How should Dwight Howard be received by Houston fans in his return?

Exsqueeze me? Baking powder? Is everyone taking ****ing crazy pills? You know I get farty and bloated with a foamy latte! Get out of here right now!

 

this has been brought up time and time again. Just because he lead the NBA in post touches doesn't mean much when the NBA has gone away from that as there aren't players in the league capable of playing the post on a nightly basis. I never saw that as a legitimate defense for Dwight being ignored on offense.

 

It's a FACT. Incredibly legitimate when it was he himself who complained about post touches, while converting none of them.

What's also legitimate is how he shied away from the ball on pick and rolls. He would literally shift behind opposing players so as to take himself out of the offense. This used to drive Steve Nash bonkers in LA.

"Take myself out of the game"

 

dont be indifferent... guys thats wrong. we must cheer him

 

didn't say it wasn't true but my point is leading the league just because you got 7-8 touches in the post, where how many of those were actual ISO posts isn't really that telling. He got frustrated because he wanted more from his own standpoint so what. That's the nature of being a competitor. It's unfortunate that he didn't realize this probably wasn't the best thing for the team but it is what it is at that point. He had his time here and had a pretty good run. To be fair its got to be extremely difficult to get people who are regarded as one of the top players in the league to just change how they're used to playing and have been during their career.

 

I'm still not over what he did. He pretty much ruined all of last year for us and was the main reason we went through that awful experience . He completely went against what benefited the team and the game plan for his personal gain. I say boo!

 

Kind of how I feel. He was great the first two years, but his last year here where he openly admitted to quitting on the team really soured my once very positive opinion on Dwight. His complaining about post touches on national television was laughably pathetic.

I will cheer Dwight tonight because he did bring some great moments, but unfortunately it will be somewhat begrudgingly.

 

Not directing this at you, but if people say don't boo him, he was playing hard and got us to the wcf, then why the hell would anyone ever trash Corey Brewer....

 

I would boo him if he went to Dallas

 

not just touches but his inability to hit ft's, defenders just took the foul if he got deep enough in the post and watched him brick ft's. His inability to adapt to the new nba messed up the chemistry last year, and I don't know if he adapted this year since I don't pay attention to the Hawks but he's probably happy that he got his contact and he can just lay back now until his final year.

Last season was my first season as a season ticket holder, and it was horrible. I didn't even go to most games since it was unwatchable with the lack of effort and nobody even bought the tickets 20% under retail price, since that was the lowest they would allow us to sell the tickets on Flashseats. Since Howard did give you 2 good years, I would just sit there and do nothing like the rest of the opposing teams.

 

some of these cats have really short memories....

 

You mean from 1st round exits to WCF appearance?

Give me that every day and twice on Sunday

There was a lot of blame that goes around for last season's debacle. But Dwight didn't show up out of shape, and according to Feigen, actively worked to usurp the coach. Others are hardly blameless.

 

Why would you trash Brewer? Those band of brothers were awesome. Would you boo Smith for his player regression as well?

There was never any question about his effort, locker room presence, attitude, etc. He just regressed as a player, but still brought some good memories in the meantime. Very classless to boo Brewer in his return if he went to another team. There is a difference between trashing Brewer in the game threads and this.

 

It's over. We've moved on. He's on the other side now so I hope we destroy him.

 

If that is true. Then the reverse is also true. I wouldn't trash Howard because of his play in the playoffs but I would boo him for his attitude for a good chunk of his tenure here

 

He helped get us to the WCF, im cheering him all the way.

 

Stay classy. Cheer the man for his work. He's not Scottie Pippen.

 

Just my take, but the "quitting" talk is WAY overdone.

There wasn't a player on that roster last year, including veterans like Harden and Ariza, that was 100% locked in on both ends of the court by March and April. When you have that type of season, the issues of effort, chemistry, culture, etc. typically permeate the entire roster. Just look at Ariza's defensive metrics from last season, compared to this. It's a huge difference. And I'm not calling Trevor out or anything -- it happened to everyone, and I understand why. I just hate the way certain folks look at Dwight's role in a vacuum.

When it comes to why Dwight gets so much criticism over it, I see three factors:

1.) Convenience. Dwight isn't here anymore, many of the others are, so it's tempting to exaggerate Dwight's role, place most of the blame on him, and pretend like the guys here this year -- since the team is currently having success -- are "good" and "locked in" or whatever. Sounds great, it's a nice feel-good story, but in reality, many of those same guys were a part of the problem a year ago. Not that simple.

2.) Old narratives. We know what happened in Orlando and LA, so it's easy to just try and throw this in the same basket.

3.) Honesty. Whereas the vast majority of the team "quit" in at least some way last season, Dwight was the only guy to openly admit to it in some of the interviews. Some of you are sharing and fixating on the quotes. Maybe I'm biased as a journalist, but I like his candor. It doesn't make me feel better when other guys SAY they're fully locked in, if their play on the court says otherwise. Just tell me what's going on. If you really think Dwight "quit" more than others, then yes... it's certainly your prerogative to blame him. But do it based on what your eyes tell you -- don't do it by comparing Dwight's quotes to the flowery puff talk that we get from 90% of NBA players. So many folks say they want players/coaches to be more open and honest, less PR speak... and then they turn around and throw a fit when it's not exactly what they want to hear. Don't do that.

Last year was a bad year, period. TON of reasons. Don't pin it all on Dwight. Big picture, two Houston clubs featuring Dwight as a focal point were among the most competitive teams in franchise history. He's a great guy, did tremendous work in the community. Picked Houston as a top FA when few did. This is his first time back, so yes, do the right thing and give him an ovation.

P.S. Players notice the receptions in these situations... remember how ridiculous it looked a few weeks ago when Atlanta fans booed Al Horford? Made them look like bitter, uneducated clowns. We're better than that. It's a good opportunity to show the NBA community that Houston fans are loyal, smart and appreciative.

 

Because the reason is very simple.

To blame it on Brewer, you don't really look hard to find much details to trash him, after all, he is just a below average NBA player.

However, even you would like to criticize on other better players, first you will need to work harder to find more facts, and secondly, you have to convince a bunch of people will always like to argue no matter what.

Its exactly why Trump became the president.

Its much easier to fear the mass morons than to convince the group of rational people to support you.

 

he should be cheered.

He really didn't do the fans or city wrong.

He just didn't get along with this teammates. Especially Harden. He played hard and embraced the Rockets history.
Even asked Dream for help.