[RealGM] Dwight Howard Regains Commanding Locker Room Voice With Rockets

OKC and Indiana just lost to Orlando. Elite teams can struggle too. We may do it a little more, but we're not on their level yet. It'll happen just be patient. People think the best teams never struggle against inferior competition.

 

Don't forget a much inferior Utah team beat Miami on Saturday as well…when I saw it I felt a little better lol

 

The game at Sactown was a while ago. So was the game in OKC and that was also the 4th game in 5 nights. I'm just talking about their play over the last few weeks. They've done a much better job getting off to good starts lately. There are some exceptions like the Spurs game and they still have issues holding onto leads(the Bucks and Mavs games come to mind), but overall they've been executing better and are no longer blowing gimme games like they used to.

That being said, I hope they don't make me eat those words by choking against an injury-riddled T'Wolves team tonight.

 

Has Dwight Howard become the most important player on this team? It seems that the Rockets win more easily when he's the most dominant player for them, as opposed to Harden.

 

A lot of these elite teams have choked away from leads as well as lost to crappy teams. Didn't the Thunder just blew a lead and lost to the crappy a** Magic. Didn't the Pacers just lost to that same crappy team. Both the Pacers and Thunder are the top dogs in the NBA correct.

 

man, I ****ing love dwight howard. such a good player. hes always been one of my 5 favorite player. the only center who has carried his team to the finals since shaq and kobe. o hate the rep he got for 1 year in L.A. I honestly dont see why people were thinking he wasnt going to work here. 1 year shouldnt change his whole rep.

after this all star break, we're going to see 2009 Dwight.

 

Dwight getting more and more healthy is very exciting. I feel like some people are subtly taking shots at harden, but to win a title we need both our top dogs to feed nightly. They're getting better and better together, Dwights numbers are getting great and Harden is getting his still. Very exciting! I'm expecting big things this year and beyond

 

Harden hasn't taken a step back. He's been putting up the same numbers all season. The difference now is that Howard is starting to take a larger role.

Which makes more sense? Howard taking away touches from an all nba all star player, or taking them away from role players?

 

he's been passing out of the double unlike earlier in the season. he's hitting his FTs. his post moves are the same, but against single coverage he cant be stopped. the only thing he still needs work on is not rushing in the post.

 

The offense has changed. Guards are allowed to push the ball and find the best available shot as opposed to the corner 3. Traditional post-ups are discouraged. Instead, the ball goes in early in the shot clock and a quick decision to shoot or pass is expected. In a way the Rockets are starting to play a lot like the Clippers.

 

I was begging for Dwight to come here, but even I never thought he could be this good. Maybe it's because I didn't watch him enough in Orlando(except when Yao was abusing him one-on-one), but I figured we'd be getting a defensive rebounding stud who would score primarily through dunks, short hook shots, and offensive putbacks(along with the occasional free throw when he could make them).

His offense has really come on strong over the last month or so. He's now clearly the first option on this team over Harden. He has no fear of attacking his defender which is cutting down on turnovers and leading to better shot opportunities. Plus he now welcomes intentional fouls as he's actually making his free throws, especially in the clutch when his team needs them(the Mavs game being the most prominent example).

 

Talking about whose team this is and who should be #1 option is meaningless. It all depends on the match-ups and the games.

The team looks like is gelling and I do see more balanced attacked than the start of the season. Hopefully the team will keep improving the ball movement and rotation defense when the players know the role better.

I'm glad that DH is happy and gradually taking over the leadership role. Hopefully he realizes that as a leader of the team he can handle himself better (show less frustration visibly), when things do not go his way (facing tough defense, bad calls, not hitting free throws). Leaders do not panic even when the things got tough.

 

1a Howard
1b harden

2 parsons

3a Lin
3b jones
3c pbev

 

Harden is the alpha dog ...

 

I still can't believe we got dwight freaking howard

 

I don't know why some of you are taking little shots at harden. Trust me when I say this, team won't go anywhere without 28-30 ppg from him in the playoffs. Howard's the older vet superstar I would expect him to take over the leader role and he shoulda been getting these touches all season. With that said I don't think it's that the rockets just magically changed their offense and wise hey harden 1st half of season was yours and now Dwight's gonna have the 2nd half to run the show. It don't work like that in basketball, what's happened is everyone has gotten alot more comfortable playing with the Dwight and is understanding we're he likes the ball.

 

This change took place at the start of the season.

 

The question is how soon will Harden mature and buy into the team concept instead of just selfishly trying to get his?

 

I just like the fact that he said FU to LA lol

 

Yikes, that is terribly written. Thumbs up to the substance, though.