SI.Com-Rox one of five teams that have taken a step backwards this offseason

I don't think you can diminish post-up games. Really. There's never enough inside presences, I hope the Rockets can utilize it better. Maybe, since from what your explaining, a better conclusion is to play juwan in the post whenever Yao is out? For those 12-13mins. Battier, too, is a good post option. If a team goes small on us at 2,3 T-mac and/or Battier should try to play some post. I'd love to see a post up triangle offense, or just abuse the mis-match style.

 

This situation with Howard reminds me a lot of when we had Jim Jackson a couple of seasons ago. JJ was a solid scoring option that played 40 minutes a game, averaged 13 points for us, and made 40% of his 3-pointers, yet we couldn’t win with him. Then once he was traded, he went from being a 40 minute-a-game player on this team to an end of the bench player in Phoenix and LA. I think the same thing would happen to Howard if he were on any other team.

At this stage of Howard’s career, his place on a playoff team is as the third or fourth man off the bench. If he’s the 3rd or 4th best scoring option on your team (as he has been the past 2 seasons), your team is in lot of trouble. Unfortunately, unless something changes, we’re heading into next season with Howard once again being our 3rd or 4th best offensive player.

 

Except that Howard was on the team that was winning when we traded JJ.

 

I agree that Yao and Howard can't be on the floor at the same time..the spacing just doesn't work...Yao is 35-40 minute player (hopefully) if he improves his conditioning....That would leave only 8-13 mins a game for Howard being on the floor without Yao...at his salary, that is ludicrous...if we can get rid of his contract and get a decent player in return, we need to do it...

 

We just need to dump JHo somehow.