You know that's not achievable when following college sports for your alma mater who has no chance in hell of ever winning it all. So growing up, you learn to love the game itself with a passion. You get as much joy watching players grow, than trying to out recruit teams you have no chance of out recruiting. Let me guess; you are a Longhorns fan. I'm a fighting Owl. Do you get mad at US Soccer for never winning the Cup. So, you see. We take that attitude into pro sports. No different. We actually want to see the team we root fork move on, too. Do you think we don't? Do you think we don't get annoyed with the players and disappointed and completely deflated in losses? Is that your lame take-away from how we root for the Rockets? Do you need to believe that we are just ho-hum homers to justify your annoying irritating berating that does nothing for fandom except allow you to selfishly vent to the world. Say something worthwhile. Childish venting and pointing fingers and looking for scapegoats and protecting the players you like at all costs, to include unfair criticism of other players, is a one star rant..,.nothing more.
I thought it was the apologists vs the realists. You know, for example, us realists vs the VSpan apologists who blame the coach and team stars to protect their pet players. Many of the self-proclaimed realists on the board are not very realistic at all about their favorite players. The so-called realists, hardcore fans need to call us "sunshine ass, pollyannas" so they feel justified when they go unrealistic to stunning extremes.
No, but I hope that fans evolve. As a fan, I like reading the posts from the guys/girls who have been around since OT, Hakeem/Chuck/Clyde/Kevin Willis/Mario Stevie/Cat,Tmac/Yao. The fans that know the Rudy T story. The fans that value the brilliance of Rick Adelman's offense on ANY roster and JVG's demand for detail and focus on ANY roster. The fans that suffered through Jeremy Lin, celebrated his success, but thanked DM for sending him to Kobe for giving Portland 2 wins in the post-season ( , you can't change my mind on that) AND, the fans that see the value of Dwight Freakin Howard. You know, the guy that grabs every rebound he can and sets some of the best picks in the league. Oh yeah, he plays something called defense and is a team leader. He may lack the post game of Hakeem, but he gives you what 80% of the centers in the league don't offer. If Omer Asik is a better player than Dwight in your mind, we'll have to agree to disagree. Dwight is staying for good reason. He plays tough, and he plays his role, better than some would like to believe. Good game tonight though!
Sure I got upset the Rockets lost, but I don't turn it into crappy analysis and spam it on the board.
So much this. Dwight and DMo are on the same team. We should cheer for both, not prop one up at the expense of the other. Same with Canaan-Bev.
i like dwight, but not as a first or second option on offense. he shouldn't even really have plays called for him unless he's got a substantial size advantage. offensively he excels as a finisher. either finishing the PnR, lobs, or any other shot that he doesn't have to create for himself.
Dwight is a great rebounder and he does play defense (although that has suffered greatly as his quickness has diminished - he doesn't get to the ball quickly enough as a weak side defender anymore). As much as I dislike him on this team, I am not going to argue that our interior defense will dip if we trade him away (and would in fact collapse if we didn't get a decent interior defender back). But the bolded parts are lunacy - I don't think I've seen a player worse at setting screens since Dan Langhi and as far as being a leader, I don't see any leadership qualities from him. He isn't a guy who directs the defense on the floor (the way Battier did) nor is he a guy who holds the other player accountable for stupid play. How could he? With his terrible FT% and propensity for stupid fouls and turnovers, Dwight is among the worst offenders for stupid play. Cheering for guys from the bench and making grandiose statements to the press doesn't constitute leadership. As far as toughness, he's obviously physically tough, but mentally, he tends to shrink when faced with an obstacle. And before you bring up the Portland series, let me say that Robin Lopez was no obstacle (and to take a detour here for a moment, the whole idea that Dwight "dominated" in that series is wrong- he raised his game, but he really had one dominant quarter. From my perspective, dominance is what Aldridge did to us). I agree it isn't fair to compare him to Yao (or Hakeem or Shaq), because ultimately it doesn't really matter if he's better or worse than them. What matters is whether his play is worth the $22M (28% of the total salary this year) and whether it can lead us to a championship. After watching him play a year and a half with the Rockets, I've come to the conclusion that he is neither worth his salary nor capable of being a 2nd option on a championship team. He doesn't mesh well with Harden on offense, his overall basketball IQ is low and the physical gifts that made him such a spectacular player early in career are declining sharply. Bill Simmons did a great article that demonstrated that Dwight is at a point in his career where it is almost statistically impossible to improve. Anyone who thinks Dwight is going to play like he did in the 2009 Finals again is wrong - period. That being said, I am not in favor of "dumping" Dwight (if "dumping" means trading him for a combination of players as equally wretched as those we got back in the Pippen trade). But if I were Morey, I'd be exploring every option out there. I know some here think that top free agents will never sign here again if we trade Dwight, but given how little respect Dwight has from the top players in the league, I suspect most would shrug their shoulders and be more concerned about the Rockets' winning potential and the cash being offered.
Defense is something that fans will never appreciate unless it stares right in their eyes. There's a reason why there's a stat for blocks, rebounds, and steals while no stat for opposing % at the rim or number of shots in the paint deterred. The entire perception of fandom is centered around the basketball because as fans we ball-watch(at least most if not all casual fans do). This will never change because on-ball action is always where we focus. Dwight's actions when he's near the ball tends to be bad. And most of his value is derived from his play when not in the field of our active vision.
