BR article with details on DH's defensive and offensive impact

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2439920-turns-out-dwight-howard-can-still-star-for-houston-rockets

I was skeptical about the article when I opened it, since it's BR, but the author makes some very astute observations and conclusions with stats and analytics to back them up (Barkley would scuff).

Basically he validates that 1) DH DRASTICALLY improves our defense when he's on the court and 2) he makes the offense much easier to execute when's on the court. Nothing new here, but nice to see numbers (and videos) illustrating what we observe.

"Through two games, the Rockets have outscored the Mavericks by 34 points when Howard is on the court and been outscored by 12 when he sits—a net difference of 46 points in 50 minutes. And he’s doing that against Chandler, who is a former DPOY winner himself. But Howard is taking it in stride."

Enjoy the rest of these extremely fun playoffs, everyone.

 

One thing the article discusses, something not very often mentioned, is the so called "Morey Zones" being applied on the defensive end. Anyone who follows the Rockets knows that using analytics, the Rockets employ an offensive scheme where they go for shots in zones where they give the greatest expected returns (probability x outcome). They shoot mainly from inside the paint or from 3. What's not often discussed is that the Rockets force opponents to take shots that's outside of these high expected return zones. And this is where Dwight helps greatly as a defensive post powerhouse and shotblocker. DH allows the 4 other defenders on the Rockets to un-strech the floor, in a "reverse gravity effect", in the words of the author:

"That’s a defensive player who is such a deterrent at the rim that he frees up his teammates to play tighter perimeter defense. Opponents are afraid to go inside so they hover around the perimeter. Thus, defenders are able to stick closer, go over picks and sag less off of shooters because they can trust the safety net behind them. In essence, a player with defensive gravity “shrinks the court.""

Pretty cool stuff!

 

Precisely