[CBS Sports] Howard no lock for Lakers; interested in Rockets

It's the new age. Forget about who's playing the 4 and who's playing the 5. We will simply have Dwight and Omer playing the front court.

 

neither player have any kind of range or shooting ability in their game. to be effective they both need to pack the paint area. that'll not only make scoring incredibly tough for the both of the them, that'll also close off the driving lanes for our perimeter players as well.

 

Maybe the others on this thread are experts but I don't see how they will get any spacing. No defender will follow Howard and Asik outside the paint... But we'll see how it turns out IF Howard comes to Houston.

 

Surround them with three solid offensive weapons and you can play them for a few stretches. In the playoffs we need two solid defensive minded big men, and if we can't trade Omer for equal value then the logical thing is to keep him.

People forget that Omer averaged a double double in his first season as a full time starter with a limited offensive game. A 7 footer like that is rare, for comparison Tyson Chandler had almost identical stats when he was named an all star a few years back.

So the notion that when/if we sign Dwight we have to get "rid" of omer IMO is foolish. 7 footers like Asik don't grow on trees and unless you get a All-Star or near All-Star caliber player for him in return the trade would not be good for the rockets.

The spurs manage to play Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter together, no disrespect to Timmy, but he isn't exactly a floor stretcher like a dirk or chris bosh. Yet the spurs still do well with both of them on the floor. I'm sure with the right coaching a Asik and Dwight tandem can be sufficient.

 

The article was unclear... I'm sure what Howard meant was that he was interested in this type of Rockets:

 

maybe its just me, but if asik and smith can opearte together...i'm pretty sure asik and howard might be able to find a way to produce ijs

 

he can't shoot that far like Dirk or Bosh but Timmy does have a solid 16-18 foot jumpshot

 

I think a trade package of Lin + Asik would be a attractive offer to many teams.

 

The spacing shouldn't be much of an issue on offense if you have a SF like Parsons who is willing to stretch the floor and take open threes rather than needing to cut into the paint. Lin and Harden are both very adept at the PnR, and also know how to utilize the double screen effectively (when they went with the Lin/Harden PnR, often what ended up happening is that either Lin/Harden would be the first screen, and then they would finish with a second screen from the C/PF to get to the basket or their open shot). With a finisher like Howard, they actually have the option of actually utilizing the threat of the roll while Asik can stay on the far side of the basket and establish paint presence for the rebound. Or just imagine if Harden and Lin are constantly rotating the ball across the court while Asik and Howard are constantly setting screens. At some point, the defense will break down and someone will get their open look or a clear path to the basket.

Defense is where the bigger question mark is, because you don't want both of those guys getting in each others' way. The easiest thing to do would be to split the basket in half or to have Howard play more roving help D while letting Asik sit for the funnel/rebound.

 

Duncan shoots a pretty respectable 44% on ~18 footers, more than enough so that his man is drawn away from the paint.

 

Umm, Phil Jackson just signed for LA?

So I'd say probably not

 

EXCITED

 

nah man..

duncan's game is predominately in the pick and pop game. he doesn't play in the post anymore. only 33% of his offense comes at the rim. he's taken 313 jumpers from 16-23 feet, and just 317 inside. at this point of his career, he's a strict mid-range big in the pick and roll/pick and pop game.

asik or howard can't come close to providing that sort of spacing because neither deserve to be guarded from there. that just packs our paint because defenders can help, and our whole game is reliant on dribble penetration and kicking out to the shooter/ and or the pick and roll game, which requires proper spacing as well.

for comparison sake...howard has only taken 44 shots outside of 10 feet this season. asik is at 19. duncan took over 500. he isn't bosh or dirk, but those are the two best in the game.

im not saying it wouldn't work for a couple minutes in certain matchups, but it'd be hard pressed to think it'd be very effective.

 

He mad and hurting inside

 

Regarding spacing....how did Hakeem and Thorpe coexist when Thorpe NEVER shot a jump shot? I watched all those games, but I wasn't really that keen of an observer.

Another question on spacing....how much spacing does an offensive rebounder give you? Would an opposing defender have to be occupied keeping Asik off the offensive boards and thus create a little space for Howard? Just curious.

 

i think spacing has become more a critical part of the game now than it was in the 90's. plus hakeem's versatility on offense was to be respected anywhere inside the three point line. you can't say the same thing about asik or howard.

 

this week hes interested with the rockets, next week its the Nets, next month hes going to want to stay with the lakers.

 

We need a stretch 4.. bad. We sign Dwight, there is our post game. However, we need someone with a legitimate jumper. Why not Millsap? I've heard the "He's not athletic" argument, but when Scola was here, I heard hardly anybody complaining....

 

I don't think Asik can play with Dwight. I think it's much more likely that he gets dealt elsewhere, either directly to ATL in a Smith deal or somewhere else to clear room for Smith.

That said, it's not impossible. Someone cited the Duncan/Splitter example; the reason it works is that Duncan is comfortable working out of the high post. Asik got significantly better at that as the season went on. By the end of the year, he was hitting occasional 18-20 foot jumpers and passing well to cutters. Not nearly good enough yet to work with Dwight, but if Omer worked all summer on his jumper and it developed accordingly, there's a chance. I wouldn't bet on it, but I also wouldn't rule it out.