Limited post-up offense. He's going to score most of his points on PnR's. Him posting up take away the driving lanes from Lin & Harden. Slows the game down when are a high pacing offense. Occasional post-ups? Sure. But is that worth all the dough? I don't think so. He's no Shaq. He can't bully his way to the basket. He has to get that deep position. And by just getting that position it will impact our offense in dramatic ways. Defenses can play us more straight up and focus on him as his clogging the paint will result in us taking less shots in the paint, not more. Dude does not have a high BBIQ. He's not going to run the PnR with much grace. If you need proof, look at L.A. Man is not doing so well there? Why? Kobe passes the ball to him a lot. So does Nash. How can you be below .500 by adding Howard to the Lakers? He's made them worse, not better. Don't blame Mike D'antoni. Brown was equally hapless.
This is an interesting read. http://www.sloansportsconference.co...of Interior Defense Analytics for the NBA.pdf In summary - the average % of attempts close to the basket(when there is a post defender) is 57.2%. When Dwight Howard is defending the paint that drops to 48.2%. This is the best in the NBA. He doesn't get blocks for this but it's an "invisible" block because the other team simply chooses to take a lower percentage shot.
LMAOOOO @ People saying no to the league's best centre as if he's knocking at your door begging to come in
So how do you explain Dwight going to the finals with Orlando? And consistently getting to the conference finals, etc. And putting up huge numbers every year. You ignore that, yet use data from the one year he is recovering from a major surgery. I don't get it. Asik has no post moves yet our offense is fine. If anything Dwight will convert on those passes Lin/Harden throw him WAY more often than Asik. To the tune of probably 2-4 points more/game just on those.
Like many, I suspect, I'm fairly happy with all of our positions right now. But yet, we have all this cap space! We kind of need to use it somewhere! Lin's pretty good - but we could do better for the space we have. Same with Parsons and Asik. At PF, I suspect that one of our guys is going to be awesome, and we're going to feel pretty foolish spending big bucks there, and one of the ones we got turns into a cheap-contract monster somewhere else. Dwight Howard? He's got problems; I'm not re-hashing those, but we could easily regret going that way. What I think we should do, and believe we will, is to just wait for a clearly good deal (such as the Harden deal). Maybe this summer, maybe in two years. In the meantime, we can use some of it to pick up an extra draft pick here and there. Morey is one patient SOB.
Like the rest, I'm over the Dwight hype. I don't care if he's the "best center" in the nba, this team doesn't need an ego-maniac. Lets shoot for Aldridge, KLove, or Josh Smith.
Because Garnett was injured duh! Thats like saying if Lebron got hurt and couldn't play, and NY made it to the finals - wow, how did NY beat Miami???? That proves they are the greatest team and clearly Carmelo is da man! No, Dwight went to the finals because the only good E.C. team was at partial strength. And that's why they only went once. And that's why they have never beaten a team they weren't expected to beat. Howard didn't even get the ball in the 4th qtr because of hack-a-howard. You see - I actually watched all those games, and Howard was not impressive. 70% of Howards dunks are assisted. Over half of his layups are too. His other shots, hook shots and jump shots - he shots at below 50%. But a hook shot below 50% efg is not good man. Especially with him being such a poor foul shooter. So he needs Lin and Harden to set-up his shots. He's a finisher, not a post-up player. Like I said, he can catch and finish better thank Asik - that's his key advantage. But is it worth the price tag? Considering that bad backs rarely fully recover and usually become chronic issues. DH12 is never going to be the same player. Back surgery is a big big deal. It's not even know to make a difference! If he was 24 - sure I say do it. But even at 27, he's showing signs of aging and without the veteran savviness you see in other great players - and that's the biggest red flag to me. As his body goes, so will his game. That wasn't the case for other big men - some got even better (see one Hakeem the dream). So yeah, I have serious reservations about Howard.
They went to the Eastern Conference finals multiple times as well. Good thing you watched those games...I did too. And I'm not the one claiming the best center, by far, in the NBA has no game. And if you think his jump hooks are under 50% you were drinking during those games. That's just ridiculous. You're just remembering all the misses or a few bad games you saw and ignoring the makes. Cause he makes it look so easy. Now, if you want to say it's not worth the injury risk that's fine. But you've been picking apart his game and it's totally nonsensical. He's amazingly effective but you quibble about how he does it.
Dwight's whack..No low post moves...terrible ball handling skills..Pathetic free throw shooter..I can go on for days...Since he's been in the league he still does not have a go to move..Truely sad coming from a guy thats had lessons from Hakeem..
There is also the issue of HOW you can get Dwight. I think most people are dreaming if they think the Lakers are just going to let him walk. and due to the rules we can NOT offer more money, or even the SAME money as the Lakers, if you think Howard is passing up 30 million to play for the Rockets, well good luck with that. If it's a Sign and trade... then the question becomes... why? I suppose a strait up Asik for Hoard S&T might be good enough, since Asik probably need to go if we get Howard (then again, if they get Howard they're going all in anyway so why really care about luxury tax.) but if it's something else. then it really seems pointless. and I don't think you can S&T after the deadline anyway.
stats don't lie baby. Check basketball reference. Not sure about the 2007 finals or whatever, but he hasn't shot over 50% with the hook the last few years.
If we manage to get Dwight we should lock him in the gym over the summer with The Dream til he learns to be effective without athleticism in the low post/around the basket. Oh wait. He tried that.
I think this is the key; and he is clearly not 100%. DH clicking on all cylinders with his mouth shut, yeah, I want him. But I don't see that now. We may never see that. Back surgery is pretty radical, especially for an NBA player. Range of motion is so critical, and I doubt he will ever be as he was. Remember TMac?
This might be less of an issue than it seems. There's been talk from his camp (take with a heap of salt, I know) that winning a ring is his priority. He's got a limited window, because the next contract he signs will most likely be his prime. There's no team better positioned than Houston to get him there. Without much difficulty, we can make the room to sign him to a max contract. We go from 'young, improving playoff team' to 'young, improving playoff team + top-5 player' Will it work? Who knows. 30 million guaranteed, plus the endorsement deals available for being in LA would be hard to walk away from. But that team blows, and it will not get better over the span of his next deal. They have a collection of maxed-out players on the downhill side of their careers. They will not be better than they are now until they blow it up and rebuild. Like I said, it's a lot of cash to walk away from. But his next contract will be his best chance to get a ring. If that's what he wants, we're the place for him. This is all assuming he's healthy and the front office thinks they can fit him in here.
