Dwight is now 11th in the NBA in defensive real plus minus. So despite some of his teammates not playing any defense and barely moving, he's still working to be an elite defender. He's also averaging almost 12 rebounds per game and taking a smaller role in offense without complaining and shooting 59% from the field
You won't get equal value back for Dwight. When he's around in the playoffs, I think you'll appreciate what he does a bit more. There aren't many players that protect the rim like Dwight.
Andre Drummond Greg Monroe Nikola vucuvic D. Jordan Big Cuz Marc Gasol And right now I'd take Karl Anthony towns Jalihil okafor Rudy gobert Hassan whiteside Joakim Noah Willie cauley stein over Dwight right now...... Dwights a gloried rebounder due to bulk and physical ability now....... And his biggest downfall is that he doesn't know his role which should..... Rebounding Blocking shots Setting hard screens Rolling hard Dunking everything..... Just like d. Jordan
I asked for 10 BETTER than Dwight, you gave me four and DeAndre, whom I do NOT think is better than Dwight, if anything they mirror each other with DeAndre being younger but having NO offensive game outside of finishing alley-oops or tip rebounds. I have loved Vucevic offensive game for years, but on defense he is NOT the deterrent that Dwight (despite anything said the contrary) still is -- just not as consistently. Cousins would be the consensus get back for Dwight, hands down, but this is NOT happening. Gasol would be next in line, but he seems (IMO) to be on the decline as well. However his passing game would probably being the bigger asset to have along with his midrange shooting. He clogs the middle well on defense but would James get him the ball to be effective? Drummond goes next in line, if only for how well he hits the glass. But I have not seen enough of his offensive game to judge or comment on that, the only thing that sticks out to me about his offense is that he is more of a liability in the Hack-A routine than Dwight is. Part of me feels his decent offensive numbers are the fact of the offensive system in Detroit. A team coached by a prev Dwight coach, SVG, that got his Orlando team to the finals once upon a time. And ummm. Greg Monroe, pass. Period. Stop. Better than Dwight my @**. Ha. The other players that you'd take... well. That is subjective. A few of them are more potential than help right now guys... KAT, Jhalil. Causey-Stein is a defensive guy over anything else. Noah, is a hoo-rah guy. Some one that does something decent once in a while and makes so much of a big deal out of it, it stands out. Then he goes back to the bench for 2 or 3 weeks. His passing is ok too. Whiteside maybe, but again I question his offensive game. He looks good in Miami because he has Bosh and Wade with him. Without that is he your number two guy? I hope not. Because he is a meltdown waiting to happen, just ask Olynyk. Dwight is far from a glorified rebounder at this stage of his career, because his legs won't back that up. Not anymore. These past few games have provided some flashes of what he CAN be on offense, but our team as constructed won't take advantage of him. He can be productive with flashes in the paint, but I have seen him flash open several times a game only to see the ball be passed away from him in the offense. And we saw with how Golden State played him defensively, he still draws attention on the offense but we just don't have the personnel to take advantage of it with hitting the 3 consistently. I think we have grass is greener fans in Houston at times, or just on these boards. Everyone else's big men look so much better and then when and if we lose what we have and get that "other" guy reality will set in. Hell, we HAD Asik and people here are advocating for getting him BACK again. What in the hell? That man fumbled more post passes in a game than I ever wanna see again. And how many times did we have to tell him to dunk the damn ball when standing RIGHT UNDER THE FREAKING HOOP.
After his playoff performance the last couple years, the only reason to trade him would be if you suspect he won't return this off season. If things keep going the way they are that may very likely be the case.
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Just how useful is his elite defense if the TEAM defense is giving up a pathetic 105 points per 100 possessions (6th worst in the league)? Not surprised you didn't mention his offensive real plus minus, because for the umpteenth time in a row, it's below zero. His overall real plus minus rank is 37th in the league, which is beyond mediocre considering how much money we are paying him. Want context with this stat? He's not even top 10 in centers in RPM. http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/RPM/position/9
Dwight Howard has to be in the "Top 5 Most Overrated NBA Players of All Time" The "elite defender" means nothing when the only teams that are giving up more points than the Rockets are the Kings and the Lakers
With harden Thornton and Lawson and tj on the court you could probably put a lid on the basket and still get scored on
