How Would Dwight Howard Look Next To James Harden In A Rockets Uniform Next Season?

Because they have to take him serious - they play off of Asik a lot and don't worry too much about him in the pick and roll - they have to respect Howard. So if they double him in the post our shooters are open, and if he goes out for the pick and roll they have to follow him with double teams.

So compared to Asik who is also playing close to the basket, Howard opens up a lot f things for the other players - either giving them open shots or opening up lanes in pick and roll situations. Either way Howard gives us a lot more options on offense.

 

Howard and Asik both set punishing picks and you can't leave either one down low to help people on the perimeter: Both of them are too big and powerful to guard on a switch. If their men try to help a lot on drives it'll be a dunkfest. The spacing will be fine. Now if Millsap was a consistent 3-point threat, then you could at least argue that point, but he wasn't. The last thing we want are more long 2s.

If Howard doesn't want to guard the quicker PFs, then we'll just send Asik to guard them. PFs who are consistent 3-point threats are extremely rare and don't constitute even a secondary concern. Even those with a penchant for shooting 3s aren't efficient. Most teams' defensive philosophy is to let them shoot. Furthermore, Millsap has even less quickness than Howard/Asik, so your point is moot anyway.

 

The suggestion was for LA to trade Howard for Bosh. If that were to occur then Miami would own Howard's Bird rights and be able to exceed the cap to resign Howard. They wouldn't need cap space.

 

Honestly, I'm torn on the Dwight as a Rocket option.

Pro
-Dwight is a better player than Asik
-Dwight has a higher ceiling from what I can tell (athleticism, strength, ball handling)
-Dwight has multiple years of prime play ahead based on his age.

Con
-Dwight has some potential personality issues. Issues with Ego and personality clashes with prior team mates and prior coaches
-Dwight has had health issues all season. Recovering from back injury (hard to predict long term effects), and currently has shoulder injuries (torn labrum). Not ready to say injury prone, but it is definitely impacting his play.

X-Factor

Team chemistry.

Asik fits really well with our current core, and his age fits in well with the team. You could argue that he will peak around the same time as the rest of our players.

On the other hand, from everything I can read the problem that Dwight is having in LA is personality and approach. Kobe is a super intense competitor, but he has a reputation for abusing his team mates, calling them out, and hogging the ball.

In Houston, Dwight would find a group that is far more happy go lucky, get along as friends, like to have fun together, and play in a competitive but more collegial atmosphere.

I have little doubt that Houston fits Dwight in terms of how we play. We share the ball and everyone gets touches, so Dwight would still get a decent number of touches (Asik gets 7.9/game now vs Dwight's 10.7/game). And unlike the Lakers, Harden and Lin aren't going to bash on you for making mistakes. They'll call you out, but will do it more like a brother than your boss. The Houston media is also a bit more forgiving given the youth of this team.

Also, Houston is the sort of team where people hang out together, where they're friends on and off the court. They go to dinner together, go to movies together, and party together. Very different than the interactions between Dwight and his much older team mates I'm sure.

I guess for me, once you get past discussions of injury history, the question of whether you take Dwight is whether Dwight fits Houston. We have some spectacular chemistry brewing here, and it's hard to say whether Dwight would disrupt that or not.

 

Dwight is a star, he would look great with Harden, but I just don't see him actually leaving LA, regardless of how they do this year. It's too big of a market.

 

Once again I see what your saying...but this doesnt open up the floor...it may give you more open shots...but it most definitely clogs the paint. Which would decrease the effectiveness of harden and lin... So instead of relying on a open layup/dunk with possiblity of foul...we become like every other team and settle for 3s and mid range jump shots...

Thats why a pf with 3pt shot is important for this offense... I am not saying we couldnt adjust...but howard changes everything...why risk messing up what we have when we can simply upgrade what we have?

Not to mention howard does not allow us to close out games better he makes us worse...so we give up our identity as an offense for howard...and do not even gain an advantage for trying to contend.

 

Great post..

And also, never know what type of offensive player Asik can develop into. Maybe not as good as Howard but a double double guy down low is good enough.

 

The way I see it is this.

Asik - A level attitude, B-C level talent
Howard C level attitude, A level talent

Successful management of sports teams take attitude over talent any day of the week. No matter how talent the dude is, if he is going to cause problems for the organization, it is going to set them back a couple of years and will make it a less attractive destinations for players in the future. In this case, I feel like Howard is a ticking time bomb with his bad back and his immature attitude. I'd go with Asik at this point and invest the money on someone else that doesn't have so much baggage preferably a PF even though I like PP and Mook.

 

Maybe we can do a three-way and land Wiggins by facilitating a Howard trade?

Anyway, I am torn about Howard. His talent is unquestionable. The concerns are (1) health, and (2) attitude. I don't want T-Mac drama Part 2.

 

Disagree. Howard doesn't prevent driving to the basket because his man simply can't leave him. If Harden or Lin penetrates then Howard's defender will be close to the paint, that's true, but that defender isn't going to leave Howard.

If Howard's defender does try to pick up the Harden then Harden simply dumps the ball to Howard for a dunk. Additionally, even if Howard's defender does picks up Harden and Harden decides to shoot the ball then Howard is turned loose for offensive rebounds and putbacks.

Having a guy that plays in the paint doesn't prevent penetration if that player can't be left alone. Rodman always hung around the hoop to rebound and Jordan was still able to drive That's because if Rodman's defender went to help on Jordan then he was turning Rodman loose on the glass. Likewise, Shaq being in the paint didn't prevent Kobe from driving to the hoop. Lew Lloyd was able to drive to the hoop while having both Olajuwon and Sampson on the blocks.

If we did acquire Howard, his defender wouldn't be an issue for Harden and Lin. Teams would certainly still try and pack more guys in the paint to help cut off penetration but they aren't going to accomplish that by doubling off Howard. More likely teams would start having their PG sag back off of Lin. Leaving Lin open on the perimeter is much more favorable for a defense than leaving Howard alone near the the hoop. Even without Howard I think we'll see teams eventually start to drop their PGs back toward the paint and dare Lin to beat them from the outside.

BTW I don't think there's much chance of Howard leaving LA.

 

I was referring to the double team presence and help defense in the post as opposed to howards individual man.

This is what clogs the paint not howards defender...but the 3s and 4s playing of their mind to help with howard.

Second howards man would certainly leave him to defend a driving layup by lin/harden...if he didnt hed be benched...thats basketball 101...its the job of the PF to come help on howard after his man leaves when the center contests the shot.

 

"correction*
the 3s and 4s playing off their man...ugh not sure how I wrote what i did lol

 

No, Howard is injury prone and frankly it looks like he is damaged beyond repair. I wouldn't trade or sign him as long as Asik is still healthy and cheaper.

 

Here's my two cents on DH:

In the NBA, you have a select few players making 15-20M a year, these are guys everyone calls the max players. Quite a few of these max players deserve to make their salary based on the supply and demand of their talent, but very few of these guys take on the mantle of being responsible for 30% of their team's total salary. IMHO this is the main difference between max players like Tmac or Melo, to actual franchise players like Kobe or Lebron.

It's quite clear that Howard is the best center in the league, and as the best guy on one of the most important positions in the court he deserves to make the max. But is he the guy you can count on to give you rings? To be quite honest I don't think so. You see, in the NBA you'll always have 2-3 other teams just as talented or more talented than you are, and the one who prevails is the team which ends up wanting it more, as Lebron found out when Dirk spanked his ass 2 years ago.

I have a really hard time imagining Howard digging deep inside himself and delivering that final knockout punch to the other team, simply because he's such a big diva. As other articles have reported, DH talked a big game with CP3 about winning it all, but didn't want to actually join him in NO or join Dallas, both small market teams. However, he didn't have any issues going to Brooklyn or becoming the 4rth wheel in LA, what does this tell you? He actually doesn't care about winning, and is more about fame and the $$$. I don't want that kind of guy on the Rox, the team which has probably best roster of stand up guys in the NBA. There is no bad apple/primadonna on the squad (WHite excluded), and I don't wanna mess that up by getting DH.

What does Howard give you anyway? He's just a rich man's version of Asik at this point, which is good until you realize he's making 2x Asik's salary but is only 150% better.

I'd really just go after Lebron/Bosh/Love, you on a position we actually need to upgrade on. Let's wait and see what happens, someone's bound to be availableln we got a decade or so to wait for something to happen.

 

id rather have asik , howard is a better player probably but with back problems a bad attitude and double the pay of asik no thanks i love asik and you have to remember hes basically a rookie so he can only get better more of a team player

 

Nice post and I agree (repped) ... I think the people that have a combined grasp on basketball in general, this team and its specific offense, and nba economics would all agree with you.

What howard brings to the table for this team...in comparison to asik + the salary differential just isnt worth it.

As compared to leaving asik and upgrading at the PF with love/Bosh type (leaning toward love)

 

Ok, fair enough. So, did Shaq get double teamed with help defenders? He obviously did, so how was Kobe able to drive so often?

As I said before, it's a no win situation for Howard's defender. He could leave and cut off Harden but then Harden is such a good passer that he'll likely just dump the ball to Howard who is one of the best finishers in the league. The other option is to stay with Howard and rely on Hardn's defender to play him straight up. Pretty much a pick your poison.

You also can't just assume that a PF will pick up Howard. What if the offensive PF is a stretch 4? In those type of pick and roll situations the offensive PF would likely be behind the 3 pt line on the opposite side from Howard. So are you going to leave the stretch 4 undefended at the 3 point line on every pick and roll? Or are you going to assume that a defensive PF can get all the way across the court to switch on Howard? Neither of those is a viable option.

If you really believe that putting an extra defender in the lane will stop the Rockets from penetrating then you use your PG. It's the simplest strategy and it works against any offensive set as long as you're willing to give Lin open jumpers. It will be interesting to see how long until teams try that strategy and then what the Rockets do to combat it.

If I didn't mention it already, Howard isn't leaving LA.

 

Naah, Im ok!!!!

 

You mean LeBron and his dad - Delonte?

 

"Open up the floor" is not equal to "Open up the paint". If there's double team in the paint, that means we're 4-on-3 else where. So we'll have a open shooter somewhere if we move the ball well. That's all current Rox offense, heck, any competent offense is looking for.

Your theory of clogging the paint will decrease harden/lin's effectiveness is silly. As of now when Harden/Lin handles the ball, very often the opponents will double team and try to trap them. If Howard attracts a double team in the paint, they can't afford to double team Harden/Lin as well. So that will give Harden/Lin more room to operate.

And other than the Shaq-Kobe example, think Yao-Tmac in 2007. Double teaming Yao didn't prevent T-Mac from having a field day.

We currently rely heavily on 3s anyway...