Rockets defense was better with Motiejunas as backup C than Asik...

Asik is 100000x the rebounder DMO is.

That being said, I think highly of Motiejunas and think that he warrants 25 min a game to see if he can be consistent. He does seem to be getting smarter on the defensive end and obviously he has some physical tools (quickness and height) to work with.

 

GOD I hate stats....

They never tell the entire truth.

T_Man

 

soon players will be playing the stats instead of the game.

 

This. You guys are getting crazy in here trying to convince yourself more and more every week that we're perfectly fine. I don't care what the stats are, asik is a much better option at backup center than d-mo and it's not even close

 

Luckily only 4.6% of people feel that way.

 

I'm one of the more optimistic posters here, but even I can't get on board with this. Healthy/willing to play Asik will be sorely missed.

 

exactly. If you're going to use those stats say the rockets will be okay without him. But there are stats and then there's the eye test. For example, I can put Isiah Thomas and Kyrie Irvings stats from last year and they look damn near identical. Guess what, they aren't.....

 

This doesn't fit the narrative so we have to reject it.

 

The conclusion to reach here is not that Asik won't be missed or that Dmo's defense is just as good as Asik's..it's that, for one reason or another, Asik did not have as big of an impact in the Rockets' season as people think. Was he a great option to have? Definitely. Is he a great rebounder and defender? Definitely. However, he wasn't on the court as much as people think. He was out half the season and then played back up minutes, so his contribution wasn't a steady dose of 15 rebound games and 40 mins of good D. It was 8 rebs in 20 minutes, Good D in the spurts he was in there.

That's why the Rockets didn't really miss a beat when he was out. They may not have guys who can cover his 40 min production in 40 mins, but they don't have to. They only need to cover his 20 min production in 20 mins. Heck, you could even have one cover 10 mins and another the other 10, going 100% full effort. If Dwight goes down for an extended period of time we'll be in for hard times, but if he's healthy for the most part again, we won't miss Asik that much.

And this is basically what Morey pointed out earlier this off season.

 

Wait, where did you get this from? Here it says our defensive rating was 106.3, ranked 13th.

 

Saying we're going to be fine without him is one thing. In addition, I think most rockets fans know Asik didn't play that much last year. All I'm saying is don't say d-mo is as good of a defenders as asik is because thats not true

 

If they're the same, trade him for a lottery pick.....

Oh you cant?

 

The only conclusion we can make out of this is:

We were lucky last season Dwight Howard was very healthy. Now let's pray that the same will be true this coming season.

 

It's easy to forget, given his importance against Portland. That's the last thing fans remember.