Kevin McHale says Dwight Howard told him during the playoffs last year he didn't want the ball

Briand2714 · Apr 28, 2016

aelliott said: ↑

My two cents:

Dwight has always depended heavily on his athleticism and his athleticism has declined due to injuries and age.

Dwight is not a bad player, he still does some things well but he's no longer the elite defensive player that he used to be. McHale's recent comments talked about how Dwight now has trouble moving laterally. That's taken away his defensive range and he's no longer able to block or challenge shots all over the court like he did in the past.

Dwight was never a good postup player but as McHale has pointed out, knee and back injuries has made it much more difficult for him to postup now days. Dwight is now forced to rely on other players to get him the ball in point blank position at the rim. The problem is that there's only so many of those type of shots that you can realistically produce in a game.

McHale also pointed out that while Dwight has lost much of his ability to move side to side, he was still able to play vertically. This allows him to still be a very good rebounder even though he's not able to get to as many balls as he could earlier in his career.

I'm not going to speculate on mindset, effort or anything like that since we obviously have no idea and there's already way too many people trying to mind read on this site.

The issue with Dwight and the Rockets is a matter of cost vs production. As I said, Dwight can still be a productive player but he can't produce at a level that justifies a huge salary anymore.

To be fair to Dwight, he's also hampered by our team's makeup. Today's Dwight needs the ball right at the rim but unfortunately teams defend us by packing the paint to prevent Harden from driving. Having that many defenders in or near the paint makes it even more difficult to get Howard the ball in a position where he can score. If Howard played on a team that forced the opponent to defend them differently then he'd get more room to work in the paint and more opportunities.

Is Dwight currently a better player than Capela? Yes he is. Is he that much better that it justifies paying him 20 to 25 times the salary that Capela is making? No, his production doesn't warrant tying up that kind of cap space.

If Dwight truly wants a salary anywhere near what he's currently making then he's just not a good fit for the Rockets. That money could be better spent in other ways.

That doesn't make Howard a bad guy or a scrub player. Likewise, it doesn't mean that the Rockets are screwing Howard over either. It's just not a good fit based on each of their needs and expectations.

If Howard can go get huge money from another team then more power to him. I just hope that the Rockets don't tie up that kind of money in him as there's better ways to spend that money.
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good post.

Sweet Lou 4 2 · Apr 29, 2016

All these players who's games are based more on athleticism than skill are in major trouble of declining prematurely. Guys like Kobe, Jordan, Hakeem, Duncan, etc - they extended their careers by years because of skill - so that when they hit 30 they were still incredibly fearsome.

But guys like Shaq, McGrady, Dwight - who start off so brilliant - their games never evolve nor grow. So once they are unable to physically dominate they become very mediocre.

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Kevin McHale says Dwight Howard told him during the playoffs last year he didn't want the ball

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Kevin McHale says Dwight Howard told him during the playoffs last year he didn't want the ball

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