[GRANTLAND] With Dwight Howard in the Fold, What Is Omer Asik's Future With the Rockets?

Trade chip or very solid backup.

 

Awesome writeup, thanks for the link.

 

you wanted to know the price of winning, well you suck it up and keep a center in at all times to defend. We were dropping 100 points a game before the 'new age'. Intimidating the divas with our 2 headed monster at center, that will give us an advantage no teams have.

Keep OSIK.

 

A lot of familiar stuff in that article that has already been disseminated on this board. I agree with everything he wrote.

 

The problem is that Asik is not happy being the backup.

 

He may not have to be.

 

If ANYONE was going to change positions to start together, wouldn't it be Howard? Howard can guard most 4s, I can't think of any I would be comfortable putting Asik on. Seems to me it would make more sense to have Asik at the 5, Howard at the 4 -- IF you were to play them together.

 

It would only work if our guards on the team are outside shooting oriented, but Harden and Lin are drive and dish players, which means they need at least the PF to stretch the floor to operate.

 

Articele was just put up on grantland discussing the possibilities the Rockets have with both big guys. The most interesting part was discussing the advantages and disadvantages of playing them at the same time.

The biggest advantage would be Dwight running the dribble hand offs the way Omer did last year or posting up and Omer coming from the weak side to grab offensive boards (Me likey).

The biggest disadvantage would be that the paint becomes too clogged when we are not doing one of those two things and Lin and Harden can't drive effectively. Seeing as Harden gets a lot of points off of fouls when driving, this could be a problem (Me No likey).

Obviously, they won't be playing extended minutes together. But this puts some insight into what we're looking at when they do.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...ld-what-is-omer-asiks-future-with-the-rockets

 

Long term, Asik is gone, but short term success would ensure there's no fire sale, which I strongly suspect has been holding back a deal. GMs think the Rockets are over a barrel and that Asik can be had for pennies on the dollar. Not happening.

 

What the actual *****, just posted this 5 minutes ago.

 

Never mind, just saw it.

 

Defensively...there is no question that Howard is a better pure paint defender. That is to say...defending the rim and shots in the paint and helping weakside. Also defensively Asik is has the better feet. He's quicker. He's the guy you want guarding at the top on the pick and roll and ranging out on the floor to guard spread 4's. It's all about matchups. But when it comes to pick and roll action extended...Asik is the much better option.

Offensively....Howard has the better hands and is a far superior finisher. Zach has it right. You use Asik at the high post reversing the ball and in that little play action handoff that is essentially a reverse pick and roll. Asik is taller...he sees over the D better. Dare I say..he's a better passer than Dwight...by far?

That's the way they have to work on meshing together. Defensively it's not going to be a problem. Very easy for both guys to sort through assignments and put themselves on the optimal opponent player. Offensively it's going to take work but it has to be from the perspective of Asik being the garbage man offensively, doing the dirty work, setting the bulk of the screens and flaring out weak side to receive the reversal and start the play from the weak side.

 

Iv yet to see anybody report him or his agent say anything about him being unhappy.

Only thing iv seen is ESPN report it with out a source.

 

This is exactly why we shouldn't trade Asik. He gives us far more than a Ryan Anderson type would.

 

While we have seen everything in that article on the board here, it is nice to see it all in one article. But as others have pointed out, time is on the Rockets side. Morey probably will evaluate until the trade deadline, and then act in the Rockets best interest. It is not like the Rocket's will be struggling for wins, as they currently have an excellent roster. And it will actually be interesting to watch Asik and Howard in the game together early in the season.

 

Not only is that not happening but now these teams with 2 power bigs are having to consider what they are going to do going up against a combo of Howard and Asik.

Memphis, for instance, is built around Gasol and Zach working in tandem. With Dwight and Asik, you take away their primary offensive generators and now it's up to Conley and the perimeter guys to make it happen. In my opinion,...without seeing how everything meshes on the floor...I don't think Memphis can win more than 1 game against us in a 7-game series now.

Clippers??? What are they going to do offensively against us? We're turning them into a perimeter jump-shooting team and taking away Blake. Asik will flat out eat Blake up defensively and force him into a bunch of jacked 17 footers....that Blake is siimply not very good at.

Now you force those guys to go more spread. Take out one of the bigs and spread the floor on us. Well, do you think they really wanna play spread the floor against us???? Of course not!! They're stuck trying to bang and root around in the blocks against Howard and Asik. Good luck with that. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Memphis and the Clippers are crossing their fingers HOPING we move Asik for Ryan Andersen or some other lopsided deal against us. They know that Asik and Howard in tandem spells D-O-O-M for their championship aspirations and coming out of the West. It's just too much inside D...too much for them to overcome.

Might as well add Denver to these first two. Although I'm not even convinced Denver is a playoff team anymore. Personally I think they got much worse with Karl and Iggy gonzo. So, no need to really discuss them.

Thunder? Durant is dreading playing us, you know that. Because Parsons can get up in his grill and force him away from his jumper, force him to put the ball on the floor and drive it....right into the meat of our D. So, he's either got to finish over 2 hosses or he's got to somehow get the ball to Kendrick Perkins to finish. Yeah, ok. Good luck with that. So, guess where OKC will go??? That's right...spread it out and run Ibaka in the middle with Durant at the 4, Westbrook, and two other floor spreaders. Move Garcia to the 4, keep him stuck in Durant's grill. Bev giving RB fits. Harden hanging loose in the corner on Thabo. Parsons roaming up top on Reggie Jackson and helping off on RB. I'll take those matchups all-day-long.

Not only that...but NO opportunities for the opponent to punk us when Asik or Howard goes out of the game. We still got the other guy in the middle.

Think about it guys! It's crazy. Go look at all the games where we gave up the lead as soon as Asik took a seat. Think-about-it. That opportunity is gonzo as long as both Howard and Asik are out there. Prepare for a barrage of blowouts as we get up big early and continue to pound teams and increase the lead when Howard/Harden take a seat and Asik is in the middle running pick-and-roll with Lin against the opponent's second team and Asik is defending the middle against the opponent's second team. No contest! We will own the defensive paint and the boards.

 

One thing we have learned about Asik. He is a professional. He will be a good teammate and give his best both on and off the court even if he is not completely pleased backing up Howard.

 

Whatever. I'm happy with Greg Smith and Marcus Camby backing up Howard.

It's an awesome luxury having an amazing player like Asik backing up Howard. However, if there is a PF who had 80% of the impact Asik had at C last year, we should deal him. The right player can even improve Harden and Lin's opportunities.

We are a top 4 West team right now. With a solid PF rather than a stellar backup C, I think we can make it all the way to the Finals.