From the end of March to the beginning of the playoffs we started Omer Asik and Greg Smith. Our record during this time was 6-4. Greg Smith is extremely limited on offense, but still the Rockets were able to win with that lineup even without Chandler Parsons for a few games. Surely, if we were able to function with Greg Smith at the 4, we should be able to move Dwight to the 4 and start with Asik at the 5! I believe that if we can iron out some of the wrinkles, we will have championship caliber defense with those two guarding the basket. I don't remember a lot of spacing issues when Asik and Smith were in the game together. I think that if we really make a point out of spacing and periodically one of our bigs take jump shots, our offense will work fine as well. Take a look at the video below. Asik and Smith start together, but they don't play the entire game together. Asik even shows that he is capable of hitting jump shots! <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FcQplyRExVU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Not a good comparison. Smith is a 4, not a center. We just use him as a center. So you're maximizing the talent/skills of both of those guys because you're playing them at their natural spots. You're playing a 4 and a 5 at the 4 and 5. By playing Dwight or Omer at the 4, you're not maximizing either of their talents because neither is a 4. You're playing two 5s at the 4 and 5. It goes back to playing Chuck at the 5. It can work, but you're making him a worse player, not better. Coach may be able to manage the twin towers eventually, but to get the most out of Dwight, we're going to need him at the 5, which would mean Omer at 4 and he's getting the short end of the stick there.
The answer should ask the question: Does the combination of Dwight and Asik provide a net benefit over Dwight alone? Even if Dwight plays the 5 spot a little better, does having both Asik and Dwight more than make up for a slight drop off? We'll have to wait and see. But Dwight played the 4 just fine the other night. He was blocking shots, grabbing rebounds, and scoring points.
I think Dwight's natural position is a 4. That's why he can feel pretty overmatched when he goes against the likes of a 7'2" defensive center like Hibbert. Why would Asik need to play the 4?
No. But he's clearly a better 4 than Greg Smith. I have my doubts about TT but there are a LOT of Western Conf teams with 2 bigs. I think it will work situationally. But I care more about getting 48 minutes of excellent rim protection...
Never said that Heisenberg! It is the story of two offensively challenged posts playing together. If Greg Smith sucks but they were able to find a way to make it work, then it should work even better if you have a player that is capable of throwing out 20 and 10 every night.
We're great at moving the ball when we go democratic basketball. asik and howard can move without the ball, both are good passers. As long as we move the ball, twin towers will work for up to 13 minutes a game. People act like we have 2 dummies manning the front court. When people suggest putting Dwight at the four, the garm contrarians will say..omg,Ryan anderson will go 30/30 from 3s. When people suggest putting parsons at the four, the garm contrarians will say...well how is he going to guard the tiagos, eddie winslows, gingers,wests, Davis, KGs, manimals of the nba? You have to pick your battles. You can't win every single one.
That's not saying much though. I'm still hopeful it'll work more than not, but i think people are simplifying the problem too much. It's not just about having two centers, but about having two centers who can't really shoot beyond 3-4 feet. Guys like Duncan, Gasol, Randolph and Griffin can hit shots. If either of ours could do so, it would make things a lot easier and they're not even close to having decent jumpers. Maybe Asik could do it, but he's going to need more practice.
Not that it absolutely can't work, but I just don't see Dwight being happy playing 'out of position' for extended periods. I think he sees the offense running through him in the post more often than not. And though, I can see Asik hitting a 15 ft jumper occasionally, I'm not sure he's enough of a threat offensively to dissuade constant double teams. Also, I don't think Dwight wants to chase down stretch 4s on the perimeter.
True, but don't you have to play to your strengths? Dwight at C has a huge advantage against most teams. Much more impactful than Asik at C and Dwight at PF.
I don't really understand the whole playing out of position thing. It makes sense to me if you're Charles Barkley and you're realistically only 6'4", but you're told to go guard Shaq. I feel like once you're past a certain height/weight and you're pretty athletic, the position you may play the night depends solely on defensive match-ups. It doesn't matter whether Dwight is better as a 4 or 5, it shouldn't really affect the way he plays. If Dwight wanted to , with Asik behind him defensively, I think he could have shutdown Dirk
Lin pretty much put the team on his back this game, harden was out, can't expect the offense to be ran like this now
Mchale let Lin do what he wanted to this game, which amounted to asik have his career high and even feeling comfortable shooting midrange shots
Of those 10 games we lost the last 3 of 4 and fell to 8th seed. Also 6 of 10 games were against non playoff teams (5-1) so only (1-3) against playoff teams during that run. Of those 10 games Harden didn't play in the first 2 which we won. In the 8 games Harden played we were (4-4). In those 8 games Harden was FG/FGA FG% 3P/3PA 3P% 2P/2PA 2P% 60/154 39% 21/64 33% 39/90 43% In the other 70 games Harden played 525/1183 44% 158/422 37% 367/761 48% This is a small sample size and I didn't look @ the play by play to see if Asik and Smith were both on the floor with Harden, but you can see both his overall FG% and 3P% were down. So the question is was the lane clogged with Asik & Smith so Harden couldn't get easily to the rim? Also did the defender on Smith leave him to help double team @ the 3P arc? In any case I can't really say we had great results from the Asik/Smith combo since we were only 1 game above .500 in those games.
Greg Smith is NOT a 4. He was a 5 in high school AND in college. http://www.gobulldogs.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/greg_smith_472278.html Dwight was a PF in high school and when he came in the league from HS, he played strictly as a PF first two NBA seasons. Cato and Battie started as center during those years.
So you agree that Dwight Howard at the 4 is better than Greg Smith at the 4. It's not just about "having two centers who can't really shoot beyond 3-4 feet." It's about having two of the league's best defenders on your team, one of whom is on the court at all times.
I always thought this last year when watching Asik+Smith together. Reality is that we have enough talent on the floor to win even if going BIG prevents spacing issues on both ends.
