http://www.nba.com/2016/news/02/03/...tting-as-teams-play/index.html?ls=nbahpsplit1 Trouble is, what these Rockets believe in is running away from responsibility for this most mediocre of underperforming seasons. First they blamed injuries in training camp. Then they blamed coach Kevin McHale and got him fired. Now the entire organization is blaming poor officiating for Howard being unable to control his emotions. Rather than hold him accountable, the Rockets are enablers. We're fed the old trope: Howard's being picked on because the referees allow defenders to rough him up, beat him up down in the low post. It's been the complaint of every big man from George Mikan to Wilt Chamberlain to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Shaquille O'Neal to Yao Ming. It comes with the territory, but it's never been a place in which Howard has felt comfortable. Despite the Superman cape in the slam dunk contest and chiseled muscles, he's always been more of a phony tough guy. ..."I apologize for having emotions," Howard said Saturday night of his second technical that was for retaliating against Wizards center Nene with a push. "A guy comes at you, your first reaction is get him out of your face. That's any human being." Not one that understands his place in the franchise, his role on the team. The Rockets have a roster filled with talent. However talent only takes you so far when it isn't accompanied by drive and professionalism. Howard too often acts like he's 30 going on 16: the big, goofy kid who wants to get by on a smile. Before the season started, it was a no-brainer that the Rockets wanted to re-sign Howard when he is expected to opt out of his contract and become a free agent next summer. Now it might not even be a dead-solid lock that he's still on the roster past the Feb. 18 trade deadline. Didn't see this posted. Fran is usually very positive and more than fair towards the Rockets so I respect his opinion on this matter. I agree with most of what he's saying. We indeed do not need to hear about why he put his hands on Dudley's shoulders and sarcastically apologising that you have emotions. Way too times Dwight complaints, gets silly fouls and just laughs when he should stay focused. They indeed look to upset him, because he's easily upset. You can take him out of the game like that. Rodman would've had a field day with Dwight. The not being here past the deadline is just ridiculous though.
Sounds like Fran's the one making excuses. The coaching I agree has left a lot to be desired and is still (post McHale) enabling bad habits. Everything else is symptomatic of the coaching >> getting all 15 players motivated at the same time. Other than that, we were injured, we did have a bad coach, Dwight is poorly officiated. There's a false assumption he's making. That you can't acknowledge problems AND be committed to playing the right way. I acknowledge that those things are problems (injuries, coaching, etc) but the players still have to go out and play hard regardless. Maybe they expected this season to be easy based on their success last season. However, don't come in here and tell me JB and Dwight can't complain about the refereeing AND still deliver their best performance. They can do that. They should do that. You may PREFER it for them to STFU and play, but the fact of the matter is elite team after elite team and elite player after elite player has shown the NBA you can make constant complaints and still play your best basketball. I don't like guys who whine during the game, I think it would make a bigger overall impact if they complained less than the other 29 teams every night. But whatever, that's who they are, you're not going to change their personality mid season lol. So I just want them to play hard, do their best and commit to defense.
ive never heard of this writer but i find it hard to believe he is "usually very positive" about the rockets. maybe you mean rockets other than dwight? the writing is overly reliant on heavy handed rhetorical devices. this typically indicates that the opinion expressed is more bias than thoughtful analysis. i clicked the link and found another poorly written article by him about the heat game.
Good ole Fran. For those of you who don't know, Fran Blinebury used to work for the Houston Chronicle as the Rockets primary beat writer, and things went south with him, and the franchise so he got canned. Ever since then he's been sort of the unofficial Rockets beat writer for NBA.com only occasionally popping up when either things go drastically great, or drastically wrong for the Rockets. To say that Fran has a bias against the Houston Rockets is putting it lightly. Let's just say he's got HISTORY with the Rockets. So take what he puts out there with that shade of bias. Its quite funny that Fran has the nerve to actually call Dwight a "Phony Tough Guy". Maybe Dwight is a phony tough guy, but when you resort to these low blow antics as a writer and then you show up in the locker room asking for an interview the next day like nobody will notice... Its not going to work out well for you Fran you "Weirdo" LOL. .......................... That being said... Are the Rockets "Enabling Dwight"??.... I don't really know what that means. Is Fran saying that they SHOULDN'T stick up for him publicly and should tell him to shut up, mute yourself, and just play???... I have to disagree with Fran if that's the only point he's trying to make. Whether or not he's a declining star, or a star, he's still a star player, and a player in general even without the star tag NEEDS to know that his team and his coaches have his back. Also, yes the refs do treat him differently (as well as other bigs) and if they were truly concerned with the health long term of their bigs, they would change the rules to stop letting player maul them in the paint while still instituting the perimeter no-touch rules at the same time. You need to go one way or the other. Protect everyone, or protect no one. The fouling has taken its toll on Dwight. Part of the problem is the fact that he's never been able to shoot free throws. That's on him & his teams. But there is no doubt in my mind that the way he's roughed up on a nightly basis unlike many NBA players is ONE REASON for his decline at least from a health perspective. I have no problem with JBB sticking up for Dwight in this case. Do they enable him further? I dunno, but when you get a star player that has already burnt bridges in two separate locations, is in his late 20's, and has a history around the league, you know what you are getting yourself into, and you don't come in like a drill sergeant overnight & try to change everything about the person and the player. You signed him (and YOU FANS accepted him) warts in all a couple years ago, and for the most part he's been great for us & the team. It would be stupid to all the sudden out of nowhere play the drill sergeant role and treat your 30 year old star like a child who needs a dunce cap and to sit in the corner in timeout. It doesn't work like that guys, and Fran. The Rockets aren't necessarily "Enabling" Dwight. They are dealing with the same person they brought in the same way that they KNEW they had to deal with that way from day 1 that they signed him. I have no problem with that because as a fan, I accepted Dwight Howard as well. I'm not going to now modulate an argument that contradicts myself.
Horrible logic. The Rockets are definitely enablers, and that is to blame for a lot of the failures this season. That's irrelevant to Howard vs the referees, but Blinebury kicks off the article with it to prime the reader against the Rockets / Howard. Deflecting all criticism of the referees is where I've had enough. This article is putting several things together and calling it a trend, when each one is entirely unrelated. The Rockets aren't blaming losses on the referees - believe it or not, there can be multiple factors in a loss. But that's not sexy to write about. If Yao was complaining about the same officiating problems, maybe that makes it more of a problem, not less of one... ? Also Shaq can't be compared; he got away with offensive fouls unlike the league has ever seen... and they had to change the rules for Wilt. Terrible piece by Blinebury targeting Howard. No foundation to make his case. People who agree with this are either agreeing because they want to, or because of something else not included in this article.
fran used to be a lot better writer, b4 he and the rockets parted ways. now when he's writing about the rockets, i often am not sure if i'd believe what writes due to his obvious grudges from the past.
He is a good writer who is unafraid to be critical. He is not a fanboy, and his writing is solid. Never understood what folks have against him. DD
hahha. . knew that was coming. as pippen said above, blinebury and harden exchanged words a couple of years ago which resulted in harden calling him a weirdo. i remember reading his stuff in the papers during the championship years.
I could've wrote the exact same piece about the Cavs enabling Lebron. Hasn't won a championship there. Got coaches fired. Organization bends over for him.
agreed. He did have a run-in with James Harden a year or two ago, not sure that James is a big fan. And I've detected a bit of anti-Hardenism in Fran's pieces since then, but overall, I agree his stuff is usually solid and reliable.
Fran could not have said it better. Is it me or do the Rockets appear to have a better win % without Dwight? He appears to hurt the team with stupid fouls and techs. He is a mental midget at the free throw line. If there is a taker we need to trade him while there is still interest and before his next injury (which you know is coming soon)!!!
Honestly, honestly, 100% honestly I hope Dwight buries all the "phony tough guy" talk next time someone steps up to him. All the "soft" comments he ever got, just dig the hole and bury them. He might get a month off but it would be wild to see him unleash the beast. Nene is a huge man and he just brushed him off. Imagine if he caught fire and dealt a few blows, they would be devastating. Earn it lol.... Or geez, take that fire and get mad at the rim. Idk, I kinda don't buy a ref running up trying to separate him from nothing but he gets tech/sus/fined for being adamant about get off me. Get off him. I guess I'm really just sick of the same old....either earn a suspension for once or take it out on the rim for once. Right? Give them a reason to fear you or show them that mere mortals won't keep you from throwing it down.
