With Dwight's return around the corner, predict his impact.

I am a little suspicious.

I wonder if the damage is a lot more than Rockets are letting on, which is why they weren't as aggressive in landing another play-maker at the trading line despite a couple to be had (rather go for another star instead of tying up the salary on a non-star).

I wonder if the Dwight injury has altered their build plan.

I hope I am wrong and Dwight comes out like gang buster but then it will hurt me even more knowing that we could have been a lot better with that additional play maker.

We will know soon enough.

 

I just want him to average 17/12/2 and avoid posting up all the time. Dwight post ups should be taken out of the plays

 

I don't think he'll move the bottom line too much in terms of wins/losses. We'll see the major impact in the playoffs.

 

I believe one positive unintended consequence of Dwight missing some time is that he will focus on doing the simple things: rebounding, protecting the rim, getting easy buckets. After watching his teammates step up in his absence is a confidence boost for guys like d mo and corey brewer and also shows Dwight that he doesn't have to get so many post touches. This is best case scenario, but we'll see.

 

at least we wouldn't get outrebounded every game

 

After seeing how DMo plays soft despite his obvious talent , I don't mind Dwight demanding the ball in the post

 

I think Dwight posting up is OK, as long as he does it against weaker/smaller defenders. Otherwise, PnRs. Better yet, PnRs all the way!

 

Mchale will let him post up too much. He will slow the offense and it will hurt Hardens game.

 

Even with Dwight's post game's recent resurgence, it's still plain as day that posting him up is a bad play. Among the plethora of evidence that show this, here's one that really sticks out. His PPP (Points Per Possession) on post-ups is still only 0.75 (source: Synergy). The Rockets' post-ups as a team are also 0.75, which is not surprising considering that Howard accounts for 78% of Houston's post up plays. What you might find surprising is that Houston's opponents score 0.84 PPP on post-ups. That's right, the very team who's talking about posting up more is actually much worse at it than the teams it defends against! Maybe Howard should worry less about posting up and more about defending it. For comparison, Andrew Bogut, a player known for anything but inside dominance, scores 0.88 PPP.

In fact, the Rockets' offense is significantly better than their opponents' in every type of play (0.96 vs 0.87), except post-ups and isolations (0.78 vs 0.83). Unfortunately, these types of plays combine for 22% of their possessions.

Daryl Morey is certainly on top of such stats, and so is every commentator in the media, most vocally the TNT crew. The GM has shown before that he doesn't interfere in the coach's game-level decisions, like when he had to trade Patterson away last year to force playing time for Jones/Smith. My guess is that Mchale is just too brain dead a coach to face reality, still thinking that what worked for him as a player must be the best way to play today's game.

For all his genius at picking players, Morey picked a terrible coach. This team will not be close enough to even smell championship without a coaching change.

A lot of other post players have much better post-ups: Hibbert (.85), Love (0.91), David Lee (0.95) to name a few.

-From Reddit

 

Houston ranks 29th in the league in points per possession in the post. Now, maybe this is a matchup issue. Against the Blazers Monday night, Howard scored 15 points on 14 possessions in the post, and that was against a very good defensive center in Robin Lopez. You can also argue that the problem is post entry passes, with the Rockets' shorter guards struggling to get him the ball when he establishes position. Not getting the ball when he does have an advantage would cause his numbers to go down.

But now you've entered into "trying to fix something that's broken instead of workin on what works already" land. The pick and roll with James Harden or Jeremy Lin is devastating, as we showed you early in the season. Why not run that more?

These are the questions we've asked for two years, as Howard complained about post touched in LA last year. Maybe this is something Howard feels needs to be addressed, but at the same time, Howard's been pretty quiet in terms of compaints. He learned his lesson last year. This is less about Howard's feelings on the subject and more about the Rockets' gameplan. The Rockets just aren't very good in the post with Dwight Howard.

-From CBS Sports.

 

DMo is physically tired and inefficient lately. Reduce his minutes and let him rest for the playoffs. I don't want him to be injured just before playoffs.

 

Wow, just wow. Show this pic to Dwight and promise him to be more involved in all the other kinds of plays not named "post-up".

 

I am wary of his return strictly because of the post-up.

His post-ups drain the offensive tempo and momentum; however, his defensive presence can't be denied.

If he tones down the post-up, and adheres to what the team is doing and is ok with taking a back seat to Harden, this team can go far.

Really wish we had a solid post-up attack though; DMo has fallen off tremendously.

 

Dwight comeback has two possible scenarios.

Dwight looking at 17th vs Magic, then 19th vs Nuggets & 21st vs Suns...all home games & against weaker competition.

Then Possible rest & reevaluation against Pacers 23th & Pelican 25th (both away games)

And re-return vs Timberwolves 26th

That's best case scenario...but my info is team Doctors (& Front Office) want him to just wait for 26th.

Dwight wants to test knee as soon as possible, & give James some help...but everything Rockets are doing is geared towards being ready for playoffs & pursuit of Ring.

Beard is understandably miffed as he wants Dwight back ASAP to help carry the load (as well as grab some boards) & ensure Home Court.

Dwight also wants back to help The Bearded one win MVP, get home court & the Ring.

Contrary to popular belief, Dwight couldn't care less about the haters and Laker fans who continuously call him soft etc. Lakers ship was sinking, Franchise ownership wasn't on the same page & Houston is where he wanted to be.
He just wants Rings & believes that he and Harden will bring multiple rings to Houston.

Side note...
If we lose another game I can see the early comeback scenario activated.

 

PICK AND ROLLS! ALL DAY!

 

I will say it will be very frustrating as Dwight tries to adjust even more to not being fully healthy, limited minutes and a new role perhaps. I fear McHale will not hold him to that defensive role and allow Dwight to dictate what he wants, meaning still too many post-ups and no serious commitment to the pick-and-roll.

 

He will fix the rebounding woes, but make the offense less efficient with his ridiculous post-ups. It will be a short-term wash, but in the playoffs we'll see a better team than we've seen since the All-Star break.