Dwight Howard is supposed to be the most dominant defensive player in the league. Last year, without Howard Rockets ranked 16th in the league with a defensive rating of 106.1, the Lakers ranked 20th with 106.6 This year, without Howard the Lakers rank 17th with 105.1, the Rockets with Howard rank 23rd with 106.4 So the Lakers are better defensively than last year, and the Rockets are worse. Is there any conclusion other than Howard is not a "dominant" defensive player that can change a team's defensive fortunes?
It's still early and the team is still learning to play together. The Laker's had the same problem last season. Too many new pieces. Let's not start blaming Howard. Give it time. There's only so much one guy can do. He can't carry the team defensively.
You're looking at season averages. If you looked at last season's defensive numbers through fifteen games, you'd probably see us ranked lower than 16th. I doubt that this will be the case at the end of the season.
The Rockets as a whole just need to a full commit on the defensive end. It shouldn't rest solely on Howard's shoulders.
I don't get this excuse. If Howard is a dominant defensive presence we should need a huge sample size to see it, 12 games should be plenty, the fact that we can't see it means he's not a dominant defensive player. The Lakers have had MORE roster turnover than the Rockets this year, so the new pieces argument doesn't work, there are plenty of teams that have had as much if not more roster turnover than the Rockets.
You do see it. Take a look at our opponents shot percentage around the basket when Dwight contests. The issue is with team defense. Dwight can contest the shot and make an opponent put up a bad shot over the top of the defense, but if we can't secure the defensive board in that situation, we're leaving ourselves open for high percentage shots. This bears out in our defensive rebounding versus offensive rebounding numbers.
I'm not arguing that Dwight contests shots and makes opponents miss. But that skill is not translating to overall defensive improvement. So Dwight's shot blocking skill doesn't translate to better defense, as seen by BOTH the Lakers and Rockets defensive ratings over the past 2 years.
Check out a shot chart and see where teams are hurting the Rockets... its not around the paint thats for sure. Teams hurting the Rockets are doing so from their outside shooting, and getting points off of turnovers which has also been this teams bugaboo. I think the Rockets are leading the league in giving up points from turnovers. Howard is the best defensive anchor in the league... hands down, but he can't cover the entire court 48 minutes a game. Dwights not the problem, and he's been very, very good despite the overall team defensive problems. I can only imagine how bad this Rockets team would be without him.
Well we had a turnover problem last year too, and yet the defense was better last year. That's what everyone said about the Lakers this year, that they will have the WORST defense in the league without Howard, yet here we are, with the Lakers having a much improved defense compared to last year. Dwight LOOKS like a good defensive player, but you can't argue with the numbers, he has not had a positive impact on the defensive fortunes of his team now for 2 seasons.
Someone (I'm too lazy) should take a look at how teams score on us. I'm pretty sure most of the scoring comes from the perimeter and on second chance opportunities, meaning that other players have to step up besides Howard.
Yes, but again, you're looking at averages. Also, D'Antoni probably doesn't even know what help defense is. Once this team gets on the same page with help defense, we'll see a pretty major leap. I'd focus more on the defensive numbers from Orlando, because Stan Van Gundy had that team playing excellent team defense. We don't have that yet here in Houston, and that's why the numbers aren't looking good early in the season.
The issue the OP raises is not WHO is responsible for our defensive problems. He's saying that if Howard was that good of a defensive force, shouldn't we have had a significant improvement on defense over last season? Shouldn't the Lakers have gotten significantly worse on defense? Basically, Howard is not much of an upgrade over Asik in defense and rebounding. So we should not expect drastic improvement at defense by replacing Asik with Howard. The theory was that if we could have either Howard or Asik on the floor at all time, our defense would be scary good. Unfortunately, Asik was not happy with his role and that defeated the whole purpose.
Why do you keep saying the defense was better last year when the DRTG are virtually the same? 106.1 compared to 106.4. And it's only been 13 games. Another thing... If you watched the 4th quarter of the Mavs game, here were the shots the Mavs made: Dirk 19 foot jumper Dirk 16 ft Dirk 16 ft Monta 17 ft Carter 14 ft Monta 19 ft Monta layup on a fast break Dirk 10 ft Calderon 23 ft Dirk 24 ft Calderon 20 ft Dirk 18 ft Marion 1 ft Marion 23 ft Almost everything was a long jumper. They were just hitting everything. The problem is perimeter defense. Teams have trouble getting inside with Howard on the floor. So even though Howard forces more outside shots, it doesn't matter because the Rockets perimeter defense is so awful.
Dwight is a better post defender than Asik. Dwight is a better rebounder. Dwight blocks more shots when playing help defense. Dwight is a better rebounder. So yes, he is better. But when the rest of the team is so bad on defense, it reduces Dwight's effect on the game. If the other players improve, you will really see the difference a guy like Dwight can make.
What you are saying is true, D'antoni does not have a good defensive system, yet, the Lakers are better than they were last year. Same coach, better without Howard. Orlando was an excellent defensive team, but as you said, that was SVG, so the proof could be that the coaching philosophy is much more important than Howard in getting a good defense. SVG had that Miami team playing top 10 defense as well.
talking about defense, I remember at the beginning of the season, players are talking about they are going to try to go over the screen more, funneling to our bigs etc. And I did see that Jeremy is trying to go over the screen. But recently, the team tend to switch a lot more than the beginning of the season, and I don't remember seeing this much last year. I think last game we see multiple times Jeremy or Beverley somehow end up with Nowitzki. I think there are lots of communication problem when we switching. So if that is the case, then it will for sure not look good at the beginning, but hopefully would improve later.....
You are acting like Howard is the only thing different. The entire Lakers roster is different. So comparing the Lakers last year to this year is pointless.
We have the same players as last year, SAME. yet we are worse. So basically Howard HAS no effect on defense.
Yet, that is the excuse that is being used to explain our bad defense, we need time to gel, blah blah. Yet the lakers have had much more roster turnover yet, their defense is much better than last year? What I am saying is that there is NO evidence to support the fact that Dwight Howard has any meaningful impact on team defense over the last 2 years.
In a small sample size. I'm doubtful that will last throughout the year. Another thing to consider is that perhaps they improved because Kobe's been out. With his decline, alot of the shots he used to take that were good aren't as efficient, which takes away from his team.
