously when have you seen James take a blocking foul on the perimeter. Never. It's almost as if he'd rather give a bucket, than take a chance of getting crossed-over by playing real defense. What was this thread about again. Oh yeah, Howard has to stop Harden's man with a block attempt. He is much more effective with a defensive 2-guard like Courtney Lee. Omer is smarter than Dwight. H e'll give a jab fake as if to step up, but would usually remain in position for the rebound. Dwight gets his defender to miss a lot more with his shot contests, but nobody is there for the defensive rebound. Jones has been great, but he is outsized almost every night.
I am with you 100% Asik is just a better fit with his Defense than Howard,he did a better Job cleaning up the mistakes from Lin and Harden and Even though he does Not have much of an offensive game,he would always give you quality screens and hustle This team just needed an all-star PF ala Love,LMA,Duncan or Dirk(I know one can Dream) a better pg and a defensive Wing ala Bradley or Afflalo But meh...
Last year's team had better players off the bench throughout the year and into the playoffs. This year guys have been hurt and we are still better with Dwight record wise. The league is on to what the rockets are doing too... there are higher expectations unlike last year. Asik is not better for this team. Dwight was on a worse team last year and beat us the last game of the season. Where was Asik then? We dropped to the eight seed. If Asik plays tonight instead of Dwight we get steamrolled the entire game okc has a hatred towards us and the true determining factor against them is when we have Patrick Beverley starting at point guard. Asik doesn't make a darn bit of difference unless he is actually playing when Dwight is on the bench resting. No Dwight we have no chance and that's the truth some y'all Houston fans need to get your head out your butts.
You make that trade the team still would have issues. Maybe people don't see the fact that we are not making our threes at the percentage we did last year. Asik makes plays but he gets burned too defense comes down to the team buying in versus Dwight being dumb or Asik being smart. We still lost to okc in 6 games with Westbrook being out there. Now if get the threes to fall like they were in the first h alf with Dwight we blow the team away unlike last year when every game we played them was close while we hit the threes.
Howard is going to a wrong direction. His low post game won't help him win a title. He is not as tall as other centers He should be a upgrade of Tyson Chandler, not Shaq or Amare. Asik can shoot jumper. That's what remind me of Yao last year.
Who cares. Asik is injured and has been for a while. This team has performed better with just Howard than with just Asik. This team will perform best with both on the active roster. Not to mention the effort we're putting in to integrate Howard will pay off later, wheras with Asik there was no effort because there would be no pay off. When teams slow us down in the playoffs, you'd be a fool to think having a scorer like Howard in the middle will not make a massive difference from having Asik in the middle. Asik is a slightly better defender MAYBE, but Howard is a vastly better offensive player FOR SURE. Perhaps some of you are not impressed enough with Howard because Asik gave us a fantastic last season and you were irrationally expecting a much bigger improvement at C. The truth is we'll be way better at C once we have a legit backup C. Moreover, Howard will be far more effective when the perimeter defense improves. This team is without arguably its two best defenders - Beverly and Asik. Both of whom would be a part of a 7 man Rockets rotation. A big part of this team is either injured or yet to be acquired. That's a big deal. Given our nagging injury issues and installment of Howard into the team, our 52-win pace is good especially when you consider our schedule the rest of the way is easier than our competition.
If you look at the stats: Howard > Asik No doubt, Howard is better overall. But IMO Asik is better at man-to-man, better at positioning, better at PnR defense and sets better screens. (these are not shown on stats sheet) So, I would say keep both but Asik wants to be traded.
Howard is the better player, no question. He can win a game on his own, I reckon, whereas I dont think Asik can. However, I think the $20M+ was not worth it for the difference in upgrade from Asik to Howard.
ill always remember that double flop from Martin and Fish. Ive always liked Asik because the harder the team the Harder Asik plays, Howard seems to play like a wuss when people get physical with him and hes not really like light and day better than Asik. Howard is a huge ft liability, even sorse than his avg, isnt good or at least doesnt try pnr unlike Asik, does not does not have any range, and really is just mentally too soft unlike Asik. As much as you Rocket fans think Asik is being a dick not playing because he wants to be a starter, I think he has all the right because of the oral agreement that he would be a starter and not a bench player on the Rockets. i would do the exact same thing if the Rockets org screwed me over like that. Miss Asik, the Rockets willl never win a title the way they played against OKC in the 2nd half.
