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

I'm wrong on what point? Other people saying he needs more touches makes me wrong? That makes no sense. Nothing I said in that first point was wrong, whatsoever.

So you're saying we panicked and got out of our offense? Is that not what I essentially just said. It doesn't matter WHY we went away from what worked. What matters is that we did that. It was working and we stopped and tried to respond to what GS was doing. That's the problem with Harden. It's always hero ball. We're always going for the dagger. Just get the easy points and play defense.

I didn't call for us to "just give it to Dwight." I am calling for him to be PART of the offense. Did he touch the ball more than twice in the second half? Not just to score, just to touch, a hand off pass, a backdoor, an alley, there are numerous ways for Dwight to be involved in the offense. But in the second half, it was all on the perimeter.

That's the biggest problem with this team. ZERO DISCIPLINE. We panicked, went away from what worked, and got killed because of it.

 

Doesn't mean you have to title the thread that way when you know it's misleading. you are not a mindless robot....are you?

 

Don't hide your laziness behind someone else's brilliance.

 

Dwight has screwed this team up good, the team is so much better without him, they have an identity and the lane is open for Harden to drive.

With Howard, they are out of sync.

McHale was wrong, Dwight is the problem, or at least one of the bigger ones.

DD

 

Not really true. The team plays more efficiently on Offense but still inconsistent D.

Without Howard, they are not that much better to make a difference.

 

Yeah yeah it's two thousand 1 6 - party over oops out of time.

But tinman still going post like it's 1999.

 

They have an identity, and people know their roles and they are not worried about making the big baby happy so he will play hard.

DD

 

Nice - now just post less misleading thread titles just because someone else did. I imagine a 1999 would be savvy enough to handle that.

 

That's wonderful. You are such a dilettante.

 

Not surprise that McHale didn't mention his failure to set up plays to get the ball to Howard at his comfortable spots, e.g., with Howard on the move, or near the basket with just one shot dribble before going up for the dunk.

 

Is it DHo who has screwed up this team? Or Harden? or Harden's squeeze? Or...what? Presumably management actually understands the root of all this evil and next season will be a revival of Rockets Basketball, sorely lacking @80 of 82 games + p/o.

 

What an idiot. Hopefully Austin falls into the Pacific Ocean soon.

 

Rats, I took the bait and clicked!

 

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.

 

Agreed