Shutting Howard down till AS-break after TJones return?

I'm not completely opposed to it. But we can't throw TJones out there to heavy minutes, and we can't play Dorsey. More like reduced minutes, and let's ride the DMo train.

 

I'd do it. Dwight is playing at Laker levels right now.

 

It would probably be wise to rest Dwight. As in play him sparingly. In order to do that, we would need to get out to Hot starts. I'm sure Tjones (once he returns) and DMO + Smith can handle the load.

 

The Rockets might play better without Dwight. But giving Dwight rest probably won't help Dwight regain his old form. Dwight is probably never going to improve over what he currently is. Players decline when they get old. Dwight isn't very old, but he has played a lot of games in the NBA. The next two and a half years are going to be very frustrating.

 

the thing is he's our only true rim protector. dmo and jones aren't gonna get it done. we dont need him to sit out for a month. play him 20-25minutes, and when jones can play a full game we can sit dwight for a few games

 

Yeah, no way he opts out now.

DD

 

I'd like them to rest him, because it's clear his knee is hurt and he's not himself. I know I've said this before but I hope it's not microfracture, because our season will get a lot worse. If Dwight can take a month off or something and come back even 80% of what he was in the playoffs last year, it'll be like a whole different team. Plus TJones can use the extra PT to get ready for the playoffs. Dwight is a proven star, TJones could use the extra time to get the experience.

 

That's a good thing IMO. It'll be a much easier call for even a moron like Les to trade or deny a new contract to a 31(almost 32) year-old Dwight in 2017 than a 30 year-old Dwight in 2016.

 

DAndre?

 

This is probably crazy talk, and it probably hurts our defensive identity too much, but I wonder how realistic it would be to consider starting Jones with DMo and bringing Dwight off of the bench with Smith.

It sounds crazy, but if Dwight really isn't going to change his spots and start running the pick and roll more efficiently, then maybe you can take advantage of DMo's far superior post up game to round out the offense with Harden, and allow Dwight to (read: waste his touches with) run the second unit.

That second unit would, at the very least, be a defensive juggernaut with Smith and Howard for rim protection, and either Ariza or Brewer on the court, and you wouldn't have the ball sharing problem with Harden not playing with that group as much.


I don't know, this is probably a stupid knee jerk idea. But I feel like Dwight either needs to be punished (if he's healthy) or rested (if he's not) for his play lately.

 

We should rest Dwight and Harden during the LA game coming up and let Dmo/headbanders win that one for us.

 

I voted Brian Cook because Brian Cook.

Resting Howard and Harden would be ideal, especially since they will be our cornerstone to play off of for playoffs. I'd also like to build confidence in some of the other players (i.e. D Mo, Smith, Brewer, Ariza) so we can get to next level production.

 

if its microfracture then screw it just get surgery and he'll be back strong next season. we can still make the playoffs and should try, it would only give us more expierience. better than getting the surgery in the offseason and waiting till december or jan for him to be 100%

 

Are we any position to do that?

Don't look too far ahead but we are far from guaranteed a playoff spot. Playing .500 ball from here on gets us to 48 wins and the way the team has been playing and the tougher schedule in the 2nd half of the season, Rockets can't take the playoff spot as a guarantee....just yet.

 

This is not that crazy, at least to me. D-Mo's post game is much much better than Dwight's and his defense has significantly improved. I know that our defense will take a slight hit but our scheme (forcing ballhandlers towards the baseline, playing the passing lanes) will keep us maybe a top 10 defense. It would also get rid of a lot of those futile Dwight post ups and the offense would run SO much more smoothly. And I believe Jones, D-Mo, Dwight, and Smoove can all step up in this new line up. Not a knee jerk to me.

 

Yeah, I mentioned this in another thread. The Rockets are in serious danger of lottoland if they don't get it together. A lot of us thought early in the season that 50 wins may be the bare minimum needed to qualify for the playoffs in the West and playing .500 ball(20-19 over their final 39) the rest of the way would leave the Rockets at 49-33. With Phoenix playing well and OKC right on their tails, it's not crazy to think that a 49 win total would drop us to 9th.

And before any of you dismiss this out of hand as kneejerk, take a look at the schedule. It is not easy going forward. Especially if we keep seeing this kind of poor defensive effort most nights.

 

Dorsey was our best big last night.

 

rest Harden

 

Not only has the defense not been the same , the offense has been even worse since Howards return.

Its no coincidence that they played their best basketball on both ends of the court when .... Tarick Black was playing & Howard was recovering on the sidelines.
Black is nowhere near the quality of player BUT he accepted his role and did the dirty work that Dwert refuses to do.

They were getting a lot of easy shots & a bunch of offensive rebounds as a result of Black doing what the team needed him to do. Set picks , shoot layups , box out , rebound and defend while Harden & Motiejunas did the heavy lifting on the offensive end.

Dwet refuses to accept that role & McHale cant get him to buy in. Send them both to the D-League.