Sources: Dwight doesn't see himself as a Rocket next year

Embarrassing performance by Dwight. Embarrassing.

 

Yo philly I heard you like injury affected centers...





FWIW I want a badass coach thats going to make Howard play for the name across the front of his chest and not the back. I want a coach that makes Howard run Pick n Roll. I'm fine with a Thibbs, but I want Pringles as an offensive coach. Mike D'antoni seems like such a great fit with Harden and Howard but who knows if we'll get to see it. 7 secs or less!

 

I think he saw himself as a Raptor tonight.

 

cut down dwight's minutes drastically and play capela at least 30 min a game

 

Its 2 AM and you just decided to post the same thing you posted in 5 other threads for the 10th time.

Time to re-evaluate things.

 

you're just nervous that more and more people are realizing the truth :

Dwight is the one who's mainly dragging this team down.

Dwight is a max player that puts up 2 points 5 rebounds 6 fouls.

DWIGHT IS THE MOST OVERRATED AND OVERPAID PLAYER IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE.

 

Truth. And YES to more minutes for Capela. I'd also be open to starting DMo/Beasley at C/PF or at least giving it heavy minutes.

 

should have had that Dwight and JBB conversation long ago, Daryl

talking to the coach and the defensive pillar of the team, second best player should be of the utmost importance

Those 2 guys are not working out great

 

Sources: City of Houston doesn't see Dwight as a Rocket next year

 

If he really doesn't care anymore why play him at all. It is obvious he is more concerned about his contract and the worst thing that can happen to him now is an injury. Why help a man who has no intentions of helping us as well. What he will soon realize is that most teams that will acquire him will ask that he do the exact same thing we wanted him to do this season, which is to just focus on the defensive end. Would Orlando really want to run the offence through him again with their improved budding stars and backcourt? Would the Celtics or even Knicks or any other team as well? He will be acquired as a defensive anchor just as we acquired him to be and second to fourth fiddle to primary scorers on the offensive end. If "or more so once" the other teams realize he is not content because of his limited role and half assing his efforts the same reaction will occur and the team will look to trade him as an asset. Dwight is facing the same issues many Divas face at their stage of their respective career. Whether it be models, actors/actresses, singers, chefs/cooks, or whatever it may be, age catches up. This is where a good coach like Poppavich is needed. Duncan and ginobli are shadows of their former selves. It is obvious and I am sure they themselves see it too. But name other players that have aged as gracefully as they have. I doubt Duncan would still be playing today if he were under the tutelage of a different coach. Just like Dwight is facing at this point of his career, I am sure Duncan in previous seasons wanted to do more and felt he should still be the primary scoring option. We all saw Kobe felt it too this season and we should all know Dream felt it as well. It is coaches like Poppavich that can get these players past that with a balance of respect and personal relationship.
I highly doubt JB actually commands respect like some from the Rockets organization and insiders have proclaimed or has that sort of "personal relationship" besides dancing at the players' birthday parties. Let us all be honest here. The entire city of Houston, anyone watching basketball, and anyone who gives a rats @*$ about Houston Rockets basketball knew it was all a ploy to not spend additional money. If Bickerstaff truly had half the brain required to coach a player like an aging Dwight and Josh Smith, he would have made plays accustomed to their current limited physical abilities and strengths. If JB has, then the coach obviously commands no respect from Dwight since he still believes he should be doing alot more and doesn't buy in the fact that he is on the decline, which has just been detrimental to this season. Dwight could very well be a factor in a championship team, heck even this team. It definitely won't be as the primary star and offensive option. Everyone in the world knows that. But the one man that needs to see it doesn't and that is Dwight. If we had the right authoritative figures , they could make him see it and Dwight would be wanting to stay in Houston and be motivated to play his new limited role because we are a couple pieces and proper mentality away from a title. A brother figure is not what Dwight needs but a father figure. Heck it is what this entire team needs, even Harden.
Part of me hopes Dwight changes his mind. I love what a motivated Dwight brings to the table. Especially a motivated Dwight that knows his role and does it as well as we expect him to. The problem with many teams that have owners like Les Alexander who are solely concerned of their team as a profitable business aspect, it probably won't ever happen. If Dwight needs a max contract to make him happy just to play the way we need him to then I wish we'd just give it to him. I guarantee if Les gave him the money he wants, Dwight would do everything and anything we wanted him to. Even if it meant he is to never be an offensive option, come off the bench or even wipe the silly grin off his face. He definitely still has some left in the tank and we don't need an insider to tell us the man has already started his summer vacation.

 

Cliff notes?

 

Dwight isn't elite.

DD

 

The problem is not that Dwight is no longer useful. It's that he is not a superstar anymore.
He is still elite at a few things but his weaknesses are much more pronounced.
I would only want him back if
A) we get the right coaching staff and the right personnel to maximize his skills
B) he takes 15 mil per year ish instead of 25
C) he is committed to accepting his new role

That's a lot of ifs and I think that if u had a choice between Dwight and someone like Horford, you take the latter and move forward.
Essentially he has become a above average starter level player and I hope that he realizes this.

 

All he needs to realize is that the game has evolved past him. Being the biggest and strongest isn't an advantage any longer. Being skilled and versatile is.

 

The game hasn't past him by. If Dwight committed, TRULY COMMITTED, to the pick and roll, AKA what makes him great, AKA a huge part of today's NBA, he'd be worlds more effective.

Sadly he doesn't realize that.

 

Sadly, if we had a system that best fit our players we would be using the pick-and-pop at the 3-point line with Harden/DMo with Howard weakside baseline.

I think it's interesting that people think the game has passed Dwight by because he doesn't like to run pick-and-roll. Why hasn't the game passed Harden by because he doesn't like to work off the ball and run a bunch of curls off high screens????

It's the same thing. Harden doesn't want to run curls off screens and run through a bunch of screens because that is physically draining and what he does with the basketball in his hands is how he wants to choose to expend his energy. We have built a system catering to Harden. We have not built a system catering to Dwight. Why can't people understand that?

Dwight expends a lot of energy on the defensive end....while Harden is laying around waiting for a lazy pass to pick off.

Once again, the optimal play for us to run....isn't pick-and-roll with Harden. Pick-and-roll brings another defender into the paint with Harden's defender and it also lets the wing defenders cheat in. Our simple pick-and-roll offense WILL NOT WORK when we get into the playoffs. It'll get shut down and Harden's turnover count will skyrocket as we exit the season.

The ideal base play we should be starting with as long as we have this mix of players and we don't have another playmaker and Harden isn't willing to work off the ball....is the pick-and-pop with Harden and either DMo or Beasley at the 3-point line. That way the defender on the big has a choice to make. They either have to go with Harden and leave DMo/Beasley wide open at the 3-point line or they have to stay on our 4-man and let Harden go 1-on-1 with his defender already disadvantaged coming off the pick.

And I'd bet Dwight would be much more happy as the weak side baseline man on that play. It allows him to rest somewhat by not having to set the pick and scramble around. And it allows him to be close to the basket when the shot goes up where he can get in better position to rebound the basketball. His offensive rebounding numbers would go up. And his finishes would go up. It would be a lot easier for Harden to find him in that scenario.

Not to mention the options off the pop with DMo/Beasley. That's the perfect opportunity for Dwight to step into the paint against one defender, seal them off, receive the zip pass while sealing his man out, and go up and finish.

Same thing with Brewer. The last thing we wanna do with Brewer is spot him up in the corner. Brewer is our guy that we should be running off multiple screens. He's your high energy guy. He'll run all day long. Bust him off multiple screens and catch him cutting to the rim. Brewer is not a good 3-point shooter. He's never going to be a good shooter. He should not be taking over 40% of his shots from 3. He should be taking about 70% of his shots at the rim, another 10% or more inside the paint area with the floaters, and virtually no 3-pointers.

But instead we've got Harden running the pick-and-roll and throwing it out to Brewer for the 3. That's stupid basketball from a team that prides itself on analyzing efficiency/inefficiency.


Dwight, like me, has simply had a belly-full of stupid basketball this season. And he's not responding very well because he knows where this whole mess is headed......to a nice, long summer vacation.

 

^^

Fair post, bballholic. I largely agree.

 

We have no offense system, other than give harden the ball and have him create. This will cause players like howard who needs the ball in the low post to be a none factor on the offensive end. Dwight needs to accept and change his game if he is to stay in htown.

 

Because Harden was a runner-up MVP last year and is still one of the top 10 players in this league. Dwight is not.

This is completely untrue. As many people have noticed, Dwight does not contest shots and close out on the shooters anymore, and instead just lazily stands in the paint to collect his rebounds. He does not expend his energy on anything. His rim protection stats are lousy (and eye-test confirms this), and he's always slow on the defensive rotations, so he's not helping with the team defense either.

Pick-and-roll is still one of the most efficient ways to score in this league, and it has worked very well for us time and time again, including the last playoffs. All our big men (Capela, D-mo, Beasley, etc) this season seems to have no problem playing pnr with Harden, except for Howard. It's only Howard that has hard doing this. So, who do think is at fault here?

Dwight is not happy because he's not getting enough touches in the paint, and it's obvious to everyone who actually watches the game. He doesn't know that his post-up game is very subpar and below average in terms of it's efficiency. Mark my words : Dwight will not do any better if he chooses to leave the Houston Rockets. We'll see how he performs next season if he leaves, but he's already on a rapid decline and there is no turning back for Dwight. So, for once stop blaming Dwight's fall on other players and just own up to the truth.