I didn't realize Howard is that big up close until you compare him to how small Parsons and Lin looks.
Nuggets. Faried and Koufos. 1235 minutes together. Ortg 106.7, which would have been good enough for #6 (tied with HOU) last year. Spoiler
Thanks. What's your opinion on how well Asik/Howard would work on offense with the other starters? (edit: n/m just saw your post on the previous page).
Anonymous must have strong gravitational pull, they are all leaning towards her, Dwight not so much because of his massive upper body strength.... ....... ....... .......
Howard is extremely mobile so I could see him playing a Faried's role. A rich man's Faried with the best defensive presence in the league is not a bad spot for Dwight if it means utilizing Asik as well. The only way to beat Miami is with a strong frontcourt. Asik was a big problem for Miami last season (19/14 and 15/14 respectively), add on Dwight and that exposes their lack of size completely.
If you don't follow the PF out to the corner and he can stroke the 3, you will be sitting on the bench after a couple of plays. And even if Harden shakes his original defender off a screen, he's going to have 2 bigs waiting in the blocks - 1 on the left and 1 on the right (add to that one of our bigs most likely) leaving you with too many people down low to drive the lane. Pullup Js is all you have and you won't be making that with the same consistancy as a layup or dunk.
Yes, Morey did say that and it won't work except in select situations when the other team is playing two big stiffs. We played Greg Smith and small ball last year only because we had no better options. Offensively, you ideally want a PF that can finish at the rim and hit outside jumpers to create the threat options of pick and roll, pick and pop, or a spread 4 out 1 in. Puts way more pressure on the defense. Neither Howard or Asik can run a pick and pop or sread so their defender just sags to effectively help clog the lane. Defensively, you ideally want a PF that can defend both in the paint and on the perimeter. Howard or Asik would get torched by a traditional PF that can shoot from the outside. Think Yao trying to guard Boozer, a total mismatch. PF's like Love, Aldridge, or even Scola would score 50 against Howard or Asik. And imagine either of them trying to keep up with Lebron. Teams would just pick up the pace against us and most PF's in the NBA would have a field day running in transition. So unless we plan on changing to a slow it down, grind it out, JVG type of team, there is no way this works. The reason the Twin Towers of Olajuwon and Sampson worked is because both could hit from the outside and Olajuwon had the quickness and agility to guard pretty much anyone, which Howard or Asik do not.
Ok, let's say you have this situation with Harden getting a pick from Howard with Howard's defender staying back Spoiler Now let's say Harden shakes his original defender - Howard does what - stay out there - no! He still rolls and that means the 5 can't step up to Harden: Spoiler So Harden is free to penetrate and the 4 guarding Asik has to step up to close the lane since the 3 and the 5 can't over commit without giving up a dunk to Howard or a open three to Parsons. Spoiler So Harden might have to take a tough shot here but you have Howard and Asik behind the defense now and Harden can lob it to one of those guys it's an easy score. People forget that when you have a guy like Harden and Howard the smallest cracks in the Defense are going to be exploited - these two guys can make this work only because they are James Harden and Dwight Howard and are that good.
We know that when Dwight is happy and motivated he is a force in the league. He really was the second best player in the league behind Lebron in his 2nd and 3rd to last years in Orlando. If Dwight can return to that level of play the Rockets are going to make some noise this year.
Dwight just outstanding ! Standup dude. This is going to be freaky great ! Play some stupid football and then let's get this on !
The same scenario happen to T-mac before he came to Houston. T-Mac was easily the best player or 2nd best player in the league.