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Running NBA offseason/come join us Lebron! thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by TheSportsPredictor, Jun 15, 2017.

  1. Deskgrunt50

    Deskgrunt50 Well-Known Member

  2. sgreenwell

    sgreenwell Well-Known Member

    I mean, oddly, I don't think he's wrong in his sentiment. But, it's hard to imagine that's going to work out well for him, given his difficulty with free throws and his heaves against the backboard from the post the past couple years.
     
  3. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    My dog has a better chance of developing into an outside threat at this point than Dwight Howard. I also liked this line:
    Deja vu anyone? Isn't that like nearly verbatim the same line we constantly heard about him and Harden, Kobe and Nash in his prior stops? Might now be safe to assume Howard's not gonna work out with any decent guard--period. I presume next year we'll be hearing how the problem is he just can't play with Kemba Walker.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2017
  4. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Dwight Howard's kind of a fascinating dude. Has there ever been a player who has gotten less credit from fans for the things he does well, with a greater fixation on his shortcomings?

    He's somehow become the poster boy for wasted potential. That's odd for a guy who's a five time All-NBA first teamer and a three time Defensive Player of the Year. He's still one of the best rebounders in the league.

    I understand a lot of it. He wears out his welcome immediately. He's been on 5 teams in 7 years. There are plenty of times when he looks utterly lost on the court. And oh God, the free throw shooting.

    If I were an NBA GM, I'm not adding Dwight Howard to my team. But if you look at his resume... just how high are we setting the bar if his career has been a letdown?
     
  5. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    I'd note this season's results as an example helping explain it. Last year, Houston was a dysfunctional, unhappy, underachieving bunch. Then they dumped Howard and instantly transformed into a happy, overachieving, winning-far-more-than-expected bunch. Seems they were a much better team with friggin Clint Capela as their only noteworthy big man than with Dwight Howard. I believe that's called addition by subtraction.

    Meanwhile, the pre-2017 Budenholzer Hawks had been known as an overachieving happy harmonious bunch. They they added Howard, and transformed into an unhappy disappointing bunch. Coincidence?

    I agree that Howard is a physical marvel and still a rebounding and shotblocking force statistically. But each year there's increasingly less evidence that he actually helps teams win, and every time he leaves a place there seems to be a sense of relief rather than despair from the place left behind--happy that the trouble-making headache-maker has moved on.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2017
  6. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I think all of that is fair. I think bringing D'Antoni in was also a huge factor for the Rockets, but there's no real way to argue that subtracting Howard was a bad thing.
     
  7. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    A decade ago, "Dwight or LeBron" was a legitimate question, and anyone who says otherwise is engaging in revisionist history. Amazing to see how their paths diverged.
     
  8. JakeandElwood

    JakeandElwood Well-Known Member

    Wait, what?
     
  9. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    Then I'll engage in what you think is revisionist history. Sorry, but there never ever was a time when "Dwight or Lebron" was a legit question in terms of who any knowledgeable basketball mind would choose between the two. Your claim of revisionism is the true revisionism here.

    However, it's true that there was a time when Dwight (along with Chris Paul, Carmelo and D-Wade) was considered the next closest thing to Lebron in the young superstar club. And it was presumed he'd remain a top tier superstar and the League's dominant franchise big man for many years to come.

    And, yeah, it's striking how rapidly he's fallen from that to basically "unwanted disposable part" in the NBA transaction game.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2017
  10. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    A decade ago, the comparison was more about Dwight being "the next Shaq." Both led their teams to the Finals when they were young, and Dwight was basically the only really dominant post-up big man left in the NBA as Shaq was fading.

    Look at the divergence between their careers after their first Finals appearances with the Magic. That's why Dwight is viewed as more of an underachiever, IMO.
     
  11. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    Complete bullshit.

    That might have been a 93devil argument but not a serious one by anybody that would be taken seriously.
     
  12. sgreenwell

    sgreenwell Well-Known Member

    I don't have the time to look on B-R right now, but you can probably draw a line down Howard's stat line based on his back injury. Before the first one (I think), he was the guy powering Orlando to a finals appearance. After that, he was still a hell of an athlete at various times, who could rebound and block shots, but he wasn't the monster he was. That, plus how important shooting became, relegated him to near-all star.
     
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