Dwight Howard Discussion: The Taiwan Terror

He's late in his career. Knows he's not playing for a big contract anymore and just happy to get a check from somewhere. That can change the way you view things when you don't have as many options anymore. He has matured leaps and bounds as well and he's always been a fun loving guy.

I was stoked on him his 2nd time around and super disappointed when they didn't bring him back last year. Let's see what he does this year

 

Easy Dwight .... stay in yo lane!

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/dwight-howard-tried-recruiting-sixers-191534706.html

 

green didn't want to sit behind...all 4 of our sgs. so he took 7X the money.

we'll be ok. and he might be even better!

 

Good thing he can't recruit.

 

green did enough to secure his bag and one way or another found a way to "disappear" in playoffs lol (yes hes was injured but still counts as disappearing)

 

Some good stats in this one.

 

Stats? Blind mice could see that one.

 

Yeah …. but …. but …. Drummond “owned” Dwight in one game 2 years ago, ergo Drummond better than Dwight.

Maybe that was during the period when Dwight’s butt was sore? I’m pretty sure @sirronstuff has the specifics on that.

 

i'm not sure what drummond's for anymore, tbh. and the nba has indicated that they agree.

howard has probably been underpaid/underappreciated for three years after being overpaid/overappreciated for some time prior.

but i think howard > drummond for almost any team in any situation right now. massive upgrade at backup c for us. downgrade for philly, though one could argue that because embiid misses so much time they need a younger guy capable of playing more regular minutes.

 

It's hard to question it too much, because he is going to the hall BUT I can't help but wonder how his career would've turned out if he embraced a Dikembe, Big Ben, Rodman type role instead of square peg-round hole'ing it as the next Shaq.

He didn't have to be Kobe, but his Bozo the Clown act was too much. He should've asked Bron years ago how to have fun, be smiling and joking but also be serious about basketball and how to balance the two. Sadly it took him until he was literally halfway out of the league to finally get it.

 

Things no one expected to say 6-8 years ago:

I really like Dwight’s attitude and how effectively he wants to stick to his role of defending, rebounding and finishing lobs.

 

Dwight is still a decent backup center, we do need another big man, because I don't believe in the AD playing more 5 talk. Drummond didn't work out as planned, but on a min deal, I'd still rather have Drum and Howard, Gasol is washed, he was done before he left Toronto. I'd like to see a younger guy get the call, I don't really care about his offensive abilities, run the floor, block shots, grab some boards, bang and play physical. That's the last piece of the puzzle IMO.

 

I am still concerned about his health, he hasn't even started basketball work on the court yet to my knowledge. I also firmly believe that he is a natural 4, the best 4 in the game. That being said, his defensive abilities are rare for a guy his size, there are few bigs ever, that can cover the perimeter wings and get back to defend the paint like AD. If we can force teams to go small, yes AD is devastating. That won't always be the case though, and the guy's body isn't built for banging around with legit 5's. The bubble was the bubble, Denver was the only team we played with a legit 5, and Jokic preferred to play on the perimeter. Yet when he chose to get on the block, he was overpowering Davis, that's why Dwight was big in that one series. AD is who he is, that's just fine with me, the best power forward in the game.

 

do people think if they repeat falsehoods long enough, they become true? because i've posted the evidence a bunch of times, and still these takes.

if gasol's washed, so is howard. and drummond was even worse. truth is, none of them are, and we now have the best two of the three.

i said in another thread i'd prefer a 3rd center to another pf, but i disagree that AD can't or shouldn't play the 5. every minute another team tries to go small on us we should counter with AD at center.

the bubble wasn't any different than any other playoffs except there weren't fans there. the fans didn't make it so that most teams we played chose to go small to gain an advantage on us. further, most teams do employ big centers, but most of them don't play big centers for 48 minutes. even the highly paid guys like adams, valanciunas and such only play 27-28mpg. and those teams don't run a second line of 270lb dudes.

we should be playing AD at 5 to close every half. the mavs used to do it with dirk, and he was even less suited to grinding than AD is. the rest of the game, we can use our centers mostly. we really just need about 30mpg combined from gasol/howard/emergency center.

 

Just because You keep posting the same thing, doesn't make it any more correct. You haven't posted any evidence of any sort IMO. You posted some numbers without some context, and expressed your opinion . I am expressing mine, Marc Gasol is washed, he's three years removed from being serviceable IMO. I'm all for another big too, specifically to replace Gasol.



The bubble referenced the teams we played. There was only one with a legit 5, Denver, that's why Howard made an impact in that series. He was a better look against Jokic in the paint. NO..Portland, Houston and Miami preferred to play small, we didn't force them into anything. We just trumped their best lineup because we had AD.I already said that if a team plays small, AD is the perfect counter. It depends on the matchups otherwise, he is a power forward and he doesn't want to play 5 all the time for good reason. His body isn't built for that , it doesn't make him any less of a player, there is nothing wrong with who he is IMO. We should play AD in whatever matchups that benefit us the most, sometimes it will be 4 sometimes it will be 5. I simply disagree with the idea the he must play X amount of minutes at the position, for us to be at our best, that isn't necessarily true.

 

the numbers aren't my opinion. they're a slew of different metrics (that attempt to account for context, btw) that all point in the opposite direction of your opinion.

if gasol was as bad as people say, a) we should have been way worse, and b) we should have been better with drummond, howard, or mcgee at center with similar lineups.

we were not any of these things.

 

Marc got to play with a healthy Lebron and mostly healthy AD..Drummond didn't, it's a difference. That said, it's water under the bridge now, I hope he proves me wrong about being washed. That is good for the squad.