Dwight's post touches are what, 0.8 points each? A motivated, defensive Dwight makes the Rockets into 0.8 defensive team on the other end? That would be the very best team in the league, if the Rockets did that for 30 minutes in a night, even if they backslid when he was out, they would smash all defensive records and win 70 games. This seems...unlikely.
Dwight wanted post shots. Give him post shots. From what I observed during the year, it would be common for Dwight to get the ball in the post, pass it back out and re-position, and not get the ball again. Not really. I look at the big picture. If we have to sacrifice a handful of offensive plays in order to dramatically improve our defense, you do that every time. I've already explained it. Harden knew that Dwight wants post shots. Harden knew that if Dwight didn't get post shots, he was going to slack on both ends of the court. And despite knowing that, he denied Dwight post shots. If there's an established cause and effect and you're responsible for the cause, then you're responsible for the effect.
lol....came in here looking to see what Durant had to say about Harden. Looks like wekko is this weeks CF's piñata please let the beating continue....maybe something good will come out of it. It's at least good off season entertainment.
A team that allows 0.8 points per possession - what you get when you let Dwight pretend like he is 2002 Shaq.
Lol, no it isn't different. You said that Harden made Dwight worse. Dwight a multiple time DPOY, former All-NBA player Dwight Howard. In this case you are blaming Harden (and all of your previous posts) that Harden makes players worse and therefore the Rockets are probably better off without a guy that makes a player like Dwight worse. Instead of thinking maybe it is Dwight's insistence on being a low post player along with his aging body that perhaps Dwight isn't the player the Rockets thought they would be signing. I'm not going to quote every single thing you've said in your post that infer this. You are just backing out now because you realize how silly that sounds when put that way. As for the Suns you continue to say that Nash made them better, you clearly don't really know how to judge NBA talent when you say things like this. But I guess here again proves the mistake you've made all throughout this thread. Lowry had another all-star to play alongside him and you just are not accounting for that.
That's your train of thought. Not mine. I'm not backing out of anything. I'm simply proving that I haven't said what you're claiming I said. If anything, you're the one backtracking. First, you were claiming I said certain things. You were unable to substantiate that so now you're claiming that I'm inferring things. The 2016 Rockets were tailor made for Harden. How could removing Harden possibly improve the team? If you have a car with a spotty engine, will removing the engine fix the problem? I'm overwhelmed by the strength of your argument. A motivated Dwight is an all-star caliber talent.
Umm, that's just not Harden though? The entire team knew Dwight sucked trying to be Hakeem. Look, Dwight was delusional. Plain and simple. He tried to be something he never was and why should the team be a victim of that? If Ariza certainly went to the coach and said "Give me the damn ball so that I can be the Lebron James of this team!" do you just say "Okay!" and concede? No, the team knew. Just like the Lakers knew. Ron Artest... So being a good teammate is about sacrifice. Dwight instead wanted post touches when it is clear to anyone that watches basketball once a week that he wasn't very good at converting low post touches into scores. According to Dwight he even goes to Morey (Bypassing teammates, coaches, and whoever) and wants to be more involved in the offense and is told "No." You think out of all the players that have played with Dwight that Ron Artest is the only guy that thinks "Giving this guy the ball isn't helping..." and what affect does that have on a team? This comes back to Dwight, either he's right or everyone else is wrong about him. This guy played with Kobe, Nash, Pau and it seemed none of them came away with positive stories to tell about Dwight.
Not it's blatantly false... What is the equivalent to 2016 Corey Brewer on that team? LOL What's the equivalent to Barbosa on the Rockets 2016 team? Production or skillset wise? They were MORE talented than Harden's teammates with or without Nash... That's the point you're missing.... Raja is a better shooter and more capable offensive player than Ariza with or without Nash.... Marion who you're now somehow leaving out is better than any other player on that Rocket team outside Harden... My God you're clueless.... When he gets fouled it's not a FGA.... When Dwight turns it over more than anyone else in the league that gets as many or more post up opportunities as him... It's not a FGA... And that is detrimental to the team.. if only it where simply a missed or made post shot.
Just in case anyone was wondering last years Rockets scored MORE transition points than the 06 Suns. Facts are fun too guys. We don't always have to just pull something out of our ass without proof and then staunchly stick to our guns when proven wrong.
Use some common sense. When he was with the Lakers, he was unhappy with his role. He envisioned himself being a dominant low-post threat. However, at that point, he had already been in the league 9 years and his strengths and weaknesses were well-documented. Despite that, there were many suitors for his services. And then he signed with us. Why do you think he signed with us? At the time, it was common knowledge that he wanted to be a focal point in the offense (through the post). Logically, given that he signed with us, wouldn't that mean we promised him what we wanted? Why should the Rockets be the victim of Dwight's post offense? Because that's what we promised.
People should probably stop bothering to debate with wekko368 at this point. You could literally show him water is wet and the scientific explanation behind it and he would completely ignore it and continue mumbling on about how water is dry. Here is a classic example - Here are some stats for anyone curious about Dwight's post up efficiency. There were 27 players last season with more than 150 FGA in post ups situations. 1. Dwight Howard was 7th in this list in terms of percentage of his plays that were post ups, at 30.5% 2. Dwight was 22nd among these 27 players in terms of points per possession in post up situations, at 0.82. 3. In these post up situations, Dwight was 3rd among these players in terms of the percentage of times he gets fouled during post ups (I don't think I need to list out how poor his FT% is despite how often he gets fouled in the post, intentionally or not). 4. Dwight was 4th among these 27 players in terms of TO% in the post, at 16.5% 5. In terms of scoring frequency, or how often a player scores at least 1 point or more in post up situations, Dwight is again at 22nd out of 27th place. 6. Interesting bonus stat, Ryan Anderson is 3rd in this list in terms of PPP, and 5th in terms of scoring frequency in the post. Of course, according to wekko368, James Harden was not giving the ball to Howard in the post, and James Harden made Dwight Howard worse by not teaching him how to be Hakeem in the post.
LOL, Dwight Howard is always unhappy with his role or unhappy with something. Not sure if you're new to this NBA thing but that's kind of how it works with him. It's clear what he WANTS and what we promised, who knows. This is guy that goes on a media tour and says all the right things. That he's all about winning and yadda yadda yadda. I really don't care what he wants. Nah, that's a load a BS. If you sign a guy to do something and he fails to do it you either trade him or lessen his role. That's how it works on any team in any sport. Nothing is promised in sports and besides, I never remember hearing ANYTHING about Dwight being promised a certain role. what he wants, lol. No one cares about that. Royce White WANTED to be on the team. Who cares.
Dwight wants post shots. Give him post shots. Corey Brewer wants 3's. Give him 3's. Trevor Ariza wants Iso's. Give him Iso's. Is this the logic we should be using? Want players to do things that they are bad at because of "motivation"? You are absolving Dwight for LITERALLY REFUSING TO TRY ON BOTH OFFENSE AND DEFENSE and saying that it is Harden's fault because Harden did not want Dwight to do something that he is actively bad at. I'm sorry...but if you really think this, then I guess agree to disagree, but judging by the fact that you are the only one in this thread who thinks such a thing, I'd say that such an opinion is...flawed...to say the least.
I did clear it up. I told you that your inference was wrong. But you stuck with it. What a trooper. At some point, individual performance needs to translate into winning. You may think my opinion is simply wrong, but it's shared by a lot of people. Harden is a better player than Dwight. Let me try to explain it in a different way. Let's say Harden is worth 1, a motivated Dwight is worth 0.8, and an unmotivated Dwight is worth 0.2. Harden (1) + unmotivated Dwight (0.2) = 1.2 If you remove Harden, all you're left with is a motivated Dwight (0.8). 1.2 > 0.8 Do you understand now? I'm incapable of simplifying it any further. As a whole, the team functions better with Harden, but that doesn't mean he makes his teammates better. That's just a testament to his individual greatness.
Just because you keep saying he doesn't make his teammates better doesn't make it true. I'm quite positive the on off numbers for Hardens teammates are almost ALL better with Harden on the floor then when he is off the floor. For ALL 4 years he he been here. You claim Nash made things easier by feeding his teammates easy transition buckets when their shot was off, while old idiot Harden kept feeding them 3s to brick, yet somehow Hardens Rockets scored MORE transition buckets then Nash and his Suns. Face it. Outstanding players can be stuck with **** teams from time to time. Doesn't mean they don't make their teammates better or somehow aren't as good as we may have thought.
I'm not absolving him of anything. He was childish and unprofessional, but that's his nature. So at that point you have two options. You either 1) accept it, cater to him, and focus on the big picture (wasted post touches + elite defense) or 2) reject it, deny him the ball, and hope that he puts the team's needs before his own. I consider Dwight to be immature and selfish, and as such, option 2 was DOA. That's why I supported option 1.
