Dwight Howard Discussion: The Taiwan Terror

beat it all you want. we were never going to consistently play 3 non-AD centers. period.

no one disputed that AD would rather not play center exclusively. note that ramona says "eat up some minutes" not "play all the minutes".

 

This ^^^ . 3 being the operative number. JaVale and Boogie looked to be real fine with Cousins in his second year post achilles and getting in great shape and over his quad injury.

 

Was McGee a bill of health last year? Was he a starter that could player starter type minutes before he got to LA?

What was Boogie's medical history?

You can't be serious? This dude wanted out of Nawlins cause they gave him a 2nd rate Saints med staff and didn't secure a big man to firmly place him at the 4?

You can't be serious with how we spent nearly 33m this summer. We didn't lock up great depth for Bron/AD at the 3 and 4 (unless Kuz hits up cap with the super soldier serum) and we didn't lock down a healthy 5 rotation to spare AD from taking on some of that load.

Now we have to heavily rely on Howard to play the 5 and for Bron to set up shop for the offense for more than "some minutes".

It was dumb.dumb.dumb. /drumrant

 

yeah, i'm serious. and you're reaching (again). AD doesn't want to play 30mpg at center anymore. he won't/wasn't going to.

i'm glad we were paying cousins (now howard) the min instead of dwyane dedmon or valanciunas 15-20 million per year. getting perimeter players who can put the ball in the basket was more important.

i'm just glad whatever dunces birthed last year's plan are gonzo.

 

Ya'all are stressing like you forgot Kuzma is a backup Center



Oh, that Luke guy. RIP in cowtown

 

Nah half the duncesvare still in the FO. Speaking of which, Rondo & McGee aka half the MUD/meme squad still here too. Those dunces from last year created the current Klutch team you like so much and created the 30m in cap via those 1yr stopgap contracts last summer.

If KCP or Green could playmake and handle the rock to play iso some, then it would be a good investment to have Bron take less of the burden on offense. But go take a looksee at their iso/PnR ballhandling stats...(spoiler alert: Bron will be handling the rock alot).

 

bron not handling the rock was part of the abject d******ery of last year's offseason.

the 30 million was pretty useless, as predicted by many of us. would have been just as well spent on multi-years to better players, again, as many of us said.

 

Bron's usage going up from Oct to Dec says hi. #Gro'inPains

If not for that injury, the d******ery of last off-season could have led to a postseason berth.

And I agree that they should have usedless of the 30m on actual free agents once they struck out on Kawhi. Gain some assets back that were lost in the AD trade, to then you can parlay for another star via trade if the opportunity comes up. But I think I'm the only one saying that so what do I know? #Knowstradumbas*

Btw Dwight looking right....

 

lol, now you're blaming him handling the ball for his injuries.

#stillreachin'
#staceyaugmonisembarrassed

 

I thought they were gone at this stage of his career but he's getting them back.

 

Still reachin'???




#LAbronJamesisROFHurtin

Btw squint a lil and Zo kinda looks like Green there. But forget reachin' May with Bron at a 100 when we can get a wide open 3 on Christmas day.

What a ho ho horrible idea. But I guess till we get some proven ballhandlers (AC hasn't yet and Rondo can't stay healthy), we're going to have to deal with it...

 

Come on vash, it was a random freak accident with his groin getting over extended with something he did. Not due to any overuse handling the ball. I'm surprised that doesn't happen a lot more with all the wet spots on the floor from sweat.

As a matter of fact, but I can't be 100% certain .... I seem to remember Bron doing exactly that above, slipping on a wet spot and really doing the splits, just a little earlier before his injury a few games or maybe even that game. He stayed down for awhile with that one. And it looked like oh bleep when he did it because the splits were big. Maybe he partially injured his GROAN then?

 

I mean dude could lose his s*** over a Caruso dunk from the bench that could knock him out for some time too...but what's more likely: getting hurt with more time on the court or on the bench? Eliminate/minimize the risk. Forget the regular season and playoff seeding...get to the real season with your guys close to 100.

Y'all stretching this man like he didn't play an 82 game regular season and didn't have 8 straight trips to the Finals before last season.

Im not even sure this is debatable.

#ProtectYourStars

 

Well glass is never more than 1/4 full scenarios as you seem to enjoy these days it's sad for you. I'm excited at what I saw on the floor with Cook for GS coming to our team now for off the bench and with NBA Finals experience, and a whole bunch for what I expect to see out of Caruso this year and maybe Bradley isn't a stiff handling the ball and maybe Rondo can be "healthier" and not get suspended and play with a far finer lineup of talent this year.

You expect failure on all counts it seems to me.

 

I'm expecting exactly what their record shows:

Cook is a 15mpg player. I can hope for more, but I expect roughly those numbers.

Rondo is called playoff Rondo for a reason. I hope he stays healthy she had that juice in the postseason but I can expect his mpg to be held around 27min like his recent stints in Chicago and Nawlins has shown.

AvBrad is a SG and isn't really a playmaker for others. I can hope he developed better ball skills but I expect him to play roughly 99% at SG as he did last year.

Caruso is a 3rd year 2way player that finally arrived. I hope he's the next best PG since having a healthy Nash for all of 15 minutes, but I can expect that when he puts up 35mins+ per game (in 4 games last year), he's a net negative (-3.9). Maybe it's Luke that was holding him back and I hope that isn't the case this year...but what I expect is AD, Rondo & Caruso as the only capable players that can playmake for themselves and others to help Bron with that responsibility...that's really it.

No one else really has that as part of their game.

 

Naw that's just sad man. You got no faith. Believe it when you see it. What the hell fun is that. I like our roster. Getting Dwight was huge in the state he's going to be in. I expect those bumps in production. It's logical. You sit and moan over stats. All these guys are capable of playing well with at least 2 offensive targets on the floor at any time. Which will NOT be hard to do with our roster.

 

Moaning over cap space, really. Again, you don’t invest in ball handlers when you have LeBron, and you don’t invest in centers unless they’re all stars. Shooters and defenders around your stars. We’re a year late.

 

I got no faith, yet held firm that #LAD was going to happen and told the masses last year to chill till the cap space was realized. Check the receipts at LakersBawl.com.

I'm groaning over cap space cause clearly our present iteration was our plan B, right? I don't think anybody had 30m going to a SG rotation of Green/Kcp/AvBrad/Daniels as our plan B.

Meanwhile that Logo guy y'all think is the goat exec consulted that the cLips invest/retain 30m in SG/SF/wings to make sure Kawhi and George's load is managed accordingly. But let's applaud the FO for investing roughly 10m in frontline depth for Bron & AD.

Keep them hopes alive.

Bron is capable of playing 82 games and AD is capable of playing heavy minutes at the 5 in the regular season. Doesn't make it a good idea tho especially when they and their bodies have told you otherwise.

But anyways, here's to hoping Dwight makes AD stay.

 

Health is always a crap shoot. We got unlucky with Boogie. But barring piss poor luck again, I think we are in great shape with McGee and now a balls out humbled and motivated Dwight Howard who looks to be in tremendous condition. No point in continuing to worry about it. Like abeer said they were never going to bring in 3 guys to play center besides AD and we have a number of people like I said when two scorers are in the game that can handle the ball and pass and get the ball to them Including Kuzma, AD, Caruso, Cook whom the Dubs valued enough to give playing time for 2 years, and Rondo with his stupid play kept in check by the vets around him now and this coaching staff not going to put up with it. Bradley should be passable in that manner above as well plus is a defender and can shoot. Daniels can shoot. Caruso can shoot and play D. LBJ is going to handle the ball any damn time he feels like it anyway and will be wanting to play his customary minutes. Stop stressing and looking for the things to go south instead.