[inside the nba] Kenny/Chuck talking about the Rockets championship teams

Dwight Howard is vastly overrated. Magic will be in a better position to contend if it has Brook Lopez right now.

 

It makes mores sense to compare Dwight to Mutombo than to Dream... Howard is a more athletic Mutombo who can dominate defensively but will have a hard time to be the focal point on offense

 

Please don't mention Patrick Chewing or David Robinson with Hakeem...

Hakeem was a few classes above them, and those guys are several classes above Dwight...

 

Are you frickin' kidding me? Dwight better than Hakeem defensively? GTFO.

 

Not sure about Lopez, but put Bogut there I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have lost two games straight at hom.

 

It's not that they don't want to, their dribble penetration is highly dependent on p&r. Boston is the best when it comes to defending p&r. Boston's bigs trap Orlando's guards really well and they can always recover in time because none on the Magic roster could pass as well as Hedo did. Lewis being completely shut down by Garnett didn't help their spacing either.

This type of offense is pretty much doomed when:
a) focal point of the offense -- the center couldn't score on single coverage
b) lack of playmaking on the perimeter

In a word, Howard and Carter couldn't hold Dream's and Clyde's jockstraps.

 

Thing about basketball is that it takes a lot to win a game and a little to lose it. Orlando played well enugh to win the game last night, but 2 carter missed free throws and a jj reddick brain fart didn't help. Lewis is doing what allen did last year. He went from a scorer to a shooter and thats not good. Its also what happens when you don't have alot of guys who can create off the dribble in orlando's case. Thats the reason i never buy into lets get 3pt shooters and surround the arc. There isn't a big good enough to constantly beat a guy one on one in the blocks to force a double in which a great defensive team can't run a guy off the line.

 

Lakers don't have lots of guy that can create off the dribble either. Kobe is one, Odom is more of a taking advantage of the rotating defense type. The difference is that they have FOUR guys that can post you up and make something happen. Kobe, Gasol, Bynum and Odom. I think it's more a case of how many reliable go to guys do you have. Lakers and Celtics all have four that's why they're so dominant.

 

Their offense create chances for them and as you said they have kobe. The motion and movement within the triangle takes the eys of the defender off 1 guy. Kobe is kobe for sure, but odom is a guy that can beat any player of his size off the dribble with his pg handles. Pau from the high and low post can also create scoring chances. Traditionally, the lakers are one of the highest scoring,highest fg% team. Know why? Their offense is based inside the arc. Just like a team like utah that focused on inside the arc plays and shots. So this puts them in great rebounding position with their size and even if a guy has to beat a guy off the dribble, its from say 18 ft vs 23 ft. Most times on those occasssion its against a guy closing out of control or out of balance.

 

Truth. That's why most championship teams have a big or a wing as their core player. Their offense operates inside the arc. I think it's easier to orchestrate an efficient offense around Melo than LeBron and Wade. The latter two are more like point guards, their strong suit is dribble penetration starting beyond the arc rather than establishing their positions at the elbow like Melo does. I've always thought LeBron had the size to play like a wing though. His life will be much easier if he manages to polish his midrange game.

 

One thing I have to add, you take Gasol out the Lakers lineup or Garnett out of the Celtics lineup, they don't win the championship. They have to be the two most versatile bigs in the game right now.

 

Dwight is no Hakeem.

DD

 

Thats because coaches are blinded by greatness. They think the best way to win is to give the ball to one guy and let him try to do everything. As great as lebron is, it doesn't work. Pre Phil, it didn't work with jordan either. Thats why when Rudy left, i wanted Silas or Clemons. Clemons with a young yao in the triangle and a somewhat tweener in francis would've been the best thing for them. Just like jvg wanted to put the ball in tarcy's hands all the time, its very taxing to do that. If james played with a legit pg or someone who coud set him up, he would be basically unstoppable. Right now though, everytime the cavs get in trouble, brown panics and its the lebon show.

 

No one can fill that role right now and I'm not sure anyone could ever but dream,shaq,kareem,and moses anyway. If teams are going to stay on the shooters, you need to be able to put fear that you might score 40 every game.

 

I think LeBron has more Magic in him, rather than Jordan. Maybe he should go to Miami and I'm sure Pat Riley wouldn't mind returning to coaching for a chance to surpass Phil Jackson as a basketball legacy.

 

Grizzly Adams had a beard...