Priority #1: Get Dwight Howard more touches

Guy986 · Post #1 » by **Guy986** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 5:37 am

Even at the detriment of our offense, i feel that we have to find some way to get Dwight the ball more in the post. Dwight doesn't have that Omer Asik/Tyson Chandler mindset where he's happy just setting screen and jogging up and down the court. He just looks disterested when he doesn't touch the ball every once in a while.

He only had 9 rebounds tonight playing next to Omri Casspi for the majority of the night. How does that happen?
Dwight plays at his best when he's happy. He's happy when he get touches in the low post.

We score 109 per game and Dwight howard only averages 16.6 ppg? Thats not good enough for a player of his caliber.

As shaq once said, you don't feed the dog he's not gonna watch your house. We are a much better defensive team when Dwight Howard is happy.

KungFuJoe · Post #2 » by **KungFuJoe** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 5:43 am

Pick your poison, eh?

Zubby · Post #3 » by **Zubby** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 6:10 am

Agreed, seems everyone thinks this team will go somewhere on the backs of perimeter play.. Dwight needs more touches, he is easily the best player on the team.Past 2-3 games he has gotten fewer shots up than most every other player on the team.

Rox will only go as far as he can take them.

Post #4 » by **TMACFORMVP** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 6:44 am

I'll be the first one to admit that I hate when we post up Dwight. If he gets deep enough position, he's getting fouled, where he's not a reliable FT shooter. And for the most part, I'm not sure on the exact statistics, but from the eye test, he seems to be a pretty poor post player too. Unless we're talking the Dallas game, where they showed ZERO help at all until late in the 4th quarter, then Dwight has been rather unimpressive with his back to the basket. Then consider he can also be turnover prone and slows our game down, I think going to Dwight with his back to the basket is a rather low % offense. This isn't even considering how much trouble our perimeter players have getting him the ball at times...

But..

I also agree with Guy. And that is, if we want to do anything more than just make the playoffs, Howard has to be engaged defensively. When D12 is engaged defensively, he hedges harder on defense, and recovers faster to protect the rim. When Dwight plays with that sort of intensity on defense, he's far and away the most impactful defender in the game, and takes our game to another level. Today, there was no real effort by Dwight defensively..every time Beverley got hit by a pick, Burke, or whomever he was guarding had free reign to do whatever they wanted b/c Dwight wasn't showing on the pick and roll. Not to mention, when he came in during that 4th, there was that possession he failed to get a rebound, resulting in like 3 straight offensive boards for the Jazz and Favors.

If the only way that's possible (maximum defensive effort and rebounding) is by giving him more touches, then maybe we have to live with it.

I wish he would just embrace pick and roll....

KB24TBOTB · Post #5 » by **KB24TBOTB** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 7:05 am

As a laker fan all I have to say is that this dude is killing my fantasy because he's not doing what I drafted him for. Get the man touches so he can get rebounds and at least one block. I don't think he has blocked a shot in the last few games

To offer some insight on the topic, this is exactly what Laker fans were saying last year. It's a mystery as to why this dude thinks he's a post player. He should take pride in being a PNR dominant player that can shut down the paint. He has the ability to do that but just doesn't want to. Sadly, he thinks he's Hakeem or something and I don't think that will change no matter who he plays for.

CUE, sad fantasy owner

madbucky · Post #6 » by **madbucky** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 8:56 am

Guy986 wrote:Get Dwight Howard more touches... We have to find some way to get Dwight the ball more in the post.

I agree that we should get Dwight more touches, but I don't want it via more post passes, he's just not that great at the post. It should be more set plays for Dwight alley oops and dunks, more rolling off PNR.

cw3k · Post #7 » by **cw3k** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 3:19 pm

He will get more touch if he has some skills or willing to do pick and roll. But no, all he wants is passing him the ball and he will ISO.

MaxRider · Post #8 » by **MaxRider** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 4:22 pm

really? you didn't hear bill worrell? whenever howard get 10 or fewer shot attempt we usually win

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3818/gamelog/

inquisitive · Post #9 » by **inquisitive** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 5:42 pm

I kinda agree. Get him involved early and often even if he misses his shots. He needs to get into a flow. Also, by getting him more touches or post ups, he can get some of the other bigs in foul trouble. I do think he should try the jump hook more....seems to be easier to pickup and get better than the spin moves....and stop posting up too far from the paint. He needs to establish a deeper post.

Nebula1 · Post #10 » by **Nebula1** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 5:50 pm

I agree. Feed your big men.

Plus his moves/shots are getting better and the stuff falling out will start falling in soon enough.

BaYBaller · Post #11 » by **BaYBaller** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 7:13 pm

I agree, but not in the sense of Dwight just trying to post up with no movement, which often leads him to be too far from the basket to be effective. We should be running set plays where Dwight either gets deep position or alley-oops. We should also go to Dwight early in quarters so the risk of early foul trouble presents more of a detriment to opposing teams.

But I believe with a player like Dwight you really have to enforce/link the action-reward dynamic. If he runs a set play correctly he gets the ball. If he runs the floor hard and gets deep position and/or a mismatch, he gets the ball. Stuff like that. Rewarding him with post touches when he just calls for it after he's been pushed out of his comfort zone does nobody any good.

MKL · Post #12 » by **MKL** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 7:47 pm

I disagreed at first, but now I believe Howard is mature enough to be the focus of this team, even on offense.

More importantly we need to get Harden to play defense and that means playing him less minutes, but with better effort. Howard should be able to carry that burden.

tha_rock220 · Post #13 » by **tha_rock220** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 9:58 pm

MaxRider wrote:really? you didn't hear bill worrell? whenever howard get 10 or fewer shot attempt we usually win

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3818/gamelog/

The Rockets also have a winning record when he takes more than 10 shot a game. He average 10 fga's, and the Rockets have a winning record. So what you're saying stands to reason.

TMACFORMVP wrote:I'll be the first one to admit that I hate when we post up Dwight. If he gets deep enough position, he's getting fouled, where he's not a reliable FT shooter. And for the most part, I'm not sure on the exact statistics, but from the eye test, he seems to be a pretty poor post player too. Unless we're talking the Dallas game, where they showed ZERO help at all until late in the 4th quarter, then Dwight has been rather unimpressive with his back to the basket. Then consider he can also be turnover prone and slows our game down, I think going to Dwight with his back to the basket is a rather low % offense. This isn't even considering how much trouble our perimeter players have getting him the ball at times...

But..

I also agree with Guy. And that is, if we want to do anything more than just make the playoffs, Howard has to be engaged defensively. When D12 is engaged defensively, he hedges harder on defense, and recovers faster to protect the rim. When Dwight plays with that sort of intensity on defense, he's far and away the most impactful defender in the game, and takes our game to another level. Today, there was no real effort by Dwight defensively..every time Beverley got hit by a pick, Burke, or whomever he was guarding had free reign to do whatever they wanted b/c Dwight wasn't showing on the pick and roll. Not to mention, when he came in during that 4th, there was that possession he failed to get a rebound, resulting in like 3 straight offensive boards for the Jazz and Favors.

If the only way that's possible (maximum defensive effort and rebounding) is by giving him more touches, then maybe we have to live with it.

I wish he would just embrace pick and roll....

This is basically perfect. I don't know if McHale knows how to do this, but they need to figure out a way to make him not have to work as hard to get the ball and make a move. Jeff Van Gundy did this for Yao with misdirection and cross-screens. With McHale, a Dwight post iso is just dump it down to him. The problem with those is the defense is set just before the entry pass. Post plays work best when the defense is moving before the ball is thrown in.

LarsV8 · Post #14 » by **LarsV8** » Tue Dec 3, 2013 10:02 pm

I disagree.

The less post ups the better, the more alley oops and put back slams the better.

With less touches for Howard our offense has improved (Now #1 in the league!), our turnovers are down and we are winning.

I think your reasoning is corelation and not casuation.

Our focus needs to be on cutting down turnovers and better defense.

karkinos · Post #15 » by **karkinos** » Wed Dec 4, 2013 5:08 pm

d12 is stubborn
with his size and speed he needs to learn how to play off the ball on pnr to cut for easy layups and dunks
instead he wants to grind it out in the paint when he sucks at it lol

if he had half of shawn marion's mindset and to play the game w/o getting any plays run for him, he could easily be dominant on this rox team

MKL · Post #16 » by **MKL** » Wed Dec 4, 2013 5:48 pm

If we're focus on the playoffs, the team will need better half court offense. Follow this line of thinking and you'll realize that Howard cares about Championships.

Unless we want to start Dwightmare 3.0 in Houston?

tha_rock220 · Post #17 » by **tha_rock220** » Wed Dec 4, 2013 6:53 pm

LarsV8 wrote:I disagree.

The less post ups the better, the more alley oops and put back slams the better.

With less touches for Howard our offense has improved (Now #1 in the league!), our turnovers are down and we are winning.

I think your reasoning is corelation and not casuation.

Our focus needs to be on cutting down turnovers and better defense.

He's awkward in the post, I agree, but if the offense is designed to make him not have to work as hard it will improve things. I'm not advocating running plays for him all the time, but Kobe only wanted him to get rebounds, and look what happened.

Guy986 · Post #18 » by **Guy986** » Wed Dec 4, 2013 8:10 pm

MKL wrote:If we're focus on the playoffs, the team will need better half court offense. Follow this line of thinking and you'll realize that Howard cares about Championships.

Unless we want to start Dwightmare 3.0 in Houston?

If we dont start giving Hward the ball, its only a matter of time before he starts barking. He was complaining about the lack of touches in LA and he's actually scoring the ball LESS here even with the pace going up.

Its important that we get Hward motivated and engaged on both sides. He's a 3 time defensive player of the year still in his prime, what he's giving us on defense right now is substandard.

MKL · Post #19 » by **MKL** » Wed Dec 4, 2013 8:23 pm

Guy986 wrote:
MKL wrote:If we're focus on the playoffs, the team will need better half court offense. Follow this line of thinking and you'll realize that Howard cares about Championships.

Unless we want to start Dwightmare 3.0 in Houston?

If we dont start giving Hward the ball, its only a matter of time before he starts barking. He was complaining about the lack of touches in LA and he's actually scoring the ball LESS here even with the pace going up.

Its important that we get Hward motivated and engaged on both sides. He's a 3 time defensive player of the year still in his prime, what he's giving us on defense right now is substandard.

We don't always see eye to eye, but I'm with you on this one. It makes sense and I think Howard has matured mentally. He wants to win a ring with Houston.

Nebula1 · Post #20 » by **Nebula1** » Wed Dec 4, 2013 8:23 pm

It's not about keeping Howard happy.. it's about maintaining a balanced strategy. Live by the 3, die by the 3. Howard is improving on the block as he gets comfortable in Houston so give him some time. He's been a great teammate and has put a ton of energy into the season.

I couldn't be more happy with Howard and what's he brought. This team is a legit force in the NBA and he's a big part of that. Now, I just hope some of those shots start dropping a bit more and he settles into the season.