Am I The Only One Who Doesn't Want Howard If It Means Losing Asik

Asik Omer not worried about Howard talk

 

What is team basketball? Catch ball and dunk ball? Howard is better at that.

 

I with you on this one OMR. Not as necessary as a PG upgrade.

 

In Asik's exit interview, McHale told him to shoot 1000 corner 3 shots from each side every day of the summer.

 

I agree with you. I also feel like only a few of us on clutchfans just want to stay standing where we are with everyone, and attempt to get a PF. Dont make any other moves. Now we have an entire off-season of work on developing who we have with Trob, dmo, and tjones. Don't forget now we have beverly, lin and AB all on one bench. Those are three decent guards to have on our team. I would really hope that they dont release James Anderson and let him work on being a serviceable backup to Harden in limited minutes.

 

I love Asik, but when you have the chance and ability to sign a Superstar... you do it. Great centers are hard to come by, but Superstars are spread thin across the league.

 

We dont need another center as badly as we need another big and good PF and a new point guard. after those two then i would say consider a new center or an additional.

 

Garnett and Timmy D can also shoot. Howard will not age well unless he gets some other skills.

 

Dikembe Mutumbo?

 

Can't see video so can't tell if you are serious. The idea of Asik swishing threes is just funny to me.

 

dont matter morey wants him and thats it

 

I understand that Howard is an overall better player and TALENT than Asik and in a vaccuum, you take Howard over Asik any and every day. But guess what, we live in a world of variables, outside influences, salary cap and certain intangibles such as 'attitude,' 'motivation,' 'focus' etc.

I am not opposed to getting Howard (which almost certainly means trading Asik). But I do caution whether the monetary value needed to acquire said player (in this case Howard) warrants the tradeoff and generates the desired results (a championship or close too) vs. keeping Asik and spending the money elsewhere.

Consider:

-Truths (they aren't necessarily facts, but are near facts.)

--Asik and Howard are about equal on rebounding (11.7 and 12.4 rbg respectively)
--Asik and Howard are about equal as defenders (in fact, Asik was the ONLY paint defender, while Howard often got weakside help from Gasol etc)
--Howard is a better scorer (but not much better at 17 vs 11 ppg but houston doesn't lack in scoring--not a 'need')
--Howard is better at blocking shots (Asik can too, but not nearly as good)
--Howard has creeping injuries and missed games--Asik did not
--Howard has peaked or is near 'peaking' as an offensive player. Asik started in his first season and showed huge improvements over the year. Still has room to grow
--Asik is a better FT shooter than Howard!!! (49% vs. 56%. Bonus points to Asik fo clutch FTs during Hack-a-Asik)
--Howard is ALOT more expensive: will command 5/$100 M vs Asik 3/$25M
--Howard DID NOT get the Lakers past the 1st round, or make them a better team from the previous year
--Asik helped get the Rockets into the playoffs and contributed to the improvement of the team from the previous year

Intangibles:
--Dwight has had problems with teammates, coaches, his previous team (Orlando Magic), and has expressed disatisfaction with the Lakers
--Dwight has shown a tremendous amount of emotional immaturity vis a vis the fans and teammates in Orlando and with his demands to go to another city
--the fact that Dwight hasn't committed longterm to LA and expressed a desire to 'test free agency' (AGAIN) after everything he put Orlando through shows a general lack of immaturity (After wanting desperately to go to LA in the first place)
--Asik never publicy complains about his team or teammates
--Asik does not act like a primadonna. nor does he demand "touches" down low and yet still managed to avg almost 11 ppg
--Asik has expressed a desire to get better and work on his post/offensive game and demonstrated that throughout the season. Also, coaches (like Carol Dawson) have noted he is one of the hardest working players they know.
--Never had a public teammate feud
--Withstood "hack-a-Asik" (which seems to work with DH12) and its doubtful another team would try that stunt again
--Didn't back down in the playoffs and was not afraid to vocalize his support for the team and challenge Thunder players (such as Perkins).
--Dwight sulked during the playoffs and got swept in 4 games.

Questions:
1) Why couldn't Dwight make the Lakers better, or get them past the 1st round? (serious question--because I'm not sure people have all the answers. If he is THAT much of a gamechanger, they should've gotten past the first round IMO)
2) Could Dwight decide that he has enough of Harden ISO ball (like w/Kobe) and start a teammate dispute? i.e. will he be a net benefit or negative to the overall team chemistry
3) Does Dwight + Harden = championship team?? (see Question 1)
4) How does tying up $100 M in salary cap over 5 years vs $25 in 3 yrs shape the future of the Rockets? What are the risks involved?
5) If Asik continues to improve, along with Harden, Lin, and Parsons, then isn't the obvious upgrade at PF??? I don't see C as being the obvious upgrade. I get the PLAYER can dictate that, but are the tradeoffs worth it?

As you can tell, I'm not convinced at all Dwight for Asik is the right move. I think the above points I raised are all legitimate but at the end of the day, Morey might just say "f it" and go for Howard and *hope* the chips fall in the right place. I'm not opposed to that--at all--I just question the dollar for dollar value Dwight brings over Asik vs. say a star PF who could provide weakside help, block shots ,and score (and get all the touches he wants, since the current C doesn't demand the ball).

If dwight desperately wants to be in Houston and its the only option, you do it. But if we have options and can choose say Dwight or a stud PF (either through FA or trade) then I lean heavily towards the PF upgrade. Just so many unknowns with Dwight and as someone who lives in LA, I can tell you, NOBODY expected the Dwight experiment to go so wrong for the Lakers (in terms of results). Dwightmare simply continued in a different city.

 

This roster deserves at least another year. I total agree with Cisbuds4U. With a capable PF, we could easily qualify for the PO in 4./5. position next season.

 

Agree! Actually, after reading some of the Lakers message boards on Dwight, I'm even less convinced he'll be the overall net we hope him to be (vs. keeping Asik + signing a stud PF).

Some criticisms include:

1) Low BB IQ
2) Hasn't improved on any post moves in years
3) Stone Hands (!--i don't totally agree, but apparently, this is a problem)
4) Quits on Defense when he isn't getting his touches (this could be a problem w/Harden)
5) Shown regression from previous year
6) Childlike, immature =lockerroom cancer
7) has seen his FT% go down even after working on it with Mark Price (who I believe holds the best FT% EVER in the NBA)

and overall, LA fans don't seem that upset about the prospect of LOSING him to another team, which should tell us a lot too.

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1247739

Again, not against Dwight, just not sure he's the magical potion we are missing. Keep the core in tact and get a contract friendly JSmith, Milsaps, even 1 year of Gasol--preferably an amnestied Gasol, and/or S&T for Love, LA or grow the team in 2013-2014 and go for the big fish following next year. The good news is, even if the rockets do NOTHING, this team will be better, probably a 4-6 seed.

 

Just because Asik survived the hack tactic once means he'd never fail?

 

Howard is not a max player, bottom line. Having said that, of course our team would improve drastically with Howard. But Asik could def. improve.

 

(My apology in advance if this has already been asked and answered...)

Is it for sure an "either... or" scenario between D12 & Asik? Can't we realistically have both? I'd like us to get better but really would hate to lose Asik...

 

pretty much, yeah. It would be an insult to force Asik to the bench, he's way more valuable than that (might as well trade him) and starting 2 centers (DH12 at PF) would clog the lanes and mess up our stretch-4, run & gun open 3 pointers style of offense. BUT, Memphis basically does this with Gasol and Randolph so not saying its impossible, but it doesn't really fit the style of offense we run.

No one would have to pick up asik or howard on the 3 point line, but I guess with howard in the paint, he would command a double team which frees up one of the perimeter players. I don't think its impossible, I just feel that the FO would think its not 'efficient' for the offense.

 

And we did basically do this with G.Smith in the lineup towards the end of the year. The way to make this work is to sign (or develop) a stretch-4 off the bench, possibly a 6 man type, and then rotate Dwight, Asik and the true stretch 4 so D12 and Asik only play 10-15 minutes together and the rest of the time one is resting and the other playing with the true stretch. That might work

 

Howard's mental strength is highly suspect. He's very physically gifted, but he seems like a diva with limited moves.