One of my worries about Howard's fit with the Rockets next year is his willingness to be in the pick & roll vs. post-up ISOs. Stats show that Howards points per possession on pick and rolls is ridiculously high, whereas his ppp on post-ups was below average for the NBA big man. What I've watched of his highlights from last season confirms this. He is a stellar finisher rolling from the pick, but is not effective in creating a really high % shot for himself on the post. He almost never fakes out or loses his man, and doesn't have a soft touch on his hook. We all know that Dwight didn't like the D'Antoni system, but does anyone know if he specifically didn't like playing the pick and roll? Because saying you don't like playing pick & roll with Steve Nash is kind of like saying you don't like bl*w jobs. I worry that Dwight wants the majority of the offense run through the block, where he is less efficient, versus pick and rolls with Harden and Lin- who are statistically two of the best pick & roll players in the league. It is difficult to imagine a more devastating offensive play in the NBA than a Harden/Howard high P&R. Am I mistaken that he is less efficient on the block, or that he wants to operate there more than the P&R?
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/48019/lin-howard-would-be-nice-pick-and-roll-duo An article on a potential Lin-Howard pick and roll combination from ONE YEAR AGO. Interestingly enough, Lin had one of the highest usage rates for a PG two years ago, higher than CP.
Well, in the last SAS interview he stated: who is gonna stop that Harden/Howard pick and roll? I guess it's safe to say that he is alright with running it. I think he just wants to be a real part of the offense and not just Kobe's rebounder. And I actually believe him when he says: it's all about winning now. When Morey shows him statistical prove that the pick and roll is our best play and how most alley oops wind up on the daily top 10, he will embrace it.
McHale is not X's and O's guy. With the exception of making DMo be the first to run down the court every play (killing DMo) almost everything was from the other coaches who were given it from Morey, who stole it from Adelman and refined and improved it with his analytics. It's so obvious he doesn't have a clue. When reporters asked him how he would utilize Howard he didn't have an answer. He was asked several times and never had any specifics. Ask that question Rudy T and you will hear a detailed elaborate repor on how you have to set Hakeem up quickly and repost often before the defense can lock down. And you post and repost from different angles and surround him with 3 point shooters if they decide to double and triple they will be punished. Mix that in with a little PNR and fastbreak transition points and voila! an unstopable offense you got. Kevin doesn't get that just yet. They never utilized an inside out game with Parrish. It was Larry Bird and Mchale's offense with an occasional good pass when Parrish was open. McHale has never run any sort of offense like that before. And he has no clue what to do to make Howard more efficient. So there will be some trial and error. If the Rockets were smart they would hire Rudy T. He was the one who developed the best offense around Hakeem. I guess hiring Hakeem and maybe CD is the next best thing. McHale will be okay to teach him some of his moves. But even that is a stretch, McHale has has Scola type moves. Howard doesn't need Scola moves, He has power and speed, you simply need to get him the ball before teams can double and triple team him. So what I see is Morey watching film of how Rudy T effectively worked the ball into Hakeem and the running analytics on it and refining and improving it and then sending the report to all of the coaches which Kevin will never read but his coaches will and they will teach him. IMO That is the only reason McHale made it through last season is because he implemented a reaction offense that Morey developed. That and the players like him and Les too. It's actually the best offense for him to run because you rarely have to call plays. Just tell the players where they have the greenlight to shoot. And then teach and emphasize ball movement and when you are in one of your greenlight areas shoot. McHale gets that now but he didn't in the beginning and butted heads with Morey on it. I know this is a lot of speculation but there were some rumors on here validating that and the bottom line is McHale is running that offense now and it's one of the best in the League so if he Listens to Morey again and Morey steals Rudy T's offense and refines we shoul be okay. How quickly depends on McHale's learnng curve more than the teams. Simple inside out game. Post and repost and repost until Howard is open or there is a wide open 3. Teams will have to pick there poison mixed in with Harden drives to the paint and of course always pushing the ball up first looking for easy baskets and then going into the inside out game. It's an easy offensive plan that McHale doesn't have a clue about but fortunately Morey does.
People complain why there are no great post up centers anymore and everything is PnR. Well guess what, the NBA killed that. With zones, you can't just toss the ball inside to the post anymore. A great post player is going to get doubled before the pass gets to him. So you can't just look at what Rudy T did. I think you are underestimating McHale and his staff. The key to getting the ball to Howard is moving the ball fast enough that you can't give the defense time to double him. So it's having him cut across the lane towards Lin with Chandler cutting weakside and the 4 popping to the top of the key, forcing the D to leaving someone open if they want to double Howard before he gets the ball. Stuff like that.
Personally I don't think the offense should center around Dwight. He is not near as good as he should be in the getting good post position. Now in the PnR, he should excell with Lin and Harden. He's also great breaking to the basket on non PnR's and put backs. Maybe post him up some, but do not make that the focal point of the offense.
mchale actually is pretty good at x's and o's. he is just... well... too stubborn, or you may call him old school.
Post-up will be even harder when Asik is on the court because Asik can't stop his defender from double-teaming. They might run some post-up when Asik sits to keep the defense honest, but I expect we will be running pick-and-roll almost all the time. Will Howard not like it? I'm not sure. But, he can go to another team in 3 years if he hates it that much.
Who cares if Lin isn't being used to the best of his ability. I would much rather Lin stand in the corner and wait for the spot up shot than have the offense run through him. We're going to win games with Dwight and Harden running the show, not Lin.
Hahaha, his shooting percentage was probably higher when guarded. Plus Nelson had him defending PFs at times. Never complained, just played his game. Really liked the guy.
I agree the game has changed and it's harder to score down low. But that just means you have to work harder and smarter. People were always trying to stop Hakeem from getting the ball and Rudy was always trying to figure out ways to get Hakeem the ball. If you have someone like Hakeem you don't stop trying to get him the ball because it's harder. The same with Howard, you got to get him the ball whatever it takes in doing so the mismatches occur. SO it has to be high on your priority that you work that in practice. When Howard has the ball down low mismatches pop up everywhere. Any player on your team that requires double and triple teams makes easy baskets for others. That's the advantage of Howard. You have to use that advantage or you are wasting him. Not everytime down the court but often enough that they don't know what to prepare for. They luxury of Howard is we already have one of the best offenses in the league that can run in transition and drive to the basket Harden and Lin. Adding Howard gives us even more diviersity. Also I do not underestimate McHale's staff. Maybe McHale a little but he is running Rick Adelman's offense better than Adelman and nothing has indicated that he is that kind of Offensive mind. Morey talks about what they want to do on offense better than McHale and all indications his ideas didn't trickle up from McHale but rather trickled down from Morey. I do give Morey credit for running the offense no matter whose idea it is and his players like him so he deserves credit for that. I just understand that it is very likely McHale is not sure how to best utilize Howard especially now the way the league makes it harder on bigs. But I believe Morey will figure it out and get back to him.
McHale said he wants Howard to be precise and quick with his moves. More power and don't hestitate and second guess. Take it with power and speed.
The way (James Harden) plays throughout that pick and roll, who's gonna stop that pick and roll? - Dwight Howard He gon' love it! Spoiler I hope he does anyways.
The pick and roll talk is nonsense. Howard has voiced his displeasure before for the pick and roll mostly because it was a totally different play, not designed to get him clean looks, but simply as a screener for shooters. If the plays are designed with Him and Harden/Lin/Parsons playing in sync with each other with Howard actually rolling to the rim to either distract the offense away from the attacking guard or for lob dunks..... Dwight will be just fine. If Harden/Lin/Parsons use Dwights screen to simply get theirs.... we might have an issue. ...... As for posting him up in the half-court.... I love it as another option. What team in the NBA can play both small ball and big post up basketball this well in the same game???... not too many. Having a post option will make Harden and Lin's life easier because either they are going to be featured in the offense a great deal during the game when teams decide to play a more "loose" defensive scheme where they are leaking out, and Harden/Lin are able to attack the rim, or you face a team like Memphis which really shuts down driving lanes on defense, and then you feature Dwight in the post.... which then opens up the perimeter for 3's galore, and Dwight post ups. What is going to be key for this team though is how they adjust based on how the opposing teams guard them.... something thats easier said than done from a preparation standpoint..... in a few months I guess we will find out, but this whole idea that Dwight hates the pick and roll is stupid.... Dwight just hated who he was playing pick and roll with more than anything.
Pimp you can't look it like that without addressing who was more aggressive. Harden was the more aggressive taking the ball to the hole. While Kobe settled for a lot of jump shots. Like others mentioned McHale gave Harden the thumbs up to do his thing. Now that we have Howard, the offense will change up. We will see a lot plays ran unlike this past season. We will see a more inside/out style of play. Also look for the defense to better as well.
