Is "Dwight needs a post-up game" seriously the only thing you can say?

Whether or not we are the ones paying is irrelevant. His salary counts against the cap and limits what the Rockets can do so it matters to us. He is getting paid maxed and the Rockets are not getting a product worth the max. It hinders the team we root for so it is a valid concern for us.

 

Good coaching would force him to play his role.

DD

 

I think when he comes back, he will be forced. Donuts has proven to be the best low post player on this team by far.

 

you can't blame dwight for his poor effort when the guy is in too much pain to run or jump. that's like blaming him for being hurt. doesn't make sense.

blame him for his obsession with proving to shaq and chuck that he's a post player. the OP made 2 great comparisons. he should be a rich man's tyson chandler or deandre jordan. but because he wants to be cousins, or gasol, or shaq, we suffer through inefficient offense. i wish that dmo got the amount of post touches that dwight sees. dmo shoots 20% better on hook shots and turns the ball over about 10% less as well. imagine how much more powerful the offense would be if he shot 15-20 times per game like dwight.

that's my only grievance. i don't blame dwight for being hurt and not being able to play D like he normally can. sure, i blamed tmac for being hurt and not trying because he spent the summer relaxing and then started rehabbing in training camp forncing him to be injured all season. had he started his rehab directly after surgery he would've been able to finish the season and help in the playoffs. it was his only laziness and selfishness that ruined the end of his career. dwight is a different story. i don't blame him for anything but putting our offense in a chokehold.

all those defensive stats about his block going down and him not jumping for blocks anymore directly have to do with not being able to jump without pain. running back on defense slowly directly has to do with not being able to run without pain. what we are seeing is a guy trying to play that shouldn't be trying to play.

more importantly for the rockets is that the next 2 years of his contract will destroy the chances to build a championship team around harden in his prime. if the rockets ever want to sign a max player again, they better not trade dwight this year or next. KD, westbrook, LMA, dragic... all those guys are watching and will say, can't sign there. they'll trade me when i'm hurt. this is a real thing. it's why the lakers are holding onto nash until the end of his contract. they are showing all those all stars that they could sign, just how loyal they are. we'd be showing just how not loyal we are.

from this point on i'd like to see the rockets keep dwight out of the lineup most of the way until the playoffs. he's gotta be good for at least a 7 game stretch so as to help us make the second round this year. this summer, have the micro fracture surgery and miss all of next season. at least the rockets could then plan ahead for it. we'd have an injury exception that should allow us to re-sign smith. we'd also have to continue to develop capela. i believe in mchale and hakeem's ability to develop young bigs. and i believe in the front court of:

dmo-capela (eventually)
jones-smith
ariza-brewer

the only problem is harden can't do it by himself. yes, dmo is a good offensive option. yes jones looked like he was ready to be an offensive option before his injury. but to really succeed harden needs a legit scorer next to him.

 

He didn't have a post game before he was hurt so what are you talking about? If you guys want to say Dwight is still extremely valuable to us because of his interior defense then fine. But he's getting paid 20 million a year and is supposed to be our 2nd best player. Tyson Chandler not only doesn't make that much he's the 4th/5th option on that team offensively. And please stop bringing up Portland. Thats everyones number one defense when it comes to Dwight and that was ONE SERIES.

I love the guy and I think he means a lot to the team. Despite that, Dwight dominated in an era where bigs weren't BIG and he could overpower everyone with no post moves. Well now we have gasol, boogie, deandre, etc. and thats not gonna happen. Dwight is what he is, an athletic big man who's great defensively and refuses to step out and play p&r basketball on BOTH sides of the ball

 

Dwight needs to realize he is on a super contract but actually he is not deserving superstar money because he is one tier below superstar status.

Lost athleticism, lost a tad of confidence, can still put up decent numbers but not as consistent as in his heydays.

That is what I am going to say!

 

Guys who rely on athleticism fall hard and fast while guys with skill play a lot longer and are more productive.

DD

 

Are we really so jaded by injuries as Rockets fans that we're going to discuss Dwight's career demise while he is out for an injury?

Let's hope for recovery and good times ahead.

 

Herein lies the problem: Most of us understand that he would be a more efficient player and a larger factor in the overall success of the team if he played less like Hakeem and more like Tyson and DeAndre. HOWEVER, we need the man in the mirror to realize this. He needs an Ariza-like transformation of self awareness--know what you can/cannot do on the court and play that way.

 

If, in the off season, we pursued Stan Van Gundy I'm not sure we could have got him. Obviously the Rockets wouldn't make him their President too. But I could cry thinking how good this team could have been if Dwight, after not having seen anywhere near the level of success he had under SVG, was ready to accept him as his coach again and play that style of basketball again.

Of course, we wouldn't have Josh Smith coming off our bench right now but with the emergence of D-Mo and the return of Terrence Jones, I think we'd be just fine at power forward anyway. And man we could use Tarik Black right now with Dwight injured.

 

The only thing Dwight need is a pair of new Knee

 

It really is sad that Dwight is the only center for whatever reason to develop a post up game. I think though in part he has created these expectations for himself because he keeps trying to implement it into his game.

If he comes out and says. "I'm just here to block shots, get rebounds, and finish plays." and leaves the post ups alone who would disagree with that?

No other center do they do this for. You never hear Charles and Shaq talk about Chandler, Noah, Jordan's lack of post up game...but again those guys don't even try it.

It's like Josh Smith with his threes. If you take them then people have to comment on them. You keep taking them and people will judge it as part of your game.

 

I fail to comprehend why rockets dont run pick and roll harden howard every time out?

It should be every time like with stockton and malone.

Sure I hated the jazz just as much as the next guy but the strategy of playing to strengths and abusing the same play over and over works sometimes.

Everytime harden howard ever do a pick and roll they seemingly get a good look or a fg.

I dont get it. Mchale had them go pnr one time in playoffs against portland and it worked. Havent seen it since. When do see it very few and far between.

This is the biggest mystery to me of them all.

Can someone please explain this to me?

So no OP.. the answer is not 'Dwight needs a post up game.' He is sufficient in this regard. What he and harden need is 100% pnr all day until someone can stop it. I havent seen anyone stop it, but also have barely seen it

Where can I go to talk to murray and milk hair about this?

Is there some kind of public event where I can talk to them about pick and roll? This is getting kind of urgent almost like I need to go to toyota center and try to make this happen. geez. when howard comes back ask me why they don't ever do pnr? please help me.

I mean we only have one of the best penetrators in the damn league and we only have one of the most athletic centers in league. If we run pick and roll we can still station 3 point shooters in corners ala byron russell and hornacek. Its a proven offense. This is not freaking brain surgery.

please help.