And you think Hakeem is the only person that can teach post game? Did you watch Howard during his Orlando days? You think they didn't try to teach him some post moves? His jumper for sure is one of the reasons his post ups aren't efficient. The other is his free throws, a 3rd string C can just foul him if he gets too deep. While the rest of the time, everyone knows Howard will try to get close to basket to shoot it, rather than create some space and step back. He will only step in, either left or right, and you want him to go to the right, because his right hand hook isn't as good.
He's one of the few all-stars I've seen that regresses in his prime offensively (even prior to his back issues). Sometimes he looks like a scrub. Pau Gasol still is much better offensively than Howard is today, and GAsol plays with scrubs.
Yeah, Dwight is the better rim defender because he alters shots. Asik however is an elite PnR defender which can be just as if not more important. Agree that Asik needs to work on finishing, but he also doesn't eat up possessions. Dwight averages 11.6 attempts per game but he also goes to the line almost 10 times per game. His usage is basically double that of Asik's last season. Yeah, Dwight is the better scorer, but this team didn't really need more scoring. I guess none of this would matter if Dwight played within the flow of the game and ran PnRs. But fact is, Dwight slows the game down and I'm tired of seeing the team keep tossing it to him in the post possession after possession when he's being ineffective, like last game vs OKC. Basically I feel getting Howard was just making a sideways move. That money could have been better spent strengthening the bench because at the moment Jeremy Lin IS the bench, and that is a problem.
I can I am not a part of this thought. In creating this thread it never crossed my mind that Howard is a sideways move. That's your thought and not the opinion of the OP. That being said I do think the thing that makes it close is when he turns the ball over too much in the post. When he is not doubled in the paint he can be a force. The problem is he just turns the ball over too much to consistently trust him down there. I posted what I think he should do and how the Rockets should change their game around him. More pnr's less ISO's on the block. Quicker passes from the block, keep the passes simple, more reposts. Reposts would work better if he just realized his position wasn't good and immediately passed back out and got better position and then tried again. Howards chances increase with better position. This is where Morey's stats should come in play. He knows exactly where Howards best spots occur. He should knock it into McHale's brain to get it to Howard there. He should knock into McHale's head more pnr's for howard. And then McHale should knock it into Howard's head. THey're probably already doing this and Howard just isn't getting it. But they need to do it more. They need to practice geeting the ball to Howard and Howard reading the defense quicker and making the right decision off of that. Because right now it's not working. And don't look at the stats. 5-7 doesn't mean crap if you turn the ball over 7 times. Yeah people are allowed to beat him up down there and if he tries to back someone it's a foul but that's not going to change so quit doing it.
I think Hakeem and Mchale are guys an older Howard will listen to. I don't think anyone really has taught him how to polish out his game. He never had a Moses Malone to practice against when he was young. It's unlikely that Howard will learn how to be the post player of the greats. But he doesn't have to be. All he has to do is learn to recognize double teams and pass effectively out of them. The fact that he draws a double means the defense is scrambling and we can use that to generate offense and continue to tire out their defense over the course of a game. What the Rockets as a team needs to learn how to do better is to scramble defenses. Howard gets the ball and is too determined to score. THe reason Howard looks so bad isn't because of the defense per se only, it's because he feels like in these big games it's on him and he tries to do tooo much, when all he has to do when the double team comes is pass the ball out. That alone helps his team much much more. And his team has to reward him for doing that by passing it back to him on the next possession.
Why Sweet Lou, this is ridiculous. Especially since this is what I said and you are just agreeing with me. So either you are ridiculous or you have finally seen the light about Howard after being so bling or your reading comprehension sucks. J/K Seriously most of the problems he creates for himself would be eliminated if he just passed out of the post quicker as you said.
Water is not always wet and sometimes water is more than just wet. Water is deadly when the dam breaks and water is life saving in the desert. Noah was sick of water after 40 days of flooding, whereas Jesus was happy to have a taste after 40 days and at a wedding party the guest were amazed to see him turn water into wine. There is a lot more to water being wet. Just as there are a lot more options for the Rockets than just using Howard as a low post threat and there are many ways to improve what he does down low. Water is wet but can you tell us a little more about water are is that all you know?
Like Old Man Rock said, Dwight situation can be solved if he can pass the ball out more and not forced his shots. He needs to develop a good way to read the defense and pass the ball out before the double team surrounds him. I disagree with your suggestions of boasting up bench instead of getting Dwight. Lin isn't the bench, you forgot Asik's presence there. If you don't even include Asik as the bench, how do you take him over Dwight as a starter? Asik is doing great defensively on the bench, our defense looks a lot better from say when DMo was the backup center. If anything, Asik should improve his offense game to help the team.
I think where we disagree is that he should be used primarily as a PnR player. I think he brings a lot of value in the post by commanding all the attention from the defense. He's still a threat to score. He just forces the action too much. They will learn to deal with that in time. Give the man time to learn. He's spent so long being a PnR player and not getting fed the ball it's not going to happen overnight. He'll learn to pass out of the post. It's a skill in and of itself. But to say he is simply not a good low post threat is at best inaccurate.
I've been saying all along that his peak was when he was 23-25 when he was an athletic specimen. For all his athletic gifts and defensive prowess, he is one of the clumsiest/awkward superstars i've ever seen. And I like Dwight btw...but the irony is that we got him to be a playoff difference maker, someone we can give the ball to in the half court when the game slows down and we need some easy buckets
dream the best post player to come through the NBA always passed out the post. BUT it's not that easy with Howard & mchale, 1. rudy T had a scheme 2. Dream had a high post IQ and was smooth and settled in the post. 1. REPOSITIONING - dream would pass out the post to reposition hisself. If He didn't like his positioning he would pass it right back out reset hisself for 2-3secs then raise hand for the ball back again or so they could try other options, our option would be harden. 2. TWO MAN GAME - RUdy T. Would have dream and the guard playing a 2 man game with dream to give or take whatever the defense threw at them. The guard would stay there by dream after throwing him the ball. Mchale has Lin & bev run to the other side once they drop it in to him. if dream Kenny/cassel,Clyde, horry man doubled down on dream after they gave him the ball it would be an open 3 easy. If not dream takes that man one on one Or he could look for cutters on weak side or shooters that sag off non post entry pass players. 3. POST SHIFTING - Mchale uses bev & Lin to clear out to the other side once Howard gets the ball. NO 2 MAN GAME. But the team still can & NEEDS to shift around the perimeter to still have a man visible for Howard to pass to at all times just in case he doesn't like his positioning, & feels like he can't score. Howard still has low post IQ most of time he is trying to score and only tries to pass out once it's too late and defenses have already set. 4. STRECH 4 Howard's back - Teams can use the weakside defender to double down on Howard because jones and dmo aren't STRECH 4s. And it doesn't matter because Howard always has his back to that side anyway so it would be hard for him to complete that pass to a STRECH 4 if one is there, he has a low post IQ . Coaches know this so they don't care about doubling him. everyone's usually standing around watching Howard rockets and defenders.
You can argue the title and I give you that. But if you read any of the post you would easily discertain that this was more than he is simply not a good low post threat. Much more. And if reread you will see most of what I said is very accurate. The fact is under certain situations he is a bad low post threat. If you disagree with that you are ridiculous. I am advocating cutting back on those situations. I am advocating passing quicker. I am advocating him repositioning himself deeper in the paint and then reposting him after he does so. I am advocating he stop holding the ball so much and pounding the ball down low when he is doubled. 7 turnovers last night but worse than that he takes us out of our offense. And then he whines about every turnover when every call was correct. The whole team gets frustrated. I'm not blaming the loss on him but it's hard to get in any kind of rhythm when he plays like that. The just need to run more pnr's and he needs to read the situations better. Quick moves quick passes. More screening like DMo and then pnr's. When Harden is moving toward the basket off a Howard screen and Howard is rolling that is such a high percentage shot it almost anything else he does seem stupid. Not running more of that is what's ridiculous.
Wasn't just your thread title. Re-read your first post. It's quite clear your emphasis was that he shouldn't get the ball in the low-post but instead play like Dmo sans the 3's. You can shift your argument - that's fine, and if you are saying that it's good to pass it into the low post so long as he recognizes when to pass it out, then we are not in disagreement. But used the word ridiculous in regards to your first post which stated quite clearly Howard will never be a low-post threat. Seems you are backing off that position. Which is great. But like I said, they should continue to pound the ball into Howard. I don't mind losing a handful of games over that if it helps Howard become a better player in the long run.
I am not sure if your just nitpicking and being an ass or you're stupid. (actually I am pretty sure you're not stupid) When I said he will never be a good low post threat I followed that immediately by comparing him to good low posts players like Shaq, Hakeem, etc. So in reference to them he will never be in the likes of Shaq Hakeem etc. The only thing that might be ridiculous is I called Hakeem, shaq good low posts players when I should have used the word great. So you can have that. I obviously was comparing him to Hakeem and others and saying he will never be good like them. My position hasn't changed. I never said he is not a low post player. Those are you words. He clearly has his moves. He has to be doubled. No one is doubling him if they can stop him with one guy. He's quick and strong and can get to the basket on weaker centers. I still want him to get the ball as I said in the opening post. I would never advocate giving the ball to Asik. My problem with Howard and I have repeated it from the OP on is that he makes to many boneheaded plays down low. His turnovers in the post hurt this team and those turnovers need to be deterred somehow or he is not a good low post threat. You can't isolate the good from the bad. If he cuts those out and passes quicker I would say he is a good low post threat and maybe even better than good. I just don't think he can change. That position was there from the onset. I understand you are just trying to be right at this point but my position hasn't changed and by the time you came in and stated your stupid statement I already posted several times to make it even clearer. Argue away but if you think Howard's stupid turnovers continuously in the post are not a problem than you're ridiculous.
I agree - the way DH should be used is, if he can dominate the other centre easily, then he should get the ball often, however if it's not working then dump to howard, then have him kick it out to a shooter. Howard's post game should only be utilized against certain teams. I am willing to bet against most playoff teams Howard will have trouble scoring in the post and the doubles will come hard and fast. DH needs to take advantage of the doubles and to pass it out quick. Coach needs to let him know too. Everyone has to sacrifice their game for the team/win (even if Dwight believes he has a post game)
I've definitely seen Howard improve his post-game. I've been watching him since his days in Orlando, and yes, his post-game in Houston is definitely an improvement. It all comes with time, but that's just it, imo DMO has a better post game, and that says something. When a practical NBA nobody like DMO already has a far better post-game than you, a superstar who is just 1-2 from exiting his physical prime, than there might be a problem. He's shown improvement, but not enough. I look at Blake Griffin and I look at Howard. 2 superstars who needed to drastically improve their games, only 1 has.
