Dwight Howard Not Happy With The Effort in Houston [NBA.COM]

I think what he/she is saying is that he's not giving us that effort you mention.

I've defended Howard statistically so far, and I stand by that. I think that he's put up great numbers overall.

However, I notice a clear lack of effort with Howard on most plays in most games.

 

1. So? He held Parker accountable like a good coach. I'm betting Parker gave more effort in games after that.

2. Yes he was "awful", as "awful" as Parker was. Not only was he awful on offense, he was awful on both ends of the court.

3. We were playing the Suns at home who were on a b2b. We just lost to the worst WCF team in utah just recently. Our #1 and #2 players were not injured. There are no excuses.

4. You said 99.99% of the time coaches don't bench their stars if the bench is playing decent. Well...you're wrong.

 

[UOTEHtownballer38;8488277]ESPN will alys tist some negative sh** to be more than what it actual is so it could boost up its ratings.

If Dwight was unhappy e 1st needs to look at in the mirror because I've seen plenty of games where he didn't give max effort like he eluded to in this interview.

I am also pretty sure Harden and him are cool peeps, therefore if he had a problem he would talk to the man instead of using the media to get his point across.

As leaders of this team both Harden and Howard needs to get their freaking acts together. I've seen players role players on this team play harder than them.

These last two games both Howard and Harden should have stepped up their max contract games to will this team to victories against a scrub team (Jazz) and a mediocrity team in the Suns.[/QUOTE]

I'm sure they got on him in the locker room but then to add to it by jumping on him in the media... I think it's kind of early to go to this extreme, but McHale and Harden's other teammates have been jumping on him in the media since he got here...Lol... McHale could have just benched him. Which would probably have had more effect than going after him in the media.

I hope this doesn't backfire.

 

The Suns aren't garbage.... The have some talent and Jeff Hornacek is looking to be a good coach. They beat Portland 2 out of 3 times this year. It's not embarrassing to lose tk them although the Rockets lost in embarrassing fashion...

Also Greg Pop actually knows how to draw up plays and design an offense and make adjustments and he's won championships... Big difference when he jumps on players.

 

I'm sure they got on him in the locker room but then to add to it by jumping on him in the media... I think it's kind of early to go to this extreme, but McHale and Harden's other teammates have been jumping on him in the media since he got here...Lol... McHale could have just benched him. Which would probably have had more effect than going after him in the media.

I hope this doesn't backfire.[/QUOTE]

I hope it doesn't backfire either. Our stud stars need to handle there bizz. They are the leaders, so lead by example.

 

1. Maybe, but I'll bet the Spurs didn't have half their roster injured and had the depth to actually sit Parker. If you are betting that Parker played well in the game after that, you would lose it. He played fairly bad the next game as well.

2. I don't see how. 14 points is a lot better than 4 points, no matter how it happens.

3. We should have won those games (or at least the Jazz game), but my point about our injuries is that we did not have the depth to sit our best player for a huge portion of the game. Sitting your best player when he's having a bad game is a luxury you have when you have a lot of depth and little to no injuries.

4. I felt it should have went without saying that the situations must be similar. I was talking about when having performances on Hardens' level. The example you gave me was of a guy who played much worse than him. How many examples can you give me where a coach, while half his roster was injured, sat his superstar in exchange for a bench player that scored far more than him and the team ended up winning?

 

Suns are not very talented. Dragic is slightly above average at best, Bledsoe is in his first year as a starter and everyone else is a role player who wouldnt start on most teams. It's pretty much the same team that won 25 games last year + eric bledsoe.

 

Garica and Howard are 2 of the oldest guys on the team. Howard has to lead by example of course, but in 16 games or so that the Rockets have played, Howard seems like the leader to me.

 

I'm calling out for McHale. He is responsible to bench Harden for less of effort. He did bench Lin for going 0-5 and he played only 17 mins the other night. Instead, he allowed Harden to go 3-17.

 

He benched T. Jones the other night too. LOL

 

Harden was trash yesterday, 3-17, 0-10 on 3's, letting Tucker destroy him. Straight and simple. If you think he wasn't that bad, you're clearly on something..

I am done talking with you. Right or wrong you are entitled to your own opinion.

 

McHale will bench anyone who go 1 of 3 of 4. Except if you are his big 3: Harden, Parson and Beverley. The big 3 will guarantee 40 minutes a night on average

 

Yep that's the big 3 harden, parsons, Howard

He has even benched Howard recently, last night he brought Howard in just because the team didn't get a offensive rebound at the 6min mark one play, he looked down bench and called Howard in, I was at the game sitting right across from the bench

 

yeah, Howard is speaking the truth
Without Asik,Lin,Parsons our three most efforts guys....apart from PB....Rockets is worse than Jazz and Suns

 

I take it you don't actually watch games. Beverley was benched in the Raptors game, as he should have been.

 

after going 0-5 in 3's you would think that harden would look to shooting a little closer to the rim????

harden shoots .543 from 2 point range and gets to the line 9 times a game. why he shoots 41% of the time from behind the arc at a .292 rate is beyond me.

percentage of shots from 3 point range.
harden .410
parsons .350
lin .387
Beverly .586
jones .189
casspi .431
Garcia .686
brooks .407

 

I'm torn... on the one hand I think that I agree 100% - spot on Dwight...
on the other I think it's kinda outta line airing dirty laundry - if u got a problem with Harden call him out at practice or private - not in the media...
I guess what it boils down to is whether or not they've had the 1 on 1 conversation...
If Dwight has approached Harden on it before and his still laggin, then good job call him out publicly - even if you didn't say him by name...
If they haven't had the conversation, then its immature...

 

as I mentioned on the trade thread, if you're worried about "effort", bring in an "effort" guy and make practice more "fun".

bring in Tyler Hansbrough. see if Dwight and company are going to loaf around with THans. you already have the major pieces, just move some minor pieces to see if you can put together a solid team.

 

Simple. Harden is a lazy player, offensively and especially defensively.

 

Oh I think he was bad. Just not as bad as Parker was in the game you mentioned.

Contrary to what you seem to believe, it can get significantly worse than what Harden played- and that's what Parker was.

The one upside about Harden's bad games is that, usually, he still finds a way to put points on the board. Parker didn't even do that much, so it's a different situation (especially with the difference in depth)- and the sub was unsuccessful in every which way possible.