[ClutchFans] Finally! First Scrimmage Footage of Dwight Howard with the Rockets

I didn't get the chance to read this whole thread but it looks like TJ gained a little bit of bulk... that should help him defensively.

Dmo looked good.

Lots of fun to finally see them playing basketball together!

 

Thanks for the new footage clutch !!

come on casspi !!! Smh

 

Am I the only noticing AB dying his hair red? I thought that was interesting.


Great vids, but we'll know what this team is really made of in the season opener. Thanks, Clutch.

 

Clutch, do you know if Dwight came in lighter this year or does it just appear that way?

 

Jimminy Christmas.

As I've said about 7 times in this thread already, I never "saw" him being good for the team. Back then it had nothing to do with how I thought he would perform in a scrimmage game. It had to do with him always looking mediocre at best when I saw him. So now that I "see" he has struggled recently (overseas) and I see another video where he looks less than impressive, I am reminded once again of why I don't think much of him.

 

I seriously like Lin to play the 6th man. Dude is too dangerous of a play maker to simply be a 3 point shooter.

 

Trade Bait...let the rumours begin!

 

Welcome to the greatest basketball fan site in the known universe.

 

Brewer will be an underrated pickup by the Rockets this season. He certainly fits a role. We won't need him against every opponent, but for any team that has a dominating wing he would be a good chess piece to deploy. Plus he's savvy enough on offense to keep the ball moving and avoid having to chunk up his admittedly terrible outside shot. He would do well playing next to Lin I feel.

And for those who are counting, this team now has defensive specialists at the 1 (Beverley), 2 (Brewer), 3 (Parsons), and 5 (Howard, Asik). You can't win with defense alone in this league, but you can emphasize playing the defensive specialist more against the team with his kind of offensive player. Morey must be so happy on the inside, knowing that he will get his first chance to showcase what happens when his waiver wire talent is combined with the superstar aura that makes other good players take discount contracts to get onto our roster.

 

Assuming he got over last year's injury, and I don't see why he can't, Brewer is actually in an unique position on this team. While Beverley and Parsons have a chance to become good to very good individual defenders, Brewer is elite.

Just two seasons ago, his isolation defense was at a 88 percentile according to Synergy. We do not have another wing defender close to that caliber.

 

Thanks for the video Clutch.

The responses are funny, all the comments about how players are going to be great or suck after watching this short video. One guy stated that Parsons won't have a good year because his girlfriend said so, ????.

It didn't take Dmo long to score once he got in the game, hopefully Dmo and Jones can do a good job at the pf spot the year.

 

He looked VERY GOOD as a "sub," did he not?

 

I usually give teams a pass until the second month of the regular season, but damn, I was really impressed by the pace and intensity these guys were playing at! Yes, the play was a little sloppy, but you can see that these guys are very driven and focused already.

1. Lin. His lateral movement on D is damn near abysmal. I think morey or even les could break him down going left or right.

2. TJ. Damn. I've been high on this kid since training camp LAST season. He's not a polished player. He makes a lot of bad decisions. But he has a lot of talent and a ton of confidence.

3. Bev is flat out crazy. I thought he was gonna chop block lin on the first day of scrimmage.

I think this team is right where a lot of people projected them: a relatively inexperienced yet immensely talented crew who can get into the 2nd round and possibly the WCF.

 

Offense really takes off for the White Team once Lin subbed in. The Rockets shouldn't have a problem starting their offense with Harden/Lin tandem.

 

My girlfriend watched every game last year and we both are season ticket holders, we both watched the USA game this summer where he played the worse on the team, he was all over as a celebrity this season and she made a comment saying she think he "won't be as good as he was last year" it's a blog man people can say things don't take it too serious and talk about a OPINION like you are mr know it all

 

No time to read through all the posts but here's what jumped out for me seeing the video clips:
Wow, Brooks looks very sharp out there, confident and fit, even seemed to be focused on defense.
Terrence Jones showing decent shooting touch.
Lin seemed to be able to drive at will even against bigger defenders, nice drive and dish examples.
Overall, seemed like a good effort by the players on the court and Coach Mchale seems to have great rapport with his team.

 

Yeah that annoys me too. He just seemed lethargic trying to stay in front of his man, but still managed to stick to his assignment. I'm not sure if Lin is flat-footed or that's just his way of funneling his man to other defenders and trap the ballhandler by double teaming him.

 

Lin has such fantastic hands, he tends to rely heavily on instinctive reads for steals. But in terms of defensive fundamentals, such as #1, staying between his man and the basket, I'm not sure if I've ever seen worse. This is a glaring weakness that he must address.

As far as harden, why in god's name is he flopping for calls in the first day of scrimmage?!?

 

Dwight's release looks much softer, if he can keep that, that's at least another 10% where the ball dribbles around and in rather than just smashing off the rim.

 

A few things.

Everybody looked rested and nagging injury free. So different from the end of last season. Hopefully with this roster the coaches won't have to push up the minutes of the best players so far.

The offense is going to be massive this season. I thought it was interesting that Harden, Parsons, Lin and Howard did not dominate the action. It looked like they were deferring to the other players. Makes sense. Their skills are well known.

D-Mo and Jones looked good. Especially D-Mo. And he looked like the biggest, most massive player on the court. He dwarfed Parsons who is 6'9" and 230(?) pounds. It will be interesting to see him next to Asik.

As Clutch noted the coaches were pushing the pace. Howard looked really good offensively, and you know that he was holding back on defense.

Anyway, thank you Clutch.