I am personally excited about seeing how this works out, though I stand by my opinion that I honestly don't think it will work out. I don't believe Asik can guard opposing 4's though he may prove me completely wrong. On the offensive end, Asik's stone hands are a HUGE problem and how he is able to fit into the starting rotation really depends on how he develops his hands. Maybe those tennis ball exercises if he isn't on it already?
For those of us unsure it would work, but intrigued by the possibilities, it isn't that we don't like the 3 guys who will be fighting to become our everyday 4, Donuts, Jones, and Smith, but rather that they have yet to show us that they can do the job. Seriously, I'm not confident in one of them. I am confident in Asik to excell, given his limitations, at whatever role he's asked to play. There's the difference for me. If one of the 3 youngsters blows up and clearly grabs the job, I couldn't be happier (absent a deal that gets us a proven veteran 4). This is kinda mulling over the concept, at least for me. I wish I could say we've had 2 centers playing the 2 spots together before (we have, of course), but Hakeem and Ralph were vastly different (and superior) players to Howard and Asik, so no honest comparison is possible.
This is another line of argument that annoys me. Surely, Howard/Asik is better than Asik/Smith. No question. And, if we ran last year's offense again, we could probably do it better with Howard. But, I think they're hoping for more than last year's offense with better personnel. They want to leverage Howard's abilities in the offense, which means running plays through him in a way they never ran plays through Asik and Smith. And even with Asik, they'll be able to do it. But, a Howard offense would be more efficacious if he had a power forward the defense had to respect. We'll be better, but perhaps could be better still with a player equal to Asik in value, but with a different skillset.
This is definitely true. Asik isn't the ideal power forward to play alongside Howard. I think LMA would be. but Asik is a heck of a lot better of an option than Jones or DMo.
I don't like Asik starting at the 4. Obviously, there will have to be times where Howard and Asik are on the court together, but that should be at a minimum. It's better to cycle them in and out, giving the Rockets a strong defensive post presence at all times.
The knock on Howard's game is that you can't run plays through him because he has no bread and butter offensive moves. He is not like some of the good post players whom you can just make the entry pass and let him work. He is not like some of the high post big men whom you can run a motion offense through him. And he has no midrange shot to pull his man away from the basket. Howard needs to be set up offensively. He can't set others up or create for himself. Most people just expect him to be on PnR, which we were already doing last year with Asik. Howard is a far better finisher than Asik. That's why we will be more potent. But that's simply the old game with better personnel.
For the Rockets needs, Asik coming off the bench is better than a stud PF starting at the 4 spot. Morey thinks that; McHale thinks that; Stephen A. Smith thinks that; as do I. However Asik and Howard together will be tough to make work. However I think McHale as an elite former big will relish the challenge. I bet McHale this summer as Asik work on his 15-footer. Expect some surprises come preseason.
while Asik isn't all that athletic... the guy still has quickness and agility to play in a run and gun offense. I have to disagree that Asik wouldn't be able to defend PF's in the NBA. Even smaller PF's in the nba aren't that much quicker than asik, and I like the odds of a 4 with the ball in their hands. Plus you can still run some old school zones, Like a 1-3-1 which will help mask Asik's weaknesses playing next to Howard.
plus if Asik and Howard on the court together... endless backdoor cut ally oops to Howard from Harden after a hard pick & hard screen on the other side. Asik/Howard at the same time, if played right, could make Lin/Parsons FG% to go up, Hardens assist totals go up, and a bench full of spark plugs. I expect to see a lot more double screens for backdoor cuts to Parsons and Howard all year long.
I can see both on the floor together, but only a small portion of the game. The opposition's defense will drop off of Asik like a hot potato and dare Houston to execute an entry pass to him. He does not have good hands and cannot handle ally-op passes well. Either Howard or Harden will be doubled off of Asik most of the game. Houston's defense would be a nightmare when the opposition goes small. Neither Asik nor Howard have a history of guarding players at the three point line. A big SF like Parsons would lose Howard or Asik in about 3 seconds. OK, maybe not Howard. Or just drive past them. I see 6-7 minutes a game average for the season. Which is great since it gets Howard to 30 minutes a game and Asik to 25 minutes a game. At playoff time both would be rested and hopefully injury free. Playing both Asik and Howard at the same time certainly is not unworkable. But at the end of next season I would be very surprised if they would appear in the top 5 most used offensive lineups.
This but Asik/howard cannot play the 4.period. But usually the right call is always putting the best 5 on the floor, in the NBA that isnt always the case as matchups are more important.
Some good points have been raised in this thread. As long as either Dwight or Asik is on the court at all times, I don't really care what squad we put out there. I am a HUGE fan of the 48 minutes thing. The importance of an elite defender/rebounder at the 5 was one of the main things I took from the playoffs. Look at the Pacers, every time Hibbert was taken out, their team fell apart. For sure keeping Asik happy has to be a priority so I imagine we will go Twin Towers quite a lot to give him minutes, it may also be useful to protect leads against teams without stretch 4's as well. But I wouldn't write off any of our PF platoon just yet. They are all really young. I really expect a breakout year out of Jones and at the very least D-Mo has been hitting the weight room. One of my complaints against McHale last year was I didn't think he adjusted his rotations enough to play the match-up game. His rotations seemed kind of pre-determined. This year, with the raft of talent we have, and the hope that some of the 4's "get it," I hope he can be more proactive in putting the best guys out there, and yanking them quickly when it stops working.
what i have been saying since day 1.. i feel that the bigger disadvantages of Omer at the 4 is on the defence end, how is he gonna guard guys who just stands in the corner the whole game, no point trying to make our interior defence stronger, when everyone knows our defence problems came from crappy perimeter D
the one at 5:40 mark was almost a 3 pointer and he drained it like its something he does routinely...
