I went on one of my rants this morning, with the topic being Dwight Howard. Some misunderstood the meaning, which can happen when writing in spurts of 140 characters. I said, as I have been saying for close to a year, that Dwight and Harden are not enough because Dwight is more likely to give you 10 and 5 than 30 and 20 in a big game in the playoffs. That’s not meant as a dismissal of Dwight’s value to the team. His defense alone (he’s the top rim protector in basketball currently, by percentages) makes him worth his weight and salary in gold.
What I mean is that the connotation behind any star duo is that they alone are good enough to carry the team to a title. Jordan and Pippen. Shaq and Kobe. Today, Westbrook and Durant. Dwight isn’t good enough to be half of a two-headed attack. He roasted Portland, but that was a tailor-made matchup against a smaller defender. This shouldn’t even really be a controversial take anyway – no two players, even Westbrook and Durant possibly, are good enough in the modern NBA to carry a team to the title. It takes at least three star players or a balanced attack. My point is that this is even more the case with the Rockets because you just don’t know what Dwight can give you against certain matchups. That’s why they made the move for Josh Smith, despite his warts, and why they should still be sniffing out trades for a second playmaker. That was all I meant.
