Team defense needs more Montrezz Harrell and Beasly. With DmO. That is the best defensive unit. With pat Bev and Kj. This team can lock down any team in the league. Bickerstaff needs to try it!
PG: Bev SG: McDaniels SF:Beasley PF: Harrell C: DMo Wow that team is hot garbage. I'd like to see these guys get minutes but without Ariza and Harden we wouldn't be in the playoffs.
Dwight is a 'cornerstone'... that means he doesn't have to play defense.... am I wrong or has that message been sent loud and clear all season long? Defense? That's role player work...
After the Rockets put him on the market he seems to have checked out mentally. Very annoying (bench him), but the issue with defense is not just Howard (or Harden), it's an utter lack of team coordination. I flatout disbelief everyone suddenly regressed. It's a complete collapse (or absence) of ciable schemes. Indeed, I actually think this is quite visible with our offense as well. And if we are actually following schemes... then the staff needs to watch our whole season as replay... as goddang I have needed bleach after many of our games. It's flatout the ugliest basketball I have ever witnessed. It's not just ineffective and frustrating... it's an affront to the game.
There is no question that his athletic ability and lateral footwork has regressed but he's still an above average defender when he is engaged and his mind is right. The problem is not Howard on defense, it's communication between teammates and an inferior strategy implemented by the coaches.
I would kinda like some clearer numbers, but I'm not too adept at finding them. On FG%: - The guy is only shooting point blank dunks. Maybe other guys (even big men) actually attempt a jump shot here and there, and that would explain their lower FG%'s? - Even though he's getting paid $23M, it's not like you can dump it into him in the post and rely on him for an important bucket. - What about al these missed free throws and turnovers? I think a ~points-per-touch would be a better stat. On rebounding: - What about one of those contested rebound % stats? The popular narrative is Howard is hogging all the easy rebounds from his teammates, so just raw RPG doesn't really make it clear.
Dwight's points-per-possession (ppp) for the post up is 0.83, which is exactly the 50th percentile among all NBA players. In comparison, Harden's isolation generates 0.93 points-per-possession, well over the league average. http://stats.nba.com/playtype/#!/post-up/?dir=1&PT=player&OD=offensive&sort=Poss In terms of rebounding, Dwight's contested REB % is only 35.8 - 7th among top 10 rebounders in this league, which means he gets quite a lot of uncontested rebounds that inflates his total rebound numbers. http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/player/rebounding/?sort=REB&dir=1
A lot of dwights rebounds are star padding . Still , rebounding is the best thing he does. But he needs to be willing to go contest shots better
Probably experiencing natural regression but it doesn't help that half the team are traffic cones on defense and it is his job to mop up the mess.
Dwight doesn't play defense - he stands in the paint to get his rebounds, he REFUSES to rotate out to the corner shooter - Harden is bad on Defense but Dwight is just as bad - the commentators on Atlanta were laughing at his lazy lack of effort no rotating self. He has to go, this team can be SOOO much better with Beasley, DMo, Capella and Harrell - Dwight is just not a team player anymore and not good enough to be a build around star. DD
