If we gonna Run Shane out at the four can Juwan back up Yao with Mutombo? I don't see Mutombo making more than 5~10 minutes a night and beyond Kaman . . . .What other Centers are out there worth a d*mn. well in the west anyway. Juwan will be going against .. .players that . .. for lack of a better term are like him Rocket River
I'll assume you aren't joking and answer the question: No! This is why our roster isn't finished yet.
I think JVG is going to go with Yao/Deke at 38/10 mins a game if we can't find a serviceable center. Should we really need a big for an extended period we can sign crap like Mamadou N'Diaye for the min. Unless the season really goes to **** there is no way Juwan plays C, he sucks at everything. Besides, Juwan will be too busy stealing BMW's and priceless art to save some money for retirement when his contract expires
Centers are suppose to contest shots, grab rebounds, box out, set strong screens, Juwan can do none. It'z not the problem if he's playing againist medicore centers.
Good point. I don't think Juwan is as mad as people make him out to be. He could be a decent back up to Yao. The reason he looks so bad at the 4 in my opinion is that the West is loaded at that position.
If i m not wrong, Juwan played some center during his Magic and Mavs days!! So i believe he can handle 5-10minutes at center!
By the way, Deke has been out. Has Tony Battie or Melvin Ely been signed?? Any other team that owns 3 or more centers??
Speaking of backup center, Scot Pollard just got picked up by the Cavs for an undisclosed amount. Depending on what that amount ends up being, I'm going to be very upset that the Rockets didn't nab him. He is exactly the kind of player we would need for some limited (but energetic) minutes at C/PF. In our price range, of course.
No way Deke averages 10 until playoff time. Dude is 53 years old. If Juwan is still on this team, the only minutes he should be getting is backup 5 minutes when Yao needs a blow. Juwan is a backup center and that's it. Then towards the end of the season, I look for Deke to get a few more minutes and be able to come off behind Yao depending on what we need, Deke for defense, Juwan for offense.
Honestly, I want the Rockets to pick up a capable backup center, simply for injury insurance, and to rest Dikembe for the playoffs. However, I would not be surprised in the least for them to go to camp only inviting a few people to tryout; perhaps Matt Haryasz and other BWS. I certainly think that Juwan Howard is capable of being our backup center in the same capacity as Stromile Swift was in 2006. That capacity is extremely low, however, Juwan was kept on the roster for a reason, and he will clearly need to play some role next season. Firstly, while being extremely undersized to play the position, he's not as badly undersized as Stromile, and actually cares enough to put forth a decent effort, which partially makes up for the fact that Swift might be a touch more athletic . He's probably a good deal over his listed weight of 230, which is what Stromile looked and played at. His lack of speed in recovering will also be masked by playing against a bigger, slower opponent; the real question mark will be whether he can hold his ground in the post and on boxouts, where he won't have a 315 pound giant to clear space for him. if you look at his positional stats from last year from 82games.com, he seemed to do better when playing the center position. It is an extremely small sample, but at the very least, Juwan didn't hurt us any worse than Stromile did when he played. Most of us know that the positional stats can be fairly deceiving, but the raw data seems to support that Juwan is less of a hindrance when playing against the opponent's 5. Purely anecdotally and based solely on my observations, I believe that Juwan is also best suited for playing the pivot position in our offense. I don't really think you can deny the fact that Howard has the most polished and varied offensive repetoire in the post outside of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Again, he is streaky even from in close; when he's got the jump hook working, he can really start to operate; when he's peeling paint off the front iron, defenders can sag off him and let him shoot the Rockets out of the game. Nevertheless, we need someone to play in the post, and Juwan certainly has more game than a lot of the other centers people are bringing up (Cato?) Finally, if you project Chuck Hayes to be the first forward off the bench, like I do, you have to expect that Chuck will take the tougher assignment on defense, whether that's the PF or the C. It won't be perfect, but patchwork solutions rarely are. This was supposed to be Malick Badiane's spot by now, but since his development has basically been stuck in reverse, we're left with few appetizing options. Juwan Howard at the 5 is not a joke; it is very conceivable for 2007. Also, let me note that I really do want Howard off the team, but not in a pure salary dump like Glen Rice. Since I'm assuming we're keeping him, I'm merely proposing a way that the Rockets might use him.
Juwan at SF??? No wonder they only won 21 games. Seriously though, I never remember Juwan playing at SF.
Yeah he played SF his first few years in the league. He even played it on and on off with Dallas as he and Dirk constantly swapped at the 3 and 4.
Well, he was teammates with Chris Webber, and if I remember Muresan. So, he would have had to be SF in that lineup.
And Sheed was there for awhile too. Juwan definitely played SF for a long time, believe me I remember seeing those games, especially playing Pippen in the playoffs.
I agree about Deke, that guy is playing his last season in 2006-2007. But Howard as back up center? That would be hilarious, dude! I saw on NBA.com that Cleveland signed Pollard ... http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/pollard_signed_060818.html Now, that was a decent back up center for the Rockets! It 's a pitty the Cavaliers already signed him ...
Per OGKashmoney: "I don't think Juwan is as mad as people make him out to be. He could be a decent back up to Yao. The reason he looks so bad at the 4 in my opinion is that the West is loaded at that position." Juwan is weak at the 4 - I shudder to think how bad he would be in the middle. We have no depth in the front court. I do not want Yao playing 38 minutes - it will wear him down. What a waste of Yao's superb talent. A scrub like Pig Miller could help us more than Juwan in the middle. Make a deal to get Najera or Othella Harrinton.
