Dude's pulling down almost 14 boards a game without any help at all from the softies sharing the frontcourt with him. That and he's always around on defense, and playing with hustle. Sadly, everyone focused on Lin and Harden struggles
Asik is great, particularly in defensive, but I also see a great offensive potential in him this season and particularly in seasons to come!
He's going to get bashed all year because of his offensive struggles, just like Chuck used to. We need better offense from the other 4 guys on the floor which will come through more experience, developing better chemistry, individual skill improvement, or simply with different players. But Asik is a keeper, in my opinion.
If you love basketball, you have to love Asik. He frustrates his matchup and makes them earn every point. He made the chubbier gasol go 3-12 inside last night.
Asik played a very good game last night when all things are considered. His offensive game is going to develop fairly decently I think. He won't be Hakeem, but a beast on D and servicable on O is all you really need.
Unless Asik is used to acquire Dwight Howard (too bad there's no jopatmc to say, "Yeah!"), then I see him as a Rocket for awhile: Asik: Beast the Glass
I don't really have a problem with his offense, nobody can do everything. I just hope he develops slightly better hands. If he can just cleanly catch the ball on the move, he'd be golden. That would open up a lot of things in our offense. He doesn't necessarily have to be the guy to finish but if he can catch and hand it off to his frontcourt mates we can get the defenses moving. As of now, teams just load up on our backcourt without consequence.
His lack of offense won't get him benched because of everything else he does, but he's got to do better at the rim, even Chuck made layups.
This guy is beastly. He almost completely shuts down whoever it is he's assigned to and alter nearly every shot at the rim. He throws a mean pick, can pass, and has shown some flashes of an offensive game in development. If the man can continue to get around 10 pts a game like he did last night then you have a top 5 center in the league.
He looks totally winded after each game. I wish we had a PF who could help lighten the load and balance out his weakness on offense. Maybe a human incubating machine we could marinate and pop Terrence and DMo into, set the timer to 30 min, *ding!*, instant front court.
imo, the only thing keeping us from getting blown out the past few games is asik's incredible rebounding and helpside D
I love tjones and the flashes i've seen from him. But i can't help but be more excited about seeing a D-mo Asik front court. They would seem to balance each other out nicely. I'm hoping that going up against Asik and patterson in practice will help everyone overall defensively.
Asik has really impressed me greatly. I think towards the trade deadline, he might actually be one of the more sought after players in the league in trade. I know, I know... they just got a legit 7 foot center, why are they already ready to trade him... Im not.. Im just saying he's possibly going to be a top 5 defensive center(if not top 3), top 3 rebounder, an excellent P&R screener, underrated passer, and if he can just get more comfortable finishing around the rim(which I believe he will), he will be a huge asset for this team whether that be in acquiring a secondary superstar or being a long term franchise center moving forward. In a NBA world where Andris Biedrins is making 9 mil a season the next two years, this quality of a big man making 8.3 for the next 3 seasons looks like a bargain. Either way, he's looking like a difference maker for this team moving forward.
Asik's defense and rebounding is truly impressive. Won't be surprised if he's the rebounding champ this year. However, his offensive futility probably costs the rockets a couple of wins so far. Missed several point blank shots. Lacking an offensive game will allow his man to sag off to help on lin and harden drives, taking them out of their games. A strong scoring four is just what the rockets need.