1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

Shutting Howard down till AS-break after TJones return?

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by _RTM_, Jan 22, 2015.

?

Should Rockets shut down Dwight for month or so after TJones return?

Poll closed May 2, 2015.
  1. Yes

    43 vote(s)
    72.9%
  2. No

    4 vote(s)
    6.8%
  3. Brian Cook (this poll is knee-jerk)

    12 vote(s)
    20.3%
  1. _RTM_

    _RTM_ Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2009
    Messages:
    3,104
    Likes Received:
    462
    [KNEE-JERK ALERT]

    Dwight Howard teams have conceded 126 or more points with him on the court just three times in his career. Once in 07-08 (ORL vs SAS), once with Lakers (against Denver) and last year (Clippers disaster). It happened twicely just in four days. Obviously, Rockets defense have never been the same after his return, even while Morey added some new defensive pieces.

    Obviously, that his right knee is effecting on Dwight game and it's not about Golden State matchup. This team hold Warriors to 98 and 105 points without Dwight, Brewer, Smith and Bev (once), forcing 41 overall turnovers. GSW have scored over 29 points in a quarter once in two of those games (1 of 8), they've scored 29 points or more 7 times out of 8 this week. 30+ point quarter for the opposing team is always an indication for bad-to-horrible defense

    Dwight is unable to do what he's always done on defense, he's late on help, can't cover P-n-R like he used to. December 18 was the last time when he made 2 or more blocks in a single game. You know everything about offensive and consistency issues also. It's obvious that "right knee effect" is disastrous to his game.

    Would you like to shut Howard down for additional medical purposes on his knee and having him back after All-Star break, or our Rockets should let Dwight play through it and hope that he won't re-injure it [and miss the rest of the season]?

    We can only do it once TJones will be back on a team to have at least D-Mo, Smith, not 100% TJones, Papa and Dorsey rotation among bigs, of course.

    Of course, we would give up some W's with that move, but finishing sixth or seventh in the West is much better than finish in 4-5 range, because our worst matchups (GSW and OKC) would play against each other and we could be left in Memphis, Spurs, Clippers, Dallas group on a berth, when almost every matchup is favorable for the Rockets. HCA means nothing on today's West, when everybody could beat everybody at any place, even on Mars.
    Of course, we could still miss it all, but we would definitely finish 9-th if Dwight situation is going to get only worse and there is no way for us to go through the western massacre in playoffs with Dwight playing like he's played after his return and especially in January.

    Thank You
     
  2. napalm06

    napalm06 Huge Flopping Fan

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2008
    Messages:
    26,557
    Likes Received:
    29,877
    I'm not completely opposed to it. But we can't throw TJones out there to heavy minutes, and we can't play Dorsey. More like reduced minutes, and let's ride the DMo train.
     
  3. REEKO_HTOWN

    REEKO_HTOWN I'm Rich Biiiiaaatch!

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2008
    Messages:
    47,024
    Likes Received:
    18,818
    I'd do it. Dwight is playing at Laker levels right now.
     
  4. BigShasta

    BigShasta Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2014
    Messages:
    5,220
    Likes Received:
    4,826
    It would probably be wise to rest Dwight. As in play him sparingly. In order to do that, we would need to get out to Hot starts. I'm sure Tjones (once he returns) and DMO + Smith can handle the load.
     
  5. Rip Van Rocket

    Rip Van Rocket Contributing Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2002
    Messages:
    7,152
    Likes Received:
    356
    The Rockets might play better without Dwight. But giving Dwight rest probably won't help Dwight regain his old form. Dwight is probably never going to improve over what he currently is. Players decline when they get old. Dwight isn't very old, but he has played a lot of games in the NBA. The next two and a half years are going to be very frustrating.
     
  6. rocketsballin

    rocketsballin Member

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2012
    Messages:
    8,041
    Likes Received:
    1,483
    the thing is he's our only true rim protector. dmo and jones aren't gonna get it done. we dont need him to sit out for a month. play him 20-25minutes, and when jones can play a full game we can sit dwight for a few games
     
  7. DaDakota

    DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 1999
    Messages:
    125,946
    Likes Received:
    35,052
    Yeah, no way he opts out now.

    DD
     
  8. CCity Zero

    CCity Zero Member

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2014
    Messages:
    7,279
    Likes Received:
    3,517
    I'd like them to rest him, because it's clear his knee is hurt and he's not himself. I know I've said this before but I hope it's not microfracture, because our season will get a lot worse. If Dwight can take a month off or something and come back even 80% of what he was in the playoffs last year, it'll be like a whole different team. Plus TJones can use the extra PT to get ready for the playoffs. Dwight is a proven star, TJones could use the extra time to get the experience.
     
  9. count_dough-ku

    Joined:
    May 19, 2002
    Messages:
    17,664
    Likes Received:
    9,148
    That's a good thing IMO. It'll be a much easier call for even a moron like Les to trade or deny a new contract to a 31(almost 32) year-old Dwight in 2017 than a 30 year-old Dwight in 2016.
     
  10. jonasXV

    jonasXV Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2010
    Messages:
    220
    Likes Received:
    59
  11. DarkHorse

    DarkHorse Member

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 1999
    Messages:
    6,735
    Likes Received:
    1,251
    This is probably crazy talk, and it probably hurts our defensive identity too much, but I wonder how realistic it would be to consider starting Jones with DMo and bringing Dwight off of the bench with Smith.

    It sounds crazy, but if Dwight really isn't going to change his spots and start running the pick and roll more efficiently, then maybe you can take advantage of DMo's far superior post up game to round out the offense with Harden, and allow Dwight to (read: waste his touches with) run the second unit.

    That second unit would, at the very least, be a defensive juggernaut with Smith and Howard for rim protection, and either Ariza or Brewer on the court, and you wouldn't have the ball sharing problem with Harden not playing with that group as much.


    I don't know, this is probably a stupid knee jerk idea. But I feel like Dwight either needs to be punished (if he's healthy) or rested (if he's not) for his play lately.
     
    1 person likes this.
  12. Zbed

    Zbed Member

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2014
    Messages:
    584
    Likes Received:
    14
    We should rest Dwight and Harden during the LA game coming up and let Dmo/headbanders win that one for us.
     
  13. LCAhmed

    LCAhmed Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2009
    Messages:
    11,034
    Likes Received:
    1,631
    I voted Brian Cook because Brian Cook.

    Resting Howard and Harden would be ideal, especially since they will be our cornerstone to play off of for playoffs. I'd also like to build confidence in some of the other players (i.e. D Mo, Smith, Brewer, Ariza) so we can get to next level production.
     
  14. rocketsballin

    rocketsballin Member

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2012
    Messages:
    8,041
    Likes Received:
    1,483
    if its microfracture then screw it just get surgery and he'll be back strong next season. we can still make the playoffs and should try, it would only give us more expierience. better than getting the surgery in the offseason and waiting till december or jan for him to be 100%
     
  15. FTW Rockets FTW

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2011
    Messages:
    27,724
    Likes Received:
    21,397
    Are we any position to do that?

    Don't look too far ahead but we are far from guaranteed a playoff spot. Playing .500 ball from here on gets us to 48 wins and the way the team has been playing and the tougher schedule in the 2nd half of the season, Rockets can't take the playoff spot as a guarantee....just yet.
     
  16. RedRising14

    RedRising14 Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2014
    Messages:
    27
    Likes Received:
    0
    This is not that crazy, at least to me. D-Mo's post game is much much better than Dwight's and his defense has significantly improved. I know that our defense will take a slight hit but our scheme (forcing ballhandlers towards the baseline, playing the passing lanes) will keep us maybe a top 10 defense. It would also get rid of a lot of those futile Dwight post ups and the offense would run SO much more smoothly. And I believe Jones, D-Mo, Dwight, and Smoove can all step up in this new line up. Not a knee jerk to me.
     
  17. count_dough-ku

    Joined:
    May 19, 2002
    Messages:
    17,664
    Likes Received:
    9,148
    Yeah, I mentioned this in another thread. The Rockets are in serious danger of lottoland if they don't get it together. A lot of us thought early in the season that 50 wins may be the bare minimum needed to qualify for the playoffs in the West and playing .500 ball(20-19 over their final 39) the rest of the way would leave the Rockets at 49-33. With Phoenix playing well and OKC right on their tails, it's not crazy to think that a 49 win total would drop us to 9th.

    And before any of you dismiss this out of hand as kneejerk, take a look at the schedule. It is not easy going forward. Especially if we keep seeing this kind of poor defensive effort most nights.
     
  18. tmacfor35

    tmacfor35 Member

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2008
    Messages:
    23,495
    Likes Received:
    13,732
    Dorsey was our best big last night.
     
  19. joeson332

    joeson332 Member

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2014
    Messages:
    6,663
    Likes Received:
    2,616
    rest Harden
     
  20. Corrosion

    Corrosion Member

    Joined:
    Jan 24, 2011
    Messages:
    9,345
    Likes Received:
    12,107
    Not only has the defense not been the same , the offense has been even worse since Howards return.

    Its no coincidence that they played their best basketball on both ends of the court when .... Tarick Black was playing & Howard was recovering on the sidelines.
    Black is nowhere near the quality of player BUT he accepted his role and did the dirty work that Dwert refuses to do.

    They were getting a lot of easy shots & a bunch of offensive rebounds as a result of Black doing what the team needed him to do. Set picks , shoot layups , box out , rebound and defend while Harden & Motiejunas did the heavy lifting on the offensive end.

    Dwet refuses to accept that role & McHale cant get him to buy in. Send them both to the D-League.
     

Share This Page

  • About ClutchFans

    Since 1996, ClutchFans has been loud and proud covering the Houston Rockets, helping set an industry standard for team fan sites. The forums have been a home for Houston sports fans as well as basketball fanatics around the globe.

  • Support ClutchFans!

    If you find that ClutchFans is a valuable resource for you, please consider becoming a Supporting Member. Supporting Members can upload photos and attachments directly to their posts, customize their user title and more. Gold Supporters see zero ads!


    Upgrade Now