In order to win a title in this day and age, you must get through the Heat. I do not want our team to be victims of the LeBron era. Assemble a team to match uo against the Heat, and you can assuredly get out of the West. I want Houston to be the team that upsets them. I want to see a championship in Houston again. All we have going for us right now is a star who has shown he can take over games and is the best at his position. What maneuvers can the team make to ensure that they can capitalize on the weaknesses of Miami?
Healthy Dwight Howard would be Hibbert x10. Parsons improves his defense even more. Good 4 to match up with Bosh. Trade Jeremy Lin for Juwan Howard so we can have a real leader. Championship
If the Spurs win the title, it isn't far-fetched to think that Duncan may retire, much like Robinson did, om top. They won't be top of the West forever. Memphis has no offensive firepower. Clip the head of the snake (Paul) and the team withers. OKC are a poor mans Heat. A team that can topple the Heat can quell the Thunder.
Heat are in trouble going forward if they want to keep the big 3 together. Cap hell, Wade declining fast, Bosh unreliable.
The move for us is obvious: Dwight Howard. The teams that give the Heat the most trouble are those that can beat them up inside and exert some sort of physical control. Boston in 2012, Indiana in 2013. They can take the Heat deep into series by virtue of controlling the paint and capitalizing on Miami's one weak spot. The problem with those teams? While great from a physicality standpoint, they don't have the creators on offense to win a Game 7 on the road when Miami is locked in. With Dwight, the Rockets on paper have the best chance of anyone against Miami -- the overwhelming physical presence inside along with scoring from the perimeter. Nothing is guaranteed, but that's why it's such a tremendous fit.
And to answer the OP: ^this. As much as I dislike Dwight's diva antics, the thought of him running with this Rockets offense is just scary. And if the Rockets can have both Asik and Dwight so they have a defense anchor every minute of every game, look out.
The Pacers had NO BENCH. When George and or Hibbert went out of the game it was ugly. Also, George isn't as good creating off the dribble as Harden. Not only that but having your best offensive player also having to play defense against the best player on the planet isn't good, he would get too tired. You can hide Harden on Wade or Chalmers and have Parsons/Garcia (resigned) guard Lebron - similar to how we did against Durant. If the Rockets get Howard, he would kill the Heat inside. Keeping Asik as well, gives full 48 mins of inside defense, great rebounding (a real problem for the Heat) and 2 great bigs to set awesome screens. Mario Chalmers also got WAAAAY too many easy shots in the pacers series. I would expect that wouldn't be the case against the Rockets (nor Spurs). I also think the reason why the Pacers were successful to a degree against the Heat was that the Heat needed to account for David West. They couldn't play small ball (No Battier) which affected their offense and caused them to stagnate. The Rockets have no such luxury, however by having a stretch 4 play for the Rockets would open up the inside and the double teaming you saw on Hibbert wouldn't be nearly as easy. Lin/Beverley Harden Parsons/Garcia Howard/TJones/DMo/White Asik/Howard/Smith That lineup could potentially take the Heat in a finals with great coaching. I'd love to see McHale being that coach but it will be a wait and see TBH.
The Heat's lineups are killing us. They are the best team to put pressure on D and create TOs. Harden and Lin are high TOs players. Tough to beat them in transition or penetration. The Rockets need to develop the big men(rebound and score) and jump shooting
People forget that in 2009 a 59-23 Orlando Magic team consisting of Dwight Howard accompanied by Hedo Turkoglu , Rashard Lewis and Rafer freaking Alston as the starting PG beat Lebron James and the 66-16 Cavaliers. If we sign Dwight we will be virtually 2009 Orlando Version 2.0, as now Dwight can finally play with a pass first elite guard who can create his own shot. And don't forget at that time Dwight was only 23! And not to mention he finally has a backup to where if he gets in foul trouble the team can rely on in Omer. That and lacking a consistent shot creator was the achilles heal of that orlando team and why they lost in the finals. Essentially if we sign him and manage to get one more shooter we can already compete to win the west and we will match up well against miami. If Roy Hibbert can have a field day against the heat imagine what a healthy, refocused Dwight can do to them.
With Dwight Howard I see our match looking like this Tom Chamber light vs. Mitch Richmond Manu Ginobli Plus vs. Magic Johnson Shawn Kemp vs. KG light. I think we are lot like the Seattle Supersonics of the of the mid 90's lacking the overall Defense and the lack of a go-to-move. And that's with Dwight Howard. A defender is biggest problem. We need someone to guard and make life unpleasant for Lebron. The pacers had a little roadmap there with the length and size, but just not enough. We need a Scottie Pippen type instead of a Tom Chambers type. I think Lin does give us a small advantage over Chambers in that Lin can explode. chambers can't. But Miami also has Battier and Allen, two starters on the bench. A big plus. Even if only a mirage at times.
Heat have 2 more good seasons before they crumble. Not really concerned about building to beat the Heat. I don't realistically expect us to get to the finals to face them in that timeframe anyway.
