It wasn't about Steve Blake. Nash and Dwight had a lot of difficulty getting chemistry with the pick and roll. Nash talked about it a few times during the season when they asked why they were hardly doing any and he basically put it on Dwight not wanting to do it or having trouble with it for some reason.
Half a point per possession in Dwight's favor between attacking and defending the pick and roll! And now he has two of the best pick and roll guards in the league to play with. Wow! We have a lot to look forward to.
Great post. This really points out the positives/negatives that Dwight brings. I would be really interested to see which kind of play with our current 4's will suit Dwight better. Whether it's D-Mo or T-Jones, posting them as the 4 or making them the stretch while Dwight's in the post.
I would like to say (and have been saying it for years) that pairing a traditional center with Gasol at PF just cripples both their games. Pau has a range out to 12 - 15 feet, but more than half his offensive game is from the low post. You cannot have 2 players on the court that depend on being close to the basket on both ends of the floor. I imagine that any experiment with Asik and Howard on the floor at the same time will be extremely short lived.
I wanted to make a thread discussing Dwight Howard's role in the post vs. PnR, but recalled this good thread with the statistics already available. Dwight isn't just a little better in the PnR compared to posting, but a lot better [PnR 1.3ppp vs. Post 0.75ppp]. That is around 72% more efficiency... 0.5+ more points per possession is insane from an analytic PoV. On the flip side, he does have one of the highest double team rates in the NBA, along with the most total kickouts to a shooter during a double team in the entire NBA last year. Those kinds of stats might get lost in a direct ppp comparison (though, to be fair, you have to factor in any PnR assists that may have been created). Anyhow, the Rockets have a great PnR system with two great PnR guards. Nash/Kobe in the past have commented on how they wanted Dwight to run the PnR more, but he wanted to be featured in the post more. The Rockets have hired Hakeem and have McHale as a likely mentors for Howard's post play. Is this kind of like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? A PnR offense just seems like a proven strategy for the Rockets and a proven advantage of Dwight, but it seems we're going to give Dwight a shot in the post. Thoughts?
I think the Rockets will be a lot of different things. I hope Rockets run a lot of PNR with Dwight. I hope to see the Rockets run a lot of post ups with Dwight. I think just looking at ppp for a player misses the opportunities a player creates in double teams, assists, and hockey assists. With shooters, the Rockets offense should be efficient with Dwight in the post even if he isn't the most efficient there due to help defense.
good read, but the conclusion isnt news to anyone. surround him with good defenders and shooters you say? no kidding. all that number crunching and analysis to figure out that he needs the same thing every superstar needs. the one interesting thing was that he'd play better with a post player at the 4. not sure how this makes sense. sure it would take the better post defender off of him and allow him to go for put backs which he is better at than posting up. however, it would clog the paint for dwight on PnR plays which is his bread and butter. dwight would also clog the paint for that post player.
Essentially the team we have + Aldridge Lin & Harden: Elite PnR ball handlers. If Lin can get that 3 point shot % up he should be ok. If not.........Sergio Llull. Parsons: 3 & D Aldridge: Elite post player. Will take primary post defender off of Dwight, and on the defensive end will allow Dwight to "roam" a little more.
