Despite limited minutes, there should be a ton of value in having Asik backing up Howard

Lol

The PF spot is very important. If no one handles that spot well then Howard is less effective. Just double team him as we can now stop worrying about whoever is at the 4. Also the 4 spot can be a great outlet for Howard if he is hard pressed and need to dump it. Why even spread the floor?

 

Another fun fact, Howard never played less than 34.7 mpg since his rookie year.

 

you play the best 5. and asik is part of that best 5.

I am part of the twin tower fan club and hope we can at least try it.

 

Good post...I'm very hopeful that they can play 5-10 mpg together against most teams...either way, one of the best things about depth is that if one guy is not 100%, we can just sit that guy...I wish nba coaches would fiddle with lineups more...for instance, starting Asik against Charlotte, Toronto...but also for matchup reasons...I like Lin but would imagine a large percentage of this board would lose their **** if bev started on occasion just because of a matchup. Health permitting, we should have a good idea of what we'll be able to accomplish over the remaining 1.5 years of Asik and lins deals...it they're both close to realistic best case scenarios, they prob wont be moved as well likely be top three in Wild West...

 

I remember SVG experimenting with a Dwight-Gortat front-line and it didn't work out.

 

Playing Asik and Howard together is a better idea than playing Greg Smith with either.

 

and jones or dmo

 

I haven't seen anyone mention the idea of giving Howard the night off every once in a while (against the more scrubby teams on back-to-backs) and giving Asik that time instead. Isn't that where much of Asik's value lies?

 

I think that contrary to the discord on Clutchfans, our players are all appear to br young, hungry, and willing to sacrifice. And with this group I do believe we can play great team d as needed. But youre definitely right in that it would be tough starting two centers but frankly speaking offensively I don't like Howard's post game so moving him to pf for short stretches may work great and solve our weakness at the 4. Dream would have took an instant to set up and make the right move or pass, but Howard's just not there. It can be a black hole iso situation with him at times, and awkward and forced at that. It will be very interesting to see Howard do his thing next year. An Omwr, Dwight, Parsons, Harden, Lin lineup would be sick though if they can get the twin towers strategy to work out. There is precedent..

 

I agreed with everything you said except that last sentence. Top 5 defense is quite unlikely under any scenario with our young team.

 

Same here. Unfortunately, we probably won't get to see as much wonder twin power tower experimentation action unless it's a success during training camp. It'd be awesome if an insider can sneak some cell phone video of the first time Asik/Howard hit the floor together.

 

lol

It would have taken us getting Josh Smith to maybe have a top 10 defense if the rest of the players kicked it up a notch.

 

We were 9th in team defense with Asik, and 29th when he rested. You add a top defensive specialist like Howard and we could easily be a top 5 defensive team. Think about it, we will have 48 minutes of centers who know how to rebound and defense. That will positively impact our overall defensive rankings.

 

Agreed. At least try it for a few games and adjust it if it's not working.

 

I think its possible we see an Howard / Asik combo as the opening night starters , but beyond that .... I see their being on the court at the same time as situational.

 

Agree 100% with this. The trick is seeing if we can keep Asik happy.

A lot of people want to trade Asik for LMA or Love. I think we may be getting spoiled by Morey's ability to make superstars appear out of thin air. The Blazers are going to ask for a lot more than Asik and draft picks, and that's assuming we are the only team the Blazers will deal with.

I would rather wait and see what happens with our team as is, rather than breaking apart our core to get LMA. If next season is a disaster, then roll the dice. But I think we got a lot of nice pieces. I also think Jones will have a big year.

 

Rockets bench

The Rocket's should be relying on their bench more, during the grind of the season; in order to be healthy for the playoffs.

 

Great post, and I agree that having Asik as a backup would be an excellent advantage, and one that I would prefer versus having someone like Ryan Anderson. Some random thoughts:

1) I hate to keep bringing this up in every Asik thread, but keep in mind that although his cap hit will be $8.3m, he will be paid $15m his final year. In my mind, this makes it that much more difficult to wait to trade him. In a perfect world, Morey will hold onto him for this year (and pay him ~$5m), then trade him in the offseason so that team can pay him the $15m salary in the final year. I just don't think we'll get nearly as much in return by waiting because one of his advantages is his ~$5m salary this year. So with that said, I think it's unlikely we see a twin tower lineup for long because Morey will obviously want maximum value for him.

2) Although Dwight has actually been quite healthy throughout his career, it never hurts to have a backup like Asik. If Dwight did go down (for 1 game or 20 games), having someone of Asik's caliber to step in versus Greg Smith could make all the difference in the world.

3) I think we all agree that even though Asik seems like a very humble person, he would not be happy coming off the bench and/or playing 15-20 minutes per game.

4) Of course, less minutes for Asik could mean an increase in productivity, not to mention playing more minutes against the 2nd units versus starters.


So I think:

1) If DM thinks we can trade him next offseason, and still get great value, do that, if not...
2) Trade him before the upcoming deadline if we get a solid offer (in other words, don't just trade him to trade him), if not...
3) Keep him, because like the OP said, having Asik as a backup is a great thing

We're in a good spot, basically a win-win-win situation.


Points per 100 possessions 2012-2013:

Howard in: 101.7
Howard out: 107.8

Asik in: 103.5
Asik out: 109


One thing I ask myself is, with Howard joining the team we will obviously be a much better defensive team, but will we improve offensively? We will most likely be a slower team, so less possessions, and possibly less possessions (per 100) for Harden, which could lower our efficiency.

Rockets Offensive Efficiency 2012-2013: 106.7
Rockets Defensive Efficiency 2012-2013: 103.5

Like another poster said, even with a lower offensive efficiency, our (likely) substantial defensive efficiency increase could actually give us a positive net. Last year our net was (106.7-103.5=3.2), last year there was Miami and OKC (11, 9.8) and LAC, SA, DEN, NY and IND (6.7, 6.7, 5.6, 5.1, 5), and then basically everyone else. What would it take to get into that 2nd tier?

Assuming our defensive efficiency improves by 2.5 (Dwight helped improve the Lakers by 1.9 while injured) to 101, then...

Offensive Efficiency drops to 104: At a net of 3, actually worse than last year
Offensive Efficiency stays the same: At a net of 5.7, which pushes into that 2nd tier.
Offensive Efficiency improves to 107: At a net of 6, which keeps us in that 2nd tier.
Offensive Efficiency improves to 109 (Dwight improved the Lakers by 2.3 last year): Net of 8, which puts us in a 2nd tier alone, at least, based on last years stats. Keep in mind, this was with Dwight replacing Bynum. Here, he will be replacing Asik (but taking efficient shots from Harden), which should make an even bigger difference.

Defense wins championships, and anything can happen in a 7 game series, but I think we're going to have improve on both ends of the court if we want to get into that 1st tier. Can keeping Asik do this? Hopefully this all makes sense, I kind of went off on a tangent and started rumbling.....