[lawrencejdParticipant]

There is speculation that the Houston Rockets may experiment with Dwight at PF and Asik at C

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/8/17/4631042/dwight-howard-power-forward-omer-asik-center-houston-rockets?utm_source=sbnation&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=articlebottom

I know its only an experiment, but this is going to stagnate the Rockets main source of offense, James Harden. James thrives by getting in the paint, taking it to the hoop, finishing and picking up fouls and getting to the line. And if Dwight and Asik are both going to be clogging up the paint, you can expect to see Hardens scoring numbers drop because neither Dwight or Asik offer any form of jump shot or scoring presence outside the paint.

On the defensive end this will be great, being the best defensive frontline in the league, but i am very, very worried that this could ruin the offense that Houston played with so well last year.

[JoeWolf1]

Big guys are also good for clearing out space, both guys are big and strong and can seal their man if a driving Harden is headed their way.

They also have Parsons and Motie who are good long range shooters with the size to play PF. This seems like trying to find a negative amongst an overwhelmingly positive scenario. Houston is going to be very good.

[esperanzafleet69Participant]

i feel like people said the exact same thing as this when dwight went to LA with pau gasol.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

Except Gasol is nowhere near as strong as Asik and the Lakers had no shooters that could be compared to Parsons or Motie.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

Except Gasol is nowhere near as strong as Asik and the Lakers had no shooters that could be compared to Parsons or Motie.

[esperanzafleet69Participant]

i feel like people said the exact same thing as this when dwight went to LA with pau gasol.

[JoeWolf1]

Big guys are also good for clearing out space, both guys are big and strong and can seal their man if a driving Harden is headed their way.

They also have Parsons and Motie who are good long range shooters with the size to play PF. This seems like trying to find a negative amongst an overwhelmingly positive scenario. Houston is going to be very good.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

“And if Dwight and Asik are both going to be clogging up the paint, you can expect to see Hardens scoring numbers drop”

It’s not like we had anybody hitting mid-range J’s last season. We played Omer Asik and Greg Smith and James Harden did just fine.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

“And if Dwight and Asik are both going to be clogging up the paint, you can expect to see Hardens scoring numbers drop”

It’s not like we had anybody hitting mid-range J’s last season. We played Omer Asik and Greg Smith and James Harden did just fine.

[natedogggParticipant]

if Dwight didnt like playing in the post with Pau who is one of the most gifted passing big men in the game then how is he going to go with Asik who cant pass and can only score 3 feet from the basket?

its all about getting a premium in a trade for Asik, if they act like they want him the price goes up, if its clear they want to move him teams will offer less.

[natedogggParticipant]

if Dwight didnt like playing in the post with Pau who is one of the most gifted passing big men in the game then how is he going to go with Asik who cant pass and can only score 3 feet from the basket?

its all about getting a premium in a trade for Asik, if they act like they want him the price goes up, if its clear they want to move him teams will offer less.

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

You are worried about having two bigs that are in the top tier among centers in defending and rebounding? If my Raps had both of them I would have a barmitsfa and I am not even jewish. Haha

All joking aside you guys have enough options and long range shooters that throwing two bigs out there won’t be a problem.

[lawrencejdParticipant]

I did clearly state that they will be the best defensive frontline in the league, and that the defense for Houston will be great.

I was just pointing out the OFFENSIVE issues.

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

I know the first part I just being stupid. Bored around this time of year.

As for their offense, i touched on it. I believe that it will still be functional as long as they aren’t playing too many minutes with eachother. They have options to rotate 9 or so guys consistently, there are enough options that you can match a lot of teams. Can go big, you can go small to play with faster paced teams. You can go defensive with Beverly and Asik in with Howard, Harden and Parsons. Or rotate shooters like Garcia, Brooks and Moultijounas.

I feel that it is an absoulte luxury to have both players. I do agree that having both could affect the offense but would more than make up for it in defense and rebounding. I will finsh with a couple cliches here: “control the boards, control the game” and “offense wins games, but defense wins championships”

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

I know the first part I just being stupid. Bored around this time of year.

As for their offense, i touched on it. I believe that it will still be functional as long as they aren’t playing too many minutes with eachother. They have options to rotate 9 or so guys consistently, there are enough options that you can match a lot of teams. Can go big, you can go small to play with faster paced teams. You can go defensive with Beverly and Asik in with Howard, Harden and Parsons. Or rotate shooters like Garcia, Brooks and Moultijounas.

I feel that it is an absoulte luxury to have both players. I do agree that having both could affect the offense but would more than make up for it in defense and rebounding. I will finsh with a couple cliches here: “control the boards, control the game” and “offense wins games, but defense wins championships”

[lawrencejdParticipant]

I did clearly state that they will be the best defensive frontline in the league, and that the defense for Houston will be great.

I was just pointing out the OFFENSIVE issues.

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

You are worried about having two bigs that are in the top tier among centers in defending and rebounding? If my Raps had both of them I would have a barmitsfa and I am not even jewish. Haha

All joking aside you guys have enough options and long range shooters that throwing two bigs out there won’t be a problem.

[Bmore_DCParticipant]

I dont see why this couldnt work…

Dwight is actually slightly short for the Center position in the first place…assuming he has really worked on his offensive game like he says, then this is ideal for both players. Also putting him next to Asik is probably the best defensive front-court in the league.

But i do agree with the fact that this is probably to raise Asik’s trade value. He has voiced his displeasure about the Howard signing from day 1 and i doubt that just changed with this “news”.

Honestly i could see the Wizards trying to get Asik, maybe for Okafor or Ariza’s contracts. Just a thought.

[Bmore_DCParticipant]

I dont see why this couldnt work…

Dwight is actually slightly short for the Center position in the first place…assuming he has really worked on his offensive game like he says, then this is ideal for both players. Also putting him next to Asik is probably the best defensive front-court in the league.

But i do agree with the fact that this is probably to raise Asik’s trade value. He has voiced his displeasure about the Howard signing from day 1 and i doubt that just changed with this “news”.

Honestly i could see the Wizards trying to get Asik, maybe for Okafor or Ariza’s contracts. Just a thought.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

Here is the real deal. The Rockets have a very nice offense as long as Harden is healthy and they continue with their strong offensive focused coaching. The Rockets offense is geared around the efficiencies of getting to the line and shooting threes. Even if Harden got hurt, their offense would be better than average just because of the coaching philosophy

But Asik and Howard won’t work. At least it won’t work well.

But that isn’t the point of what they are talking about. Right now they are kissing Asik’s butt to get him to show in camp. They are pretending like he will be a starter. He won’t be. But he is a hugely important guy on the team. The Rockets were an elite team when Asik was on the court because their D was okay and Harden and coaching made their O great. Replacing Asik with Howard is a small upgrade both in D and O (because Asik already is really good at D and the Rockets O is already good and hard to increase). But if the Rockets lose Asik they have the same problem this year as they had last year. When Howard sits down, their D will sit down. They need Asik to sub for Howard. Frankly, it could be the other way and things would be fine. Morey would tell you that 30 minutes of Asik replaced with 20 minutes of Howard would be fine by him. That would have a good chance of getting the Rockets to the 4th seed in the West. Of course Howard’s ego won’t allow that. So it must be 30 minutes of Howard and 20 minutes of Asik. But either way, the team is dysfunctional without one of them on the court at all times.

So the talk of both them playing together is a smoke screen. Enjoy it for that. They might even play the two of them together to make the smoke screen look more compelling. The real point is that they want an elite defensive big man holding down the fort at all times. And they want that guy bought in and give 100% effort.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

Here is the real deal. The Rockets have a very nice offense as long as Harden is healthy and they continue with their strong offensive focused coaching. The Rockets offense is geared around the efficiencies of getting to the line and shooting threes. Even if Harden got hurt, their offense would be better than average just because of the coaching philosophy

But Asik and Howard won’t work. At least it won’t work well.

But that isn’t the point of what they are talking about. Right now they are kissing Asik’s butt to get him to show in camp. They are pretending like he will be a starter. He won’t be. But he is a hugely important guy on the team. The Rockets were an elite team when Asik was on the court because their D was okay and Harden and coaching made their O great. Replacing Asik with Howard is a small upgrade both in D and O (because Asik already is really good at D and the Rockets O is already good and hard to increase). But if the Rockets lose Asik they have the same problem this year as they had last year. When Howard sits down, their D will sit down. They need Asik to sub for Howard. Frankly, it could be the other way and things would be fine. Morey would tell you that 30 minutes of Asik replaced with 20 minutes of Howard would be fine by him. That would have a good chance of getting the Rockets to the 4th seed in the West. Of course Howard’s ego won’t allow that. So it must be 30 minutes of Howard and 20 minutes of Asik. But either way, the team is dysfunctional without one of them on the court at all times.

So the talk of both them playing together is a smoke screen. Enjoy it for that. They might even play the two of them together to make the smoke screen look more compelling. The real point is that they want an elite defensive big man holding down the fort at all times. And they want that guy bought in and give 100% effort.

[ph90702]

Dwight Howard as a power forward is a joke. It absolutely will hurt James Harden’s ability to get to the bucket. You can’t play somebody at power forward who doesn’t know what a jumpshot is.

[ph90702]

Dwight Howard as a power forward is a joke. It absolutely will hurt James Harden’s ability to get to the bucket. You can’t play somebody at power forward who doesn’t know what a jumpshot is.

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