I watched him for 5 minutes today and I couldn't believe how happy I got for the fact that I don't have to watch this giant child on my beloved HOUSTON Rockets.
I saw him hit a bank shot that I never even saw him attempt on the rockets but that's it that I've seen
For 20 million dollars last season, Dwight set picks that were weaker than Capella's picks. He also didn't block out, which is a fundamental skill that helps the team win. You can see the difference in how Dwight blocks out and how Montrezl is blocking out right now. Montrez finds someone to put a body on. Dwight usually would reach behind him, barely using his peripheral vision, to feel is someone was going to hit him. You can just run past him at that point, which locks him into rebounds that are near him. This is where Dwight's formerly uber-elite athleticism hurt him. I think last season, he didn't have the same explosiveness for rebounds and blocked shots. We were trying to funnel people down the baseline to him for a trap, but he couldn't get up enough to block/affect all those shots as well as he could in the past. Think about how he used to clean the glass above the square with authority off a one step vertical in Orlando... I think Orlando Dwight would have done some work last season, but with the lessened athleticism, it led to Dwight getting frustrated and the guards getting frustrated that he couldn't fill that role he used to. That being said, this is a trend JB and staff should have identified and corrected after 1 game. Or 10 if you need the trend to be beaten into your brain through your bleeding eyeballs... The facts that: we had Dwight coupled with an analytic-directed staff, payed him 20 million dollars, then let him utilize himself on offense in a form that is (1) statistically inefficient compared to his potential and (2) downright ugly -- these things scream incompetence. Dwight may be mentally handicapped in some form, if you show him the stats, and you show him the video, and he chose to continue playing that way. That or he doesn't care at all. If you took away his body, his basketball mind may be on the level of an 8th or 9th grader. The footwork, the lack of moves or countermoves, the frequent lack of understanding of defender position, the lack of basic touch with the basketball. And here's the cherry on top: the way Dwight seems to think, I expect him to have a pretty strong season. He is going to take whatever misplaced notion he has about how we did him wrong or whatever, disregard that he set picks like a pansy and didn't roll hard, and suddenly I bet he is going to use this misplaced anger/resentment to do what he didn't do as a Rocket. I bet he will set better picks this season. I bet he will roll. I wouldn't even be surprised if he develops some post moves. OK the post moves would surprise me.. But I think this sad mentality will reveal itself. He will likely try his best to spite the Rockets, not realizing the irony that if he gave that same effort for us, it would have elevated the team a lot. It's sad Dwight and our coaching staff couldn't fix this last season.
He definitely attempted them in Houston, but only preseason and the first few games. Can't remember if it was his first or second year, but he tried it a lot in preseason. A lot being like 5-10 -- a lot for a guy who can't shoot for crap.
Dwight is already cutting harder than I've seen him cut all of last season with the rockets. I've said many times, imagine if Dwight cut as hard as Zaza....he'd be a beast.
He's giving them 14 pts and 10 boards on 53% shooting. Oh and about 4.4 PF a game which means he still a total meathead. Oh and all that off season PR work showing him practice Free Throws???? Yeah he's shooting 45% from the charity stripe this preseason. 15 for 33, so not a small sample.
The cancer has 4 points and 9 rebounds in 9 minutes. Hawks lead 36-30. So glad he's gone and we have Nene instead.
I am glad that cancer is gone. He's on pace for a game like his Rockets debut. ORL 38 minutes 6-11 12 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks W Milwaukee 93-92 LAL 38 minutes 8-12 19 points, 10 rebounds, 1 block L Dallas 99-91 HOU 34 minutes 8-14 17 points, 26 rebounds 2 blocks W Charlotte 96-83
9 points, 15 rebounds and 1 block in 16 minutes. Nobody appreciates the guy who does all the dirty work until he's gone.
Atlanta has 33 rebounds in the first half. We had 39 rebounds last night, total. Cancer or not, there is a big hole there where the cancer used to be.
I think some of us are having revisionist history here. Dwight didn't want to play for the Rockets any more, it showed in his body language and games. The Dwight Atlanta has right now is not the Dwight we would have had that was happy to get out played by even the most mediocre of centers and played with 0 passion or heart. I'm not sure why anyone wants that on their team. He'll play hard for Atlanta as long as things goes well, once they don't though...
Are you sure that it was Dwight not wanting to play for the Rockets anymore, or the Rockets not wanting Dwight on the team anymore? To me this is still the open question of who fundamentally was to blame for the breakdown in Dwight's relationship with the Rockets last season. Some of us still have lingering doubts about the thesis that it was all Dwight's fault. Regardless. We need a rebounding presence on the Rockets, this year.
I think given all that we know it's clear to see that Rockets realized giving Dwight as many post touches he was getting wasn't helping the team so they asked him to take a lesser role on offense, when that happened Dwight wanted out.
