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@  slick shoes : (23 May 2016 - 12:24 PM) The worst part about Green is that he tries to play that nice guy role à la Reggie Miller.
@  Mario Peña : (23 May 2016 - 02:00 AM) Im quite pleased the Thunder are decimating the Warriors.
@  Mario Peña : (23 May 2016 - 12:54 AM) I cannot stand Draymond Green. I don't like him in any way. That dude is cheap and he's one of the main reasons I really don't like the Warriors.
@  majik19 : (21 May 2016 - 05:28 PM) no need to rush it now - only one other opening to compete with, and no first round draft pick to get input on.
@  Mario Peña : (21 May 2016 - 02:19 PM) SteinyMo reporting James Borrego from Pop's bench is now getting a look. Wow just wow.
@  majik19 : (20 May 2016 - 09:32 PM) I saw that report. Silas seems like a swing for the fences move, but isn't he exactly like JBB? Harden didn't respond to JBB, why would he respond to another longtime coach's son?
@  Mario Peña : (20 May 2016 - 07:29 PM) So Watkins is reporting its between D'Antoni and Silas.
@  Mario Peña : (20 May 2016 - 06:30 PM) In retrospect some of what has happened over the last few years going back to Lin, McHale and maybe a few other things seem to have Alexander's fingerprints on them and even if true to an extant that's troubling to me. Just when I thought things couldn't be worse, oh well.
@  thejohnnygold : (20 May 2016 - 04:58 PM) If so, this site will become more of a support group than a fan board.
@  slick shoes : (20 May 2016 - 03:14 PM) Is Les becoming the next Jerry Jones? Yikes...
@  majik19 : (20 May 2016 - 02:59 PM) oh i was half-joking haha.
@  slick shoes : (20 May 2016 - 12:21 PM) @majik19 Why screw the team long term with a decision that only affects them THIS season? I don't get it. If I was Morey and my boss kept over ruling my decisions, I'd give some serious consideration to stepping down.
@  majik19 : (20 May 2016 - 05:12 AM) @slickshoes - maybe thats why theyre considering D'Antoni - just want to make sure Dwight opts out.
@  thejohnnygold : (19 May 2016 - 04:38 PM) I think I have a bias against Rambis from his playing days. The thought of him being our coach just feels wrong...
@  slick shoes : (19 May 2016 - 03:11 AM) Does this mean Rambis is available?!
@  Mario Peña : (19 May 2016 - 03:05 AM) Hornacek goes to the Knicks.
@  slick shoes : (18 May 2016 - 11:05 PM) Who was the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2014 when Dwight left to come to Houston? None other than Mike D'Antoni.
@  Cooper : (18 May 2016 - 08:16 PM) very uninspiring if they do go with him.
@  thenit : (18 May 2016 - 07:13 PM) It will be so much fun having game totaling 250+ points. Oh and we won't win anything either
@  slick shoes : (18 May 2016 - 12:19 PM) @majik19: the story also said that if they hire D'Antoni there will be a defensive specialist as an associate head coach. does this send a message to the team? defense comes second?

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On Dwight Howard in the post


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#1 Red94

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    Posted 22 May 2016 - 05:04 PM

    New post: On Dwight Howard in the post
    By: Rahat Huq

    In an admirably diligent effort at image rehabilitation, Dwight Howard has been making the rounds of late, first in a televised appearance on TNT (where I thought he came off surprisingly well) and most recently, in an interview with ESPN's Jackie MacMullan.

     

    The MacMullan interview in particular was a treasure trove of bizarre revelations, from Howard's philosophical views on team-building ("I was saying, 'Let's have Magic cereal, Magic vitamins with our players' faces on it so they can get to know our team.'[??????])" to Howard's admission that despite having practiced shooting 1,000 shots per day, it was the fear of failure preventing him from actually shooting those same shots when it mattered ("I didn't want to turn on the TV and see people say, 'Dwight is taking all those outside shots, he's screwing around, he doesn't care, he doesn't want to win.'").

     

    But most noteworthy was Howard's recount of an in-season interaction with team general manager Daryl Morey:

    Quote:

     

    "I felt like my role was being reduced. I went to [Rockets general manager] Daryl [Morey] and said, 'I want to be more involved.' Daryl said, 'No, we don't want you to be.' My response was, 'Why not? Why am I here?' It was shocking to me that it came from him instead of our coach. So I said to him, 'No disrespect to what you do, but you've never played the game. I've been in this game a long time. I know what it takes to be effective.'''

     

    As I predicted that morning, that account--of course--was a gross oversimplification of what actually went down.

     

    The episode was significant in that it underscored the total lack of self awareness which most greatly characterizes Dwight Howard.  Per NBA.com stats, Howard got 297 touches in the post this season, good for 13th in the league among players with at least 100 possessions.  But among those players, Howard was 49th in efficiency, scoring .82 points per possession, a rate on par with Jordan Hill.  (Interestingly, James Harden scores .91 points per possession in the post).

     

    Among players with over 200 post touches, a group of just 22 players, Howard's .82 PPP ranked 17th, though his frequency of 30.5% was the 6th highest.  (i.e. the percentage of times a player executes a given play type).  Ironically, Paul Millsap, who had the highest PPP of that group (1.04) only had a frequency of 16.0%.

     

    So, in essence, Dwight Howard--he of the demands for more post touches--got the ball in the post as much as just about anyone in the league, while producing at one of the lowest rates.

     

    Breaking things down a bit more, Howard obviously got the most post touches on the Rockets, but he was the fourth most effective post-up scorer on the club, in terms of PPP, behind Montrezl Harrell, Harden, and Motiejunas.

     

    And here's another point for comparison.  On isolation plays, Josh Smith scored .85 points per possession, Corey Brewer scored .86 points per possession, and Michael Beasley scored .98 points per possession.  So basically, it was a better option to let the three most unpredictable guys on the roster isolate, than to let Dwight Howard post up.

     

    More: Ariza and Terrence Jones spot ups produced a PPP of .89.  Corey Brewer spot ups produced a PPP of .79.  So, letting these guys chuck away was almost as good or a better option than feeding Dwight Howard in the post.

     

    When they made their pitch to him in that now-famous meeting in L.A., the Rockets undoubtedly told Howard they hoped to feature him as the roll man in Harden pick and rolls, a spot where Howard produced a 1.10 PPP this year.  (Sidenote, and even further fodder for the Capela comparison: Capela had a PPP of 1.17 as the roll man).  But despite looking deadly whenever they actually went to it, the Rockets just never ran the play (9.3% frequency for Howard as the roll man this year), a state of affairs that absolutely bewildered Rockets fans for the past three years.  No one could definitively pinpoint why the Rockets never utilized this seemingly unstoppable play, until now.  Howard just didn't want to do it.  Despite being what made him great, it was beneath him.

     

    Having Hakeem Olajuwon in Howard's ear the past several years has only made matters worse, in a strange twist of irony, with the former great's whispers only emboldening Howard towards self-destruction.  When you're just not good at something, you need an intervention, not for someone to tell you to keep at it; that process has only taken Howard's focus away from his actual strengths and reaffirmed his beliefs in how a "true" big man should play.

     

    But this is where we are now.  Howard is probably gone now and the Rockets will move on.

     


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    #2 Jatman20

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      Posted 22 May 2016 - 09:37 PM

      Excellent article Rahat. Completely on point with how I saw it all season. The so-called NBA insider Chris Sheridan was used in a sense to get Howard more touches in the post (in my opinion), by publicly bringing the focus of Howard's discontent in Houston as being due to Harden being
      a ball-hog. I believe the Rockets organization and Harden obliged Dwight with more touches so they could increase his trade value. Unfortunately teams were more in a selling market mindset this year and the Rockets would have had to take back unwanted contracts in a D12 trade. The ultimate prize was to have two max money amounts available to offer FA's this summer. So Dwight didn't understand his role? Why am I here? After the trading deadline it looked to me like the Rockets feed Dwight less in the post and we're sending him a message that it is Harden's team......and please
      don't opt in this summer. I feel bad for Howard (even though he made $22 million this year, cough on my own saliva), the game has changed and he has a hard time grasping that notion. D'Antoni is not a center-friendly coach so I felt bad for Howard during his time in LaLa land. When Dwight came to Houston centers were still a major component of the game. The game has changed since. I read an article that was produced during the time Howard was in his last year with Orlando. The subject was about Howard in the post and how teams have adapted to the way they defend Howard. They use to send double or triple teams at him, (heck I remember the Rockets sending the whole team at him) and force Howard to pass the ball out.
      The article claimed that teams started staying close to all perimeter shooters and forced one on one in defense of Howard in the post. If Howard looked like he was going to beat his man......the player was instructed to foul him hard and send him to the line for foul shots rather than giving up the dunk/layup. It has become a percentage game with Dwight in the post. That was the year Dwight had back surgery and his physical abilities started to noticeably decrease. It has also been noted that Howard no longer turns to his opponent and tries to take them on face to face. Somewhere along the line Howard has decided to only go back to basket/rim and fake to the lane and then turn to the baseline. Defenses are too smart for that now-a-days. Defensive coaches study tendencies and can counter that by having the initial defender favor protecting the lane with a secondary defender standing by ready for that turn to the baseline. The baseline itself also becomes a defender in that play (3 defenders in a sense). The Thunder played LMA in much the same manner in this year's playoffs. For some reason it threw off LMA and he had trouble shooting over it. I believe defenders were prepared to guard his right hand better knowing that the second defender was covering their back. Getting Dwight more touches in the post didn't equate to more wins unfortunately. The team still struggled to remain at .500. I believe Harden rebelled vs D12 and didn't play correctly until the final games of the season. I'm hoping the page can be turned and the Rockets can play the uptempo style next season....without Brewers man dropping completely off of him and dropping into the paint and without D12's man creating obstacles in the paint as well. Harden had more turnovers this year as a result. I hope that will be cleaned up with an additional outside shooter next season. One of the reasons in like Durant, Horford with Harden is their efficiency on offense.

      Edited by Jatman20, 22 May 2016 - 09:38 PM.

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