This. Also we had almost no injuries to our starters last year while it has been a carousel of significant players missing time this season.
Why do I get the feeling that this poll completely backfired on the OP?? Based on his tone, and the sarcasm dripping from his original post, it seems like he felt like more people would be in his corner.
Yes and no. Yes because I didn't expect him to be much better than last year. No because I never really payed attention to his game and thought he was actually a lot better. He's not the monster he was with Orlando.
Well worth the money and with Asik not wanting to play in H-Town, could get the team a players that wants to contribute to a title contending team.
shut down the forums and open it up after the playoffs... nothing matters until the the team gets to the playoffs.
He's not making $88 million this year so this is pretty misleading. The value of that cash is much more than just his production on the court. For me personally, getting Dwight is the main reason we now have 20+ nationally televised games instead of below 5, so F*** YES GETTING HIM WAS WORTH IT BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE CSN! You also have to take into account future players that sign here because they want to play with Dwight.
well dwight doesn't sign for less than 88M and you don't pass on a chance to sign dwight howard. so all of this is a moot point.
Our offensive and defensive efficiency have BOTH improved and that's with a bunch of injuries. If Asik was with us for the entire season so far as a backup to Dwight I have a feeling our defensive efficiency would be close to top 5 in the league(currently 10th).
To piggyback...........I don't think Howard's playful attitude is problem, but he's definitely got to do a better job picking when to play and when not too. I remember a few games ago we blew I think the Celtics out, and he was on the bench messin around playing with Bill & Bull laughing. I'd like him to show a bit more focused in games like that. We're obviously kicking the other team's butts, but that doesn't mean we can be jerking around. With a very young team it's important that we establish a workman like attitude. If one of your leaders is all loosy goosy after wins, what happens when that leader starts to rip into guys? I'm afraid they won't take him as serious
I'm amazed at how well this team has performed despite suffering from so many injuries, and our record is even than last season despite being far healthier last season. This team could probably have won 3-5 more games at the very least if our top 7 players (Beverley, Lin, Harden, Parsons, Howard, Asik and Jones) have managed to play together more than twice this season. Also, Dwight is an iron man. Other than the freak injury to his back, Dwight rarely ever gets injured despite playing the most physically demanding position in the league. This team needs to follow his work out routine because whatever it is it protects his body well.
i voted no...but now i'm thinking it's more due to him not getting the ball enough. Defensively he's been fine, although he hasn't blocked shot as consistently as I would have expected.
howard has improved in the post but slow starts are a result of us force feeding him and trying to trade baskets with the other team in a half court offense.
Why do so many people point to injuries as an excuse? The thunder have Westbrook injured. GS had Iggy injured. These guys are way better than parsons. If we're gonna keep saying parsons is more valuable and all that BS, then we're just saying we're not that good. Clippers are missing Chris Paul for 6 weeks. If we were contenders, we would overtake them in the standings. Who wants to bet that won't happen?
In the end getting Dwight and paying him was the right move, but if people are happy with our record and the way we've been playing, then they had very low expectations for this team.
When your top 7 players have only played together for 2 games this season (post twin-tower experiment), then injuries are not really an excuse. It's a fact. Also, for your information, GSW struggled tremendously without Iggy. Their record was a mere 5-7 for that stretch, and their winning streak only took off after Iggy returned to their team. The Rockets are missing their 2nd best player last season and their defensive specialist. They also missed Lin, Parsons and Harden for multiple games over the course of the season.
the reason that everyone goes into a frenzy trying to land superstars when they are free agents is because there is a max contract in the NBA. Dwights production is likely worth ~120m, we got a steal.
It takes a special kind of idiot to think that Howard will be returned back to his Magic glory days prior to back surgery only one year removed from said surgery. Just my opinion OFC.