Agreed. We need a more diverse offense and some slashing, cutting, screens and Howard making quick decisions and willingness to pass it back for a re-post or kick it out in time! Howard's problem is also that he's very sloppy with the ball, for a guy that strong, he sure loses the ball a lot when he comes across the middle or towards the baseline. He bounces it off his foot while dribbling or simply dropping it and then throws his arms in the air every single time. Howard is pretty soft for a big strong guy. All that MVP talk from Dream might not have helped as we know the guy cannot handle pressure.
Howard is not soft, he does have a good offensive skill like Yao Ming, but the coach does not a good idea to limit his weakness. Lots of people on this board overrate Howard, but Harden is the best player on this team, like it or not, this team goes as Harden goes.
What bbaholic said, Zboy. You don't give up after implementing something for 10 games. You fix the problems. You know, like you would in a good relationship. Spacing, angles, entry passes, reposting... these are the things that need work, not abandonment. Viva La Post! It's the only way we will win a championship. Own that paint.
Umm, Howard's post up game dominated the Blazers in the last playoffs. I wonder how they did it when they haven't developed the post game and Lin and Parsons sucked at getting him the ball.
Dwight either looks really good or really bad -- not much in between. Sometimes he has it going down low, and many times he does not. Problem is he doesn't seem to care enough to stop forcing it when he doesn't. And rarely does he seem to have it going for a full 48 minutes.
This^. Watching the Rockets for the last few games has been excruciating. Poor ball movement, lots of standing around, while one guys dribbles around. I think they need to start running pnr's early and often each game. I also don't get why harden isn't shooting more. I think if we can get some success with the pnr, then defenses will start collapsing in the lane, hopefully giving the perimeter players some space and maybe they can start hitting again. But the OKC and Memphis games were like watching seals get clubbed. I still watched, but man, it was ugly.
I agree with this, and I've said it before. Some teams have the personnel and knowledge to shut Dwight down. When that happens, our offense comes to a screeching halt. That's why at times the offense flows better with Dwight on the bench. Unfortunately our defense takes a big hit when Dwight sits. So yes, we need to learn to Play without always trying to run the offense through Dwight. Unfortunately, I think Dwight and others think the offense must go through Dwight. If Dwight had the talent of an Hakeem or some of the other great centers, then that would make sense. But the Rockets need to realize what they have in Dwight. He's a good defensive center that can dominate on offense against some of his weaker opponents. So yes, it's true. Dwight isn't really a Super Man. He is a rich man's Asik, and that's the way he should be used.
Dwight obviously is not a dependable low post option. Like I said in game thread last night, McHale was a good low post player in his day so he should know that Dwight is not a dependable low post player, especially against the Grizzlies and teams like them, so why keep running the offense through him. Dwight's offensive strengths are alley oops, pick and rolls, put backs and the occasional jump hook. That's it. He can still be a very productive player if the Rox would play mainly to his strengths and stop trying to prove he can be a post up player because he is not. He just doesn't have the skill and probably won't develop the skill to be fully dependable down there. A better coach would have demanded this a long time ago.
Good point. One of the highlights in the Memphis game was when Dwight was blocked by Tony Allen and Allen did the Mutombo wag. You know what I noticed in that highlight? Why was there no shooter in the corner of the strong side?
I always assumed using him as a post up player was part of what they promised to get him to sign here. I can't see any other reason they'd stick to it so stubbornly.
Yeah I figured that too. But at this point, the organization needs to be about winning and not stroking Dwight's or any body else's ego or they will continue to have first round exits in the playoffs in the deep west. Dwight can still be a 20-10 guy and considered an MVP candidate like he was in Orlando if he just played to his strengths. Even though his skill down low is not that good, his athleticism will still give him an advantage against most if he just played to his strengths.
They kept him from getting the ball close, as did OKC. That's a problem, because he can't put it on the floor and follow through as well as he can dominate from up close. What seemed also problematic was that he -wanted- to be close, even when we knew we weren't going to get an interior pass, so the lane was more clogged than ever. I agree with the spacing comment. We're trying to be two teams at once just because we can do both, but you don't do both on the same play. They need to realize this when it's happening and quit trying to force everything at all times. In situations like last night and before, Dwight needs to realize when they're bullying him and come out top more often the way asik would setting the picks, then collapse to the basket opposite the ball. We can't be a running slashing team and a post up team at once at all times. Need to pick our battles better.
Well, I decided I'm gonna tweet H&H every single day this season asking them to run the P&R more lol. No days off.
This. Howard wants to be something that he's not. Dwight would be great if he understood his limitations and his role and stuck with that. I get the feeling that he's going to start blaming other people for his shortcomings because of that ego. He's quick to yell at teammates when they screw up. But Dwight has those ugly post possessions every damn game.
Right, lol! I hope they realize this along with the coaching staff. The team's offense would be far more consistent.
But Dwight did indeed play well against Robin Lopez in the post last year in the playoffs. He was a consistent post threat and I believe that should be developed. There will be games like last night where the post game isn't there but that doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to feed Dwight inside, especially if Harden is off. I think there is a some sort of stigma among athletic dominant big men like Shaq, Dwight, Cousins, where if you're less of a superstar and more of a system player if you need to set picks in order to get baskets. Of course a smart player like Duncan is more than happy to set picks for the good of the team, but Dwight is no Duncan and McHale is no Pop. Either way, I have heavy doubts on the Rockets' ability to convince Dwight to run the pick and roll more than post ups. The man didn't even want to run the pick and roll with Nash, arguably the best pick and roll player in the league at the time.
So I guess this is going to continue to be an issue we have to debate back and forth and back and forth until Dwight is no longer a Rocket. Couple of items here- Look... the fact is, the Rockets do not need Dwight Howard to be a dominant post player... we just need defenses to continue to game plan around him being a dominant post player in order to keep open other parts of the offense. Dwight's issues in the post aren't related to his footwork either. Its either his touch around the rim which is streaky, or its his inability to finish when a late help defender cuts him off at the rim for a double team right as he's about to shoot. It throws him off almost every time, and that little bit of extra defensive pressure makes him have to finesse the shot a little too much. Dwight's moves and shot need to be much more methodical. Long story short, he is who he is right now, and the threat of Dwight Howard is enough to help this team win. Too much Dwight Howard takes the team away from what their identity was last year offensively. Its all about balance and getting Dwight easier looks more of the time in P&R situations. I like the Dwight in the post threat more than Dwight in the post as a go-to option, but its a necessary evil to maintain in the offense. ........... As for spacing being an issue: And no... Basketballhollic... spacing from lack of 3 point shooters isn't the issue. If anything the defenses now are playing right into the Rockets hands as they know the 3 point shot is what they are going for. As BBH himself has actually confessed, the Rockets small ball lineups aren't really giving up that much on the defensive end on a nightly basis with Pap or Harden at the 4 if they feel that Jones and D-Mo's shooting is so incredibly bad to where teams wont guard them out that fact (Spoiler alert... they still are guarding them). *The problem is the Rockets perimeter shooters are really, really shooting the ball horribly from 3 point land lately mostly because the defensive gameplan has been designed differently to guard the passing lanes more than the 3 point line itself. Its actually pretty smart. Guard against the pass that creates the open 3.. not the 3 itself. That's why the Rockets perimeter shooters aren't getting the ball in rotation of the offense. I had to re-watch parts of the past couple games to see what they were doing. Give credit to Brett Brown. He actually had a pretty good defensive gameplan going into that game. .......... So what's the answer? Well we have to wait and see how McHale adjusts their offense to either get more movement, or to get more easy looks in the open court. I'm guess we are going to see a much more uptempo Rockets in the next couple games after some practice time. That's probably the easiest fix. How the affects the defense, I really don't know, but a more efficient offense is a better start. They need some work as a team, and need to fix their offense first.
Did the Rox win against Portland in the playoffs? Like I said its about winning and not trying to make Dwight the second coming of Hakeem because its not going to happen. Posting up is not Dwight's strength and probably never will be. If Dwight is that stubborn and doesn't want to sacrifice "developing" his post game for the greater good of the team, then I'm sorry, maybe he is not about winning as much as he says he is. And if the organization continues to go along with him on this, then maybe they are not as serious about winning as they say they are either.
