I seriously don't understand the infatuation with Dwight Howard

Hahaha I'm even sure why you used your time to respond to that, I'm not sure anything is making sense.

 

I've seen this thing mentioned a lot a few months ago, but I think many people have calmed down by now.

Get rid of the fan tinted glasses and emotion and let's be realistic, there is a very low chance of any of them dramatically improving to becoming a superstar or good enough to trade for a superstar.

 

What if Meyers Leonard breaks out this year?

 

Did you think Parsons was going to blow up like he did this season? Like I said,they've only played 1870 minutes between them (Robinson, Jones, D-Mo). They all have talent. But you have to get a chance to show that.

But it's all moot. If we don't get Howard, we'll go after Smith. If we don't get Smith, we'll go after *gulp* Bynum. I reeeeaaaallly don't want Andrew Bynum.

 

Again, why would Portland want an $8 milllion dollar back up point guard?

You suggest that a backcourt of Lin and Lillard can work...so now you've moved Wes Matthews to the 3 spot where he's not big enough to play and Batum to the 4 spot where he certainly can't play. Even if the Blazers accepted this deal, Portland's three best players are still Lillard, Batum, and Matthews and you've just moved 2 out of those 3 players out of position to accommodate a player that they never needed in the first place.

 

Especially since Robinson won't be on our team in a couple days.

 

I'm surprised this isn't being talked about more. The people that don't want Howard can't want Bynum even more right? This is a scary proposition because earlier this year there were sources saying Morey was very high on Bynum..

 

You and i both. I think he's childish. I also think he's our best option though

 

Cause he'd be a 6th man of the year candidate?

Didn't say start Lillard and Lin together or play extended minutes together.

 

ROFL shut it down.

TBH I don't even know why so many people dislike Dwight. Everything surrounding him is caused by the media, he himself never came out and said he wanted to leave Orlando or that he wanted to leave LA, the media reports about him 24/7 and then he gets blamed for it, everytime I see a new rumour about him I see comments like "I'm sick of this guy, shut up already" but he didn't even say anything ??? Why don't you tell the reporters to shut up?

 

He could have said he didn't want out of Orlando, but clearly, he did. He got SVG fired and still wanted out. He's a child. It's obvious. There's really no one coming to this guy's defense anymore.

 

i agree with the op, DW is not worth the max, if he can accept money less than harden, then he may have a case here,he is way to overrated i just didn't see his impact for this whole year in the lakers uniform.
you get what you deserve in NBA, it's a job, your performance decides your salary, that's it, i don't want to explain any more

 

1) I wouldn't be surprised to see them on the floor together. On offense, you run double screens, w/ Asik setting a high pick and Dwight operating down low. Will it be guaranteed to work? No idea, but I can easily see Houston giving it a shot and re-evaluating at the trade deadline. If it doesn't work, we can move Asik FOR VALUE. That seems to escape people. Morey loves selling high, and so far we haven't regretted it yet! If we can pull some talent out of a possible future Asik move, that's pretty sweet too. Again, Howard gives us the OPTION to do that, should we CHOOSE. I just don't get how people think that is a bad thing...having more flexibility. Whether we do it or not in the end comes down to how much you trust Morey to make the best decision then -- and I know I trust him a helluva lot more than armchair GMs on a fan site.

2) I said an ALTERNATIVE ON THE MARKET. You just said play young talent. Why can't we still do that? Sure, minutes might go down some, but we needed to cull our rotation anyways. I don't see much in TRob becoming a future star, and most analysts agree, though he might still be a great role player. He's moved. That leaves Jones and DMo, who will still get plenty of minutes in our current lineup. Adding Dwight doesn't change much there because the asset we are using is CAP SPACE.

3) Look, it is hard to take you seriously if you honestly think POR is interested in moving LMA where the centerpiece player they get back is Lin, to play 6th man or whatever alongside Lillard, at a whopping near $17M for 2 yrs. I don't think you'll find really anyone else on these boards that would agree w/ your assessment there. There's a reason for that. And finally, remember, we aren't just seeing whether we can offer a REASONABLE package for LMA...POR is in no rush to move him at ALL. They will look for the best offer. You really think the Rockets' are the BEST offer w/ a deal of Lin + our young PFs? Even if they got better? Obviously not all star better or else we would not move them in the first place...

4) Who said Dwight's our top dog? Last time I checked that's Harden.

 

Yes...yes I did. Did you not watch Parsons play his rookie season?

 

On a 1-10 scale of playing hard & hustling, Asik plays at 9 or 10, Howard probably 3 or 4. He labors to get up and down the court. He wants to be the focal point of the offense, getting the ball in the post steadily. He doesn't like pick and roll.

However, his offense is not good. His athletic ability is just not an advantage for him, so he can just be totally ineffective. You can't revolve your offense around him & he won't embrace a complimentary role. Unfortunately, you can't give a max contract player a diminished role. Plus if a player has a max contract, & is kind of a bad apple, they do just whatever they please like Harden.

So to have 2 of those players on the same team?

Besides wanting the ball all the time, he gives absolute minimum effort. He plays really poorly until his team is down 10 or 15 points. That way the defense relaxes & he can get a lot of cheap points. His mentality is collect stats so he can say I played good rather than having an attitude of trying to win.

Asik was the backbone of the defense, so the Rockets would become a really bad defensive team.

The Rockets have enough offensive talent with Lin, Harden & Parsons. Jones & D-Mo are going to improve a lot. All that Howard would do is make every player on the team worse, except for Parsons. Why change the offensive scheme which suits the players as it did last season? Lin & Harden are really only good when given a big role on offense. Otherwise they can become a liability. Howard's lack of mobility / movement will really make it tougher for Lin & Harden & Parsons since the defense can concentrate on bottling them up.

There is only 1 ball. The Lakers have less scoring than the Rockets and they were always stepping on each other's toes. It would only be a matter of time before Harden & Howard are at each other's throats!!!!

So, due to the conflicting / clashing styles between how the team played last year and the way Howard wants to play, the end result would produce nobody playing good and overall the offense, #1 in the NBA frequently last season, would drop off severely.

 

4 years ago

 

I think Hibbert, Asik, Lopez, Cousins, Vucevic, Chandler, and I'm probably forgetting someone, are better centers than what's-his-name-- you know, that guy Greg Smith had his career game against-- right now, and certainly over the next 3-5 years.

 

And plus they were in the freaking east... But people never talk about how a young Bynum and Gasol SHUT HIM DOWN in the finals. In 5 games he only reached over 20 points once (had 12 and one game and 11 in another). He only averaged 8 field goal attempts per game in that series. And that's because when he's away from the basket he's useless (Shaq was the same but teams couldn't keep Shaq away from the basket _ Howard will often give up when he can't get position That's why he only has 11 field goal attempts per game for his career). And he hasn't advanced his offensive game since then either. Heck, he only had 2 field goal attempts in 21 minutes in the game he got kicked out of against the Spurs. But maybe it was because Kobe was hogging the ball and didn't pass it to him ---> Oh wait...

If you're going to pay a big man $20 million a year he better be able to face the basket and have legitimate post moves (like we seen from Duncan in the first half of game 6). Teams that invest heavily in a center that have won championships, the center could do those things because during the playoffs pick&rolls and lob passes can't always be depended on. Big money players who win championship can usually consistently create their on offense and Howard can't. And he doesn't have the body build of Shaq so he can just bull his way in the paint.

He's excellent defensively. But I don't believe a team should over pay for defense. Come playoff time you need guys who can play good defense and create their own offense and score. In the playoffs against western conference teams Howard's numbers aren't $12 million a year better than Asik's. That $12 million can go elsewhere.

 

This year's playoff stats:

Asik: 30.0 mpg 12.3 PPG on .541 FG% and .562 FT% 11.2 RPG 1.1 BPG

DHo: 35.8 mpg 17.1 PPG on .578 FG% and .492 FT% 12.4 RPG 2.4 BPG

Some thoughts: We went too small, too much. Our D just wasn't playoff-worthy without Asik in there. Asik's rebounding PER > DHo's. When Scotty tried Hack-a-Asik, Asik focused and won the road game for us. I really don't think DHo is an upgrade worthy of the investment or risk. Asik's on the way up; DHo, not so much.

 

Does Asik suddenly implode once Howard joins our team? Is it a condition that Asik must disappear should we sign Howard?

And don't make me quote aelliot's prior roflstompage of this same, incorrect conclusion. Gah, nm, I will do it anyways: