We have the 6th bext record in the NBA, and the 1st rated offense and people are seriously making offensive complaints? He's not Hakeem or Yao offensively, he never will be. His scoring is only down slightly from his prime years, he is just (wisely) playing less minutes. He still commands attention and creates shots despite is poor post game, and he is good for at least 2 or 3 finishes every game that Asik could never dream of. People just like to complain, this team fell into a trap game which happens to everybody, and people act like the sky is falling again.
Dwight Howard is a scrub. Besides finishing alley-oops, he isn't providing anything else on a regular basis.
Dwight has shown up. This is who he is. Anyone looking for MVP Dwight that led the Magic will be very disappointed. He's been in the league for about 10 years and is not getting younger. I wish I was wrong but he's already hit his prime. He can still make an impact, but on average he's going to be 17/12 guy at this point. A huge part of his game was his athleticism and with age and injuries he's not as explosive. He's still a very good player and arguably the best center in the league, but the reality is he's no longer the guy that dominates every night.
Yea, against the Jazz it was just like a parade to the rim (for the Jazz). Of course, Asik isn't playing very well at all either, but I don't think he is really trying, to put it mildly. He is so disgruntled & I don't blame him because how can be expected to impact the game to any significant degree while only playing 15 minutes????
can someone teach dwight how to flash from the baseline into the low block and establish position?? if you don't know what i'm talking about see yao's over the shoulder pass to moochie for reference. watch yao move without the ball before the entry pass. while he learns that, also learn how to flash across the lane from the opposite low block too!!!
That's taking it way overboard. Dwight is not as bad as people suggest. He just has no heart and loses interest in games very easily. Which is a problem. He is still the best center in the game but I would say that Hibbert is closely gaining ground. Just goes to show you how bad the center position is in the year 2013.
I am not sure what your basis of opinion is Gil, but when I look at the stats that I have been calculating up till about 25Nov, My estimation of Dwight's RV score is at 1325 compared to D. Jordan's value of 1282. (This RV score was calculated based on the first 15 games of this season). I don't see Dwight being "lousier" than Jordan as you had claimed. In fact, up till 25Nov, our players (those that I had tracked) RV scores are: Dwight - 1325 Harden - 1307 Parsons - 1256 Lin - 1253 Jones - 1241 Asik - 1231 Bev - 1217 So, I think Dwight is fine where he is. The main problems facing our Rockets is getting the team to work together and stay focused with the job on hand (being young - we sometimes lose our intensity and focus on the game).
I think most people realize he will never take over a game like a Hakeem or Yao, but he needs to play up to his contract with more effort. When you think of all of the max contract players in the NBA, they play with passion and desire on a nightly basis. You hardly ever see any of them coasting and that's what so frustrating with Dwight.
Agree, I am most disappointed with his effort. He doesn't even look like he is trying very hard at all at either end of the court, especially lately.
He is averaging only 16.6 points and 12 rebounds. Omer averaged 10 points and 12 rebounds last season. I will project that Omer would have increased his scoring to 12 points per game without Dwight since his offense was improving. That means the Rockets essentially paid $20 million for less than 5 points per game increase at the C position, who also doesn't hustle or work hard comparatively. I don't think the Rockets would have won the game vs. Spurs if they did not employ Hack-a-Dwight. That was an incredibly dumb strategy to do when the game was tied or only one or two points difference. I think another game when a team tried the same thing it backfired on them. Dwight is not really that bad of a free throw shooter when they do that, but that's not saying very much & pretty embarrassing if your biggest contribution is making free throws when the other team intentionally fouls you.
It's hard to call Dwight a center because he doesn't own the paint. Certainly no more than T. Jones the way he has been rebounding and blocking shots.
Well, without Dwight I think the Rockets would still have the #1 offense because Parsons, Lin & Beverley are scoring about 10 ppg combined more than last season. Plus, Jones & Casspi, who mostly weren't playing last season, are scoring almost 20 ppg. Both of those numbers would be higher, as well as Harden's ppg, since they wouldn't be spending so much time trying to get baskets from Dwight in the post. That hasn't worked well, so their offense would be better & their defense would be better because Asik concentrates solely on defense.
Omer 12/13 - 10.1 PPG 11.7 RPG 1.1 BPG 54.1 FG% 56.2 FT% Dwight 13/14 - 16.6 PPG 12.3 RPG 1.8 BPG 56.7 FG% 53.6 FT% That 6.5 PPG is pretty significant. He also puts the other team in foul trouble early as well because opponents are forced to foul him often. Just doing some maths and saying we are paying too much because hes not 2.5 times better than Omer is not the way to look at it. Lebron doesn't have stats 40x better than Chandler but that doesn't mean he's overpaid for his per $ production.
It seems that the offense is much slower when Dwight has been on the floor...per Basket-Reference.com 2012-13 Finished the season ranked #2 in the Association in PPG w/ 106.0, Also was ranked #28 in the NBA in Points Allowd PG w/ 102.5 2013-14 Rockets are currently ranked #1 w/ 109.1 and ranked #29 in Points Allowed w/ 103.1 w/ the so called most dominate center in the league right now 14 million for basically the same numbers and I know it doesn't fall on Dwight but the money could have been spent more wisely . Josh Smith at 13.5 million Corey Brewer at 4.5 million Francisco Garia at 1.2 million 19.2 million total w/ three million left to play w/ on backup center Lin/Harden/Parsons/Smith/Asik Beverley/Garcia/Brewer/Jones or Motiejunas
