Will the misuse of Asik cost us this series?

"value is almost totally negated thanks to the overwhelming on-court demands made by his needy, moody teammate superstars."

lol looks like this was written by turkish only fan or calvin murphy =)

 

i don't think its fair to dismiss the article just because of one quote. fact is he doesn't get many touches so if the quote is referring to ball touches, the author may have a point.

 

Yup, he should be used with a line up like last year: Lin, Daniels, Garcia, Jones, Asik. That way he will get touches and will be used in the pick and roll. Now he is only put in for defense.

 

i wasn't dismissing it, just thought that part was funny. Harden's sticky balls and dwight wanting to pound the ball than setting picks and rolling, so yes the author does make a good point.

 

Geez... this guy has many great points to make, but just like his ramblings on twitter, his point gets lost when he goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on.

If you dont already follow this guy on Twitter, beware.... you might think he's the only person that tweets on your timeline.

 

The suckiness of everyone not named Howard, Daniels, and Asik will cost the Rockets the series.

 

Respectfully disagree.

1. We don't want to run our offense so Asik gets touches. We're already having a problem keeping Dwight satisified with touches that he is not that efficient with.

2. The problem that we are currently having is we do not have enough shooters on the floor offensively to free up Harden. It was okay during the regular season when we were facing a steady diet of teams not as good as us but now it's the playoffs. That's a different ballgame. Our lack of shooting and subsequent lack of floor spacing is hurting our offense and Harden in particular. So if we aren't running the TTs in there for defensive purposes to match up with Aldridge/Lopez then we really need to run 4 smalls out there that can shoot the basketball and match up better with Portlands smalls. That means Jones needs to sit in favor of Daniels, Garcia, or Casspi.

When we aren't playing TTs, we should be playing one of the bigs with some combination of Harden, Bev, Lin, Parsons, Daniels, Garcia, and possibly Casspi or Powell. Those guys all have the ability to spot-up and shoot. And frankly they match up better with Portlands smalls (Lillard, Matthews, Batum, Mo Williams, and Dorrell Wright.

The Rox are best-served having Jones match up with either TRob or Joel Freeland when those 2 guys are in there. Jones can possibly take advantage of TRob's overaggression and Freeeland's lack of athleticism to have a positive return on his minutes.

 

I was hard on Asik for pouting and wanting to be traded, but I respect what he has done when he decided to play. I give him props for this series. Asik, Howard A+, and Daniels an A (not A+ cause limited to 2 games).

 

I wouldn't feel as bad about getting knocked out. They look so lost out there.

 

yeah asik needs more opportunities to blow layups.

 

I disagree with the article. Not because of the underuse of Asik, but because his proof of Howard against LMA is not correct. He fails to indicate proper PnR rotations, which is why, for example, Dwight is "all the way at the 3pt line". It is called hedge and recover.

If the author wants to be taken seriously, he has to understand team defence more adequately and not take misleading screenshots.

 

Howard has been awful in pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop coverage on Aldridge.

 

I really hope you have realized that when the PnR happens, Howard/Asik rotates to cover Aldridge, and the other picks up Lopez (who originally had Aldridge).

More often than not, if the pop is wide open, somebody not guarding either of the two guys associated with the PnR messed up. Dwight/Asik have to hedge the ball-handler.

 

At the end of the day, the problem isn't "misuse of Asik", the problem being described is that Jones can't defend and Howard can but doesn't like chasing jump shooters like LA. Of course Asik is our best LA defender, that's obvious to anyone who watched the series. The complaint essentially boils down to "Asik should have played more in this series", and that just tells me the author didn't look at stats.

Stat 1: Asik averaged 30 MPG last year when there was NO other decent big man on the team. What we learn: He likely hasn't got gas to go 42 minutes.
Stat 2: Asik averaged 28 MPG in games 2-4. What we learn: Asik's role has essentially been restored to '12-'13 levels in the last 3 games, in response to Game 1.
Stat 3: In Game 1, which is the reason his minute averages are down, Asik picked up 5 fouls in 12 minutes.. What we learn: The minutes averages have been deceptive due to foul trouble.

Conclusion: Houston has played Asik about as much as they are able regardless of who is officially the starter. Foul trouble and Asik's ease of fatigue limit how available he really is for a big role.

 

I'm not talking about TT. I'm talking about when Dwight is in there against LaMarcus and Portland is running small. Dwight has been awful in PnR and PnP coverage.

 

This I agree with (except for selfish.. i think you can replace that with being non-trusting). And not just for Asik, but in general, the whole team. Coaching problem.

 

The Rockets are going to lose this series because of far more reasons than just misusing Asik.

 

It has been moreso the 3rd rotation guy than Dwight. If you are expecting Dwight to be able to hedge against a top tier offensive PG and recover in time for a top tier PnR popper, you will be let down. Often. If the 3rd guy doesn't rotate, LMA will be open every single time.

 

Yeah, that's a gimmick. Rotating is a gimmick.


The only player we have on this roster that can defend LaMarcus Aldridge is Omer Asik.