Did you expect him to admit to being worried? I don't see why everyone is hung up on playing specified positions. And if so, what's so wrong with Dwight playing 4? I think he's actually 6'10" anyway. For years we've talked playing undersized power forwards. Well. The only problem is neither can score outside of 5 feet or make free throws. Still, if Dwight is healthy, we have to get him if at all possible, even if it means losing Asik. Harden and Dwight put us at 55+ wins.
Why do people even think he cares? If he gets traded, he gets traded, it's not like he's a Houston lifer, he's been here 1 year, 1 friggin year, I'd imagine the only thing that would piss him off would be if he got traded and was no longer the starter.
I'm not really sure that's the case. Statistically there wasn't a big difference between the two. In addition Lin (going into his 4th professional season) is likely only going to get better. I'm not entirely sure I can say the same about Dragic (going into his 11th professional season).
Dwight Howard is most certainly not a PF and the idea of acquiring him and playing him together with Asik is not a possibility. If we somehow land Howard, Asik will be moved otherwise it's a repeat of the Orlando scenario with Marcin Gortat being underutilized as the expensive backup.
You do know that Howard was playing injured and it showed since this was his lowest points and rebound totals in the past 7 years. Also, Dwight is only 27 years old, just 7 months older than Asik. I wouldn't say that he is on the decline yet. I really like Asik and felt that he was the most important player for the team this year, because he brought things to the team that no one else on the team could, defense and rebounding. I feel he deserves to be here next year.
I read some article somewhere about the rockets should play asik, and howard together in the frontcourt to be the new twin towers. sounds like a championship caliber team to me.
I wouldn't want to have both Howard and Asik. Our team is already a bad free throw shooting team outside of Harden as it is. Giving them two major options to foul at the end of games would be a huge disadvantage to us.
Or an advantage if they hit both fts instead of Harden hero-ball. And if you can stop the other team from scoring easy baskets inside, 1/2ft isn't that bad either.
I sort of agree, but here are my thoughts on how it could work (and overall opining): 1) Asik might actually improve his ft%. He has the right form, and showed in crunchtime Hack-a-Asik wasn't so smart. I think he could get to 70% (Howard won't ever improve--he's regressed) Even IF we traded Asik and Howard was on the team, you still have a sub 50% ft shooter in the game, and you'd probably take him out, or deal with it...not exactly the best scenario either way. 2) Play Asik + Howard simultaneously 10-15 min a game (both start) and then have a stretch-4 come off the bench rotating for the other starter, providing the spacing. This would require the rockets to have a few different game plans/looks (one would be run & gun with Asik ,the other would be more of a half-court offense posting up Howard). This setup would require some intelligence on the part of the team to adjust to different offensive sets and the bbiq on this team ain't that high, so it would take some experimenting with. 3) Asik + Smith started on the court towards the end of the year and did allright. Smith isn't that great of a ft shooter either and playing together wasn't so disastrous. See bullet #2 4) If anything, an Asik + Howard frontcourt would be amazing defensively, both players are very mobile and could finish/pass during the fast break, and if Asik can continue to work on a 10 ft jumper, you might actually have something there (I don't think howard will add anything to his arsenal--hasn't done it in 8 years so he's probably done growing as a player--but Asik can). 5) Who's to say that the team can't adjust its offense all together? Even though the Rockets were #1-2 all season in offensive production, the fast pace really hurt the defense in transition and we know 'defense wins championships' so what changes next year? With Asik & Howard clogging the lane, we are AT LEAST a top 15 defensive team (hey Harden could put in a little effort) and maybe add a defensive wing man off the bench and its looking better. The clippers play with two big men who suck at FTs too and they make lob-city work and continue to have a high pace offense, so maybe the Rockets play more in that mold. In my mind, an Asik-howard lineup doesn't necessarily 'gel' with what the Rockets did this past year, but it could STiLL yield positive results (especially defensively) and might be a better system to implement anyways. We don't have to stick to the same offense. Its more important that players are put in a position to succeed and play to their strengths, rather than just a philosophy. I think Morey et al figured the high-paced, 3 -point chucking team was the only way they'd have a prayer BASED ON THE TALENT ON THE TEAM. With Dwight in the fix, that model can easily be adjusted to fit his and the rest of the team's talents. Just sayin'
I think you both bring up good points but it just seems so much trouble to go through just for Howard whose baggage in my opinion would override any additional contribution he'd bring to our team and we'd be paying a ton of money for that to happen. I'm not sure I agree with betting on their free throw shooting though. I doubt Asik would improve enough to be a good free throw shooter in just one year. It would just be too risky in my book.
