Because the Lakers can't financially bring CP3 in? and even then to play with who for the next 4 years? Sure, where can we sign the best PF in the league with our cap space? If Love were in the FA market and we could sign without having to give up assets then sure, I'd be for Love. But that's not the case. You can't always just go out and acquire a "10" player. This is the exact reason why you'd have to sign D12, simply because he is the best player at his position and is obtainable without having to give up much at all.
No offense, but the people that are saying we shouldn't sign Dwight REALLY aren't thinking this through. For some odd reason, y'all have all apparently decided that to sign Dwight we have cut off Asik's head as a sacrifice to the gods and we will no longer have his value. NEWS FLASH: The Rockets will still have Asik and his awesome contract. That means that signing Dwight does NOT cost us the ability to upgrade other positions, such as power forward. In fact, it actually makes it easier to upgrade the 4 position. Instead of only having access to the free agent 4's, guys who are very good but not elite, the Rockets would have access to every power forward in the league via trade. Asik's trade value is crazy high because of his age, contract, and most importantly the shortage of quality centers in the NBA. I'm quite confident that we could flip Asik for a 4 that's AT LEAST as good as Paul Milsap. To sum it up, signing Dwight does two positive things for our roster situation: (1)He is an indisputable upgrade at center. (2)It would allow us to trade Asik, which increases our ability to upgrade the 4 position because his trade value is at least equal to that of the top free agent power forwards this offseason.
It's normal, people get attached to players on the team. As fans, we tend to overrate our players and underrate others. I'm in the boat that believes we can get Dwight and keep Asik. Why not?
Key Stats: FGA Howard: 10.4 Asik: 7.5 FG% Howard: 57 Asik: 54 Rebound Howard: 12.3 Asik: 11.8 Turnover Howard: 2.9 Asik: 2.2 I'm not sure.
That's not true, and the facts don't back you up either. http://espn.go.com/nba/player/splits/_/id/3414/omer-asik He was very consistent throughout the year... I sure hope he works on his game. But I didn't see crazy ridiculous improvement throughout the year. I saw somebody who from the start appeared to be underutilized in his previous role, and with more minutes just produced more and more consistently. Here's his game logs btw: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/asikom01/gamelog/2013/ He had that 0 point, 19 rebound effort the second game of the season. But otherwise, in his first 10 games as a rocket, he had 7 games in double digit points, 7 games in double digit rebounds, 5 double/doubles, and decent shooting as a whole, especially if you take out that second game clunker (0-7). I love Asik's attitude and game. He went from a 10-15 mpg backup to a top 10 center. But it'd be idiotic to not chase Dwight. And, frankly there are other centers I'd take over him as well. If any of those could be acquired without giving up assets, it makes sense to do so, because Omer also happens to be your best and most obvious trade chip. Of course, the only two centers on the list you could potentially get without giving up assets are Dwight and JJ Hickson - if you can call him a center (he played almost exclusively at center this year). I'd go all-in for Dwight. Absent that, I'd make a reasonable offer for JJ as well, assuming it doesn't screw up future cap flexibility.
You cannot keep both. It would be an insult to Asik to ask him to come off the bench after having the season he just had. You bet teams would be willing to trade for him. I'll keep rehashing this as I'm a Laker fan. I've watched nearly every game the Lakers have played this season. Since I'm a Lin and Asik fan I've watched nearly every game the Rockets have played. The difference between Howard and Asik really isn't that big. Rebounding, they're pretty much the same Asik(11.7) Howard (10.8) Defending, Howard is a better weak side defender as he can rotate quicker than Asik. But Asik is a better post defender as he's a bigger defender and has more size. Defensively their impact on the floor is pretty much the same. If you watched the Laker-Spurs series Tim Duncan was dominating Howard in the post whereas Asik can defend Duncan pretty well. Catch and finish, a lot of people may think Howard is a much better catch and finish player than Asik I disagree with that. Howard definitely has better hands but the biggest issue I have with him is that he needs to bring the ball low first before he finishes. This results in a lot of strip balls by smaller players down low when he catches the ball in the paint. Asik in my opinion has gotten better over the course of the season by catching high and then finishing high, not allowing smaller players to strip him of the ball. Free throw shooting, it's not even close Asik by the far is the superior FT shooter. Asik FT numbers have been getting better and better as the season went on whereas Howard FT numbers have pretty much stayed the same and then took a dive in the playoffs. Playoff FT% numbers: Asik(68%) Howard(44%) Post game, well both players don't really have a reliable post game so nothing really to talk about here. Howard is probably better than Asik but his awful FT% completely offsets that. Another thing Dwight Howard get's really whiney and plays with low energy when he doesn't a get lot of touches in the post whereas Asik will play hard always and doesn't care about offensive touches. This is coming from a Laker fan, you guys should feel very fortunate that Asik is on this team for only $8 million/year. I have a feeling this board is getting the "grass is greener on the other side" syndrome.
This is what I been screaming! We need to sell out on CP3. CP3 + Asik >>>>> Lin + Howard. With asik's pick n roll game CP3 will easily make him a 18/11 guy. He'll, CP3 made all stars out of Tyson Chandler and Omeka Okafor. A bigger body and powerful finisher? Seems like a no brainer to me but if you see D12 as a better option please explain.......
I'd rather CP3 too, because well, he's one of the greatest point guards of all time. He's also a nicer draw. He seems to be close with just about anyone who matters in this league. The benefit of Dwight, beyond him also being a beast, is that Asik's trade value is a lot better than Lins. So if we get Dwight, we might be able to flip Asik for a nice PF. I think if CP3 comes though, it ups the chances that Dwight will come as well by a lot. They aren't stupid, they know they are in the same championship window as LeBron and the Heat. They won't win anything their entire career with sub par teams unless they team up with star players to compete with the Heat. They attempted it before, and with them being free agents at the same time this year, it gives them a real opportunity to make it real this time and join up with Harden and try to compete against the Heat.
Que? Again even if there's only an incremental improvement, if that incremental improvement gets you a superstar and the best player at the position, you always make that deal. AND you can always recoup the value of Asik in trade.
I'm glad someone can see what I see on a daily basis and look at the free throws percentage...stats do not lie
Hatred gonna hate...look at stats...you looking at his past but the decline for Howard is closer than Asik bro...absent minded fools
I just don't see the Rockets forging a path that involves separating themselves from Jeremy Lin. The only way I see us signing (if he would choose to come here) Chris Paul is if Beverley could be put in a deal to bring in something great, like an Aldrige or a Love. I don't think we have enough pieces to get either of these guys via trade - without parting with someone we'd hate to lose (i.e. Chandler Parsons). That being said, I think Dwight is the one superstar that could be influenced and wooed by a team. I think heavy recruitment both this offseason and last, coupled with our rising young core (Harden and Parsons, mostly), would be something that could easily influence Howard into coming here. Honestly, if Howard wants to leave the Lakers (which I could see him possibly doing) for a smaller market, Houston is the perfect fit for him. I'll probably regret this, but in my opinion, it's a 50/50 shot between the Lakers and the Rockets for Howard. I don't think any other team has a shot, to be honest. Right now, if I'm the Rockets, I go all in for Howard. I honestly would hate to get rid of Asik, but let's face it, Howard is a much more dynamic player, and he's exactly the ideal center for this team. Comparing last season's stats to Asik's last season stats is a bit lame, in my opinion. If you can get Howard, package Asik with one of our young power forwards for a starting caliber power forward that will take some pressure off the young bigs you don't trade. In this deal, add another Francisco Garcia-type player, as well. Re-sign Garcia. Sign a decent backup center. Finally, make sure you'll have enough money to lock Chandler up for the long-term when it's time.
I like Asik don't get me wrong. But I'd rather him shoot those 15-20 jumpers than taking a layup :grin:
