Rafer taking 16 shots isn't a recipe for a W. He blew half of his misses on that ugly floater (Rafer shoot it off the glass please). Rick and his staff fall asleep on the defensive end. They should have immediately switch Barry to Johnson. Your scouting report tells you Johnson can post up.
I actually liker Rafer's agressivness and play in the 2nd half. But really, 16 shots ain't gonna get it done. For example McGrady took 13. You wanna have alston taking 10 anc Tracy 19 instead
Dwight didn't get key offensive or defensive rebounds yesterday, and defensively, he was basically a nonfactor. He doesn't draw a double team, he can't shoot free throws, and his rebounding numbers are decieving. He is the only rebounder on that team. The Rockets have Scola and Landry who are decent rebounders, and Tmac is one of the better rebounding shooting guards, while Artest and Battier are no slouches in that department either. Yao's downhill effect won't be nearly as bad as Dwight's. Atleast Yao still has size, skill, and basketball IQ he can always fall back on. What happens when Howard gets injured and loses some athleticism or if an injury causes him to gain a lot of weight? He will just be another big body taking up space. The MVP of the Magic is Hedo Turkoglu. He is the playmaker, and the best scorer on that team. Howard is very important as well, but his #'s besides shotblocking are inflated due to the amount of 3's taken by the Magic and the lack of rebounding around him. Also, its really EASY to shoot 58%, when all you have to make are alley hoop dunks and putbacks when Hedo drives or when 4 players are constantly jacking up 3's. Sure Dwight Howard is a better shot blocker, but that doesn't necessarily make him a great defender. I would say Haslem, Chuck Hayes, Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, Kevin Garnett, Boozer, Jermaine O'Neal, and Shaq are all better post defenders and overall defenders than Dwight Howard, even though none of these guys get 1/2 as many blocks as Howard anymore. Shot blocking is just one aspect of defense. Man-to-man and post defense s much more valued and important to a team than getting some blocks. Shawn Kemp was a decent shot blocker, but he was a horrible post defender and one-on-one defender. Josh Smith is a great shot blocker, but he couldn't guard KG last year. Plus going for every block leads to foul trouble, as Howard showed us yesterday by getting 4 fouls in 8 minutes of playing time. I agree that Dwight should reach his peak in the next 5-7 years, but Yao has played at his peak for the last 3 seasons already. It took him 3 seasons to reach his peak, and now its just a matter of health. He can't help that Dwight is 5 years younger than him. But Yao will be able to play at a more consistent rate much longer due to his skill and size. Howard is just another athlete who happens to play basketball. He has no offensive skills, no bball IQ, no passing ablilty, and can't even draw double teams. Yao does everything that Dwight can't do, plus does the things he does at a little bit of a lower rate. He still averages 2 bpg, he still gets 10 rpg, and he will average atleast 20 ppg, but the difference is, his 20 ppg will also get his teammates wide open shots, where as Dwight gets his 20 ppg from his teammate's missed 3's. Yao has a bigger overall impact on the game than Dwight. Late in games, its risky to have Howard out there because he can't shoot free throws and he can't create his own shot. Yao shoots free throws at 86% and he is a top 5 post player right now and he can hit a jumper if open. The Rockets team defense usually does a better job on the pick n' rolls, but as everybody can see we haven't played that high level of team defense for an entire game yet. Dwight by himself is better than Yao in that aspect, but Yao is still a smarter defender than Dwight IMO. Dwight will go for blocks, when he should stay on the ground and just contest.
I think Dwight is an above average defender, but I don't think his defense is as great as some make it out to be, either. He certainly can't dominate the paint defensively, like Olajuwon or Mutombo. He does struggle with average centers on some nights, like Yao, especially if he can't outmuscle that player or if that player can somewhat beat him off the dribble. I think defensively, he has some aspects of Akeem, but very very few, while possessing a little of Camby. Offensively...hard to say. He scores his points, like Biedrins, but he has muscle on him. I do think he will be a great player in his peak and people will be raving about him. But, I think by the team he reaches that point, Yao will probably be out of the league or 3rd tier center (he'll be a shell of his former self)...yet I still think he would give Howard's fits on offense.
The good news for Howard is that he's only 22 or 23 so he has time to develop his game. The disturbing part is, after 4 years in the league, the only thing he has done to get better is get stronger, which is a usual transition from age 18 to 22. He still hasn't developed much else in his game (he has gotten better at shot blocking though), but offensively he's no different than 2 years ago. As the seasons pass by, his knees will become weary, he'll gain some more weight, and he'll gradually slow down a bit, and thats without injuries, unless if he's a fitness freak like Karl Malone was. But if he slows down a little, there goes a lot of his production. He has very little room for error in his career. As for Yao, its hard to know what he'll be in 5 years, just because of his injury history. It is possible for him to stay a productive center. Rik Smits, Sabonis, and Ilgauskus were all good center after numerous feet and knee injuries. They weren't all stars anymrore, but with a good team, they were great and you NEVER lose size. I believe thats the worst case scenario for Yao, besides having to retire due to injuries. At best, he will continue to play at an all star level for the next 5-7 years and be relatively healthy. He'll have a chance to play with players besides Tmac and Artest, and thats when people will realize how good Yao is. We'll bring in another dynamic guard to pair with Yao in 2 years, and that will still give us another era to potentially win a title. But at the end of the day, it will all depend on health with Yao. But barring a career ending injury Yao will be productive and possibly an All Star, where as Dwight Howard with an injury could be a completely different and much less productive player after an injury. Barring a major injury, he will still graudually decline with his athleticism. Even though he is young, KG has declined by 29 or 30 years old, because of 13 years in the NBA. The same goes for Tmac, Jermaine O'Neal, and others who came out at a young age. NBA seasons takes a toll on the body. Right now it looks like only Kobe and Lebron can keep up what they are doing for a long time, and they have skills on top of that. Imagine what Howard will do without athleticism...absolutely nothing except take up space.
I agree with your assessments that Dwight should be farther along with his offensive game. I wonder what he does in the offseason? However, no team can take him out of a game by fronting him. Also, Yao hands for catching passes are horrible when he has to move to the ball. Once again a defect because of his size. I love the Big Liability jumper, jump hook, and hustle. Last night he hustled up and down the floor. He doesn't do it often enough. Some games he look absolutely gased. The big handicap is the injury bug, which comes with his size. Dwight is less injured than Yao will continue to play more games while Yao plays less and less. BOTTOM LINE RIGHT NOW, YAO IS BETTER. However, with work on his offensive game, Dwight can surpass Yao. We all agree that Shaq is better than Yao and Shaq's offensive game was rudimentary to say the least.
Its really awesome how we've played awesome in the fourth quarter for the last two matches. T-mac was lights out from down town (in the fourth)....Still duznt mean i dont want him to drive more, but you take what you get. Great Win, solid performances from everybody. What about Landry and Brooks off the Bench. Once again Yao dominated Dwight. Pity some of the calls from the refs though The only worry for me right now, is Brent Barry's shooting. Hope that wrist gets fully healed.
He is one of the better defenders at stripping the ball on the post, somewhat similar to what Malone used to do. Just trying to prove that you don't have to be a good shot blocker to be a good post defender.
You shouldn't front Dwight Howard, because that plays to his strength, which is catching lob passes for easy dunks. He can jump higher than any big out there. But if you play behind him, and make him make a low post move or take a bank shot, you will be successful. Its smarter to just play behind him, where as Yao will destroy you if you play behind him and if you don't double him. Fronting Yao can make him a little weary, but it will make the defender more weary trying to fight 320 lbs for 35 mpg. Last year in the playoffs, he dominated Bargnani, Bosh, and Nesterovic because they are all soft inside, but against the Pistons, Rasheed Wallace, McDyess, and Maxiell shut him down pretty easily, without double teaming him or fronting him. As for the health factor, people seem to forget that Yao only missed 1 game in his 1st 3 seasons. He was very durable. But then freak injuries and freak accidents happened. In 05-06, he played through a very painful toe injury for many years, and finally got surgery on it, but then shortly after coming back from that, he broke his foot. In 06-07, he had a freak accident in a game, and his knee cap was broken. In 07-08, he was having a good year, but then it was found that he had played many months on a stress fracture in his foot. I know Yao has had his injury problems, but another great had a similar path with injuries. Shaq missed only 4 games his 1st 3 seasons, but then after that, he had 3 years of missing major time. Here is the link to his career stats: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/onealsh01.html In 95-96, O'Neal played 54 games In 96-97, 51 games In 97-98, 60 games 98-2001, O'Neal missed a total of 11 games. 2001-2004, 67 games each season. Now this is the most dominant center of all time. He missed many games, and had many freak injuries himself (during the Lakers titles, he was able to "coast" through the season), but still, it is possible for Yao to recover from injuries. Shaq went on to have a magnificent career after going through his injury problems. Another thing this shows is that Dwight Howard could get injured as well. Nobody is immune to that. It happens. Very few players ever go without missing games, especially taking that beating down low night in and night out. The last point I want to make is that Shaq's post game and overall game is light years ahead of Dwight Howard as well. People just thinks Shaq just dunked all the time. Not true. He had moves to go to when he couldn't just power his way to the basket. He had EXCELLENT foot work for a big man. He had a nice jump hook, a drop step move, a little 5-10 ft baseline turnaround, he knew how to use the glass well,and he could really power his way to the basket to dunk on people when he had time and even sometimes through double teams. Dwight Howard is nowhere near as strong as Shaq was. Also, Shaq's passing and basketball IQ was amazing. You rarely saw Shaq make bad decisions even early in his career. He really understood the game. His passing was crisp and he tore apart teams when they double and triple teamed him. The worst part is, Shaq was a better free throw shooter than Howard. Its hard to be worse than Shaq but Howard and Ben Wallace managed to do so. Shaq was great not only because of his strength and power, but more so because of his foot work, post moves, passing, and basketball IQ. Dwight Howard does not possess any of these qualities of a big man. Strenght and power will only get you so far...
whatever... you people talk so much cr*p. Dwight is better....dwight is more talented...blahblah,blah tonight yao handed him his a** give ming some props and shut up
