Asik was a nobody when he came here and frankly we overpaid for him. There is no such thing as oral agreements - nobody is promised a starting position in the N.B.A. Its funny how Lin has gone through the same thing, but has acted like a complete professional The Rockets are actually better statistically on defense this year albeit slightly. Finally, Asik is a p***y for not honoring his contract. Ill take the guy who has actually played every game over the guy who acts like a straight b**** Asik has only proved he will never be anything but average in this league - an overpaid average wussy. un
Dwight didnt challenge 2 of durants dunks . Asik would have jumped and contested them regardless and given durant a hard foul. Hope he returns soon.
Dwight was in foul trouble. Going up against Durant would almost assuredly get him another foul. Dwight is the only person who has played every game for us this season. Our record is better than last year mainly due to Dwights play. I know hes had a couple bad games recently but knee jerk is knee jerk and this is knee jerk.
Like I told you guys before if you NEED a STOP & REBOUND ASIK is the center in the NBA you want to go to war with. Howard was a WANT this summer. Not a need for this team
Yep organization had a parade this summer for Howard put banners up of him without proving anything in a rocket jersey. So he kindly asked for a trade this summer like a man to Moreys face. Was respectful on media day by saying HOWARD was the best center in the NBA
No probably our needs This summer where 1. A vet stretch PF, that could play D and rebound, with heart 2. A perimeter defender because we lacked that, and harden struggles on D. -we went out and got another center that forced us to pick up vet min guys because of money problems. Look at the pacers they don't have superstars. The get deep on the bench & sign guys who have heart and play defense
One thing I wish Howard would do that Asik was the best at was playing positional defense. Asik has that uncanny ability to defend a driver in the paint, contest the shot, yet stay in position to grab the rebound. When Howard goes of the block, he gets so out of position to rebound the ball. Of course, our other players need to get the rebound too but I would rather see solid defense than trying to get blocks every play. Getting rebounds are so important for us too. We start our fast breaks off rebounds. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how this team would be if we used the cap we used on Howard to other players. What if we got Millsap at the contract the Hawks got him? That's only around 19 million for two years. Then use the rest of the money to fill out our bench with shooters and defenders, maybe Corey Brewer type player. A lot of the quality free agents shunned us because after we signed Howard, we could only offer them close to vet minimum salaries. Not signing Howard would allow us to get more quality bench guys. Maybe the Hornets would have gave us Lopez instead of the Blazers? How would the team look with a line-up like this? Bev, Lin, Brooks Harden, Corey Brewer/Mike Dunleavy type player Parsons, better option at backup sf than Casspi or Garcia Millsap, Jones, DMo Asik, Lopez, Smith Of course it's easy to put out names on paper and think it will all work and such. But, that's a real solid team. I wouldn't be surprised if that team would have the same record as us with Howard. But at the same time, I think that team would be more of a surprise of having a 26-15 record than almost the disappoint that our current team has been so far this season. In the end, signing Howard was the right move. What he brings to this team that Asik didn't, when he was starting for us; the attention other teams must give Howard compared to Asik, the catch and finish ability Asik lacked and so on can be so important for a long run in the playoffs. I just feel that we haven't found the right mix of pushing the ball and feeding Howard. There have been instances where we have found it and we looked on par with the contenders. But we haven't found our real identity yet. But you know what, it's growing pains. If you seriously thought the Rockets would just take the title after one season without any bumps along the way, then you need to get in touch with reality. This team is still a year or so of growing together, plus a few good signings or trades away from being a true contender. Like Howard said, you have to be patient. It's easy to become frustrated but patience is the key to being successful.
Sorry, Asik was great for the team last year, there's no doubt about that. But there is absolutely no way he is "better for this team" than Howard. Sing the tune all you want now, but when the playoffs come and this team is rolling, we're going to look back at this thread and realize how dumb the idea is.
You mean when we were 21-20 at this time last year, instead of 26-15? How were we so much better then?
for what Howard makes, Rockets could of had Josh Smith or Sap and Corey Brewer with a solid backup center like Robin Lopez
Howard is a better rebounder. Howard's PRESENCE ALONE makes him a better defender. Howard is actually an option on the post up (which will come useful when we can't run n gun) Howard is the best PnR finisher in the league. Howard can catch passes. Howard calls out his teammates when they're not playing defense. It's amazing how everyone compares Asik last year to Howard this year. The team as a whole is completely different. If Howard played with D-Mo, PPat, or Smith as his starting 4, he'd be getting like 15 or 16 boards a night. T-Jones is his 4, which Asik never played with last year save for a stretch late last year. Howard also has to make up for much worse defenders in Casspi, Garcia and a worse Harden than last year, where Asik never had to deal with these guys. I mean, honestly, it's crazy that we can't appreciate the best Center in the league. Is his post-up the game the best in the league? No, but it's an extremely viable option, even against legit defenders like Roy Hibbert or Andre Drummond. And in the playoffs, the run-n-gun is cutoff, which means we'll hve to rely on other things that Asik can never give us. Eff Clutchfans, man.
In this offense this may be true, but I honestly don't think the barrage of 3's and iso's are going to get it done in the playoffs. This team will not be a solid contender until they determine what offense best suits them long term. This team reminds me of the 00's Suns. I truly believe we can win with Howard, but the offense needs to be more balanced with an inside/out game.
Dwight is better than Asik. But can you imagine how good we would be if we used that cap elsewhere? We could have signed Millsap and another 10 million dollar player or split that up. We'd be a hell of a lot deeper. But who's to stay asik wouldn't have still gotten hurt? Then we would have been ****ed
