[Yahoo] Asik rightfully available and wanted

KDJ3 · Jul 22, 2013

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/housto...ik-rightfully-available-wanted-193100201.html

If you followed the Houston Rockets last year, you fell in love with Omer Asik. Honestly, was there anything better than watching Asik commit an obvious foul, put his hand on his hips, look the referee in the eye in disbelief while sweat fell from his light brown locks, and then begrudgingly drag his bones over to the block to line up for free throws?

Asik showed the kind of grit that you love from your starting center last season. He tallied the most rebounds in the league last year (956), averaging 11.7 rebounds per game and playing in all 82 games, despite blood pouring from his nose once a week. Defensively, he served as the only big man with any kind of polish, protecting the lane with his advanced knowledge of positioning, while outplaying opponents whose athleticism should have yielded him useless. In terms of value, Asik was just as important as James Harden last season; if Houston didn't have Asik last year, there would be no playoffs, there would be little hope for the future, frustration would have mounted, and Dwight Howard would have been out of the question.

That being said, with Howard coming to Houston, Asik is now expendable and wanted. Around half the league could use Asik on their team as either a starting center, or a third big man. At the price of a little more than eight million per year for two more years (that's the cap number, not his yearly salary), Asik is relatively affordable. The Turkish big man is definitely a risk worth taking for a team hoping to push themselves into the playoffs (e.g. Washington Wizards) or into the championship conversation (e.g. Memphis Grizzlies).

The first problem with keeping Asik is the fact that he can't play next to Howard. Forget what some of the analysts are saying, Howard plays best next to a forward who can stretch the floor. In Howard's best seasons in Orlando, he played next to Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. In the 2008-2009 season, the year that Orlando made it to the NBA Finals, Turkoglu and Lewis combined for 354 threes during the regular season (more than four per game). Orlando's offense revolved around lobbing the ball inside to D12 to get the defense moving, with the rest of the squad making the right pass and taking the right shots.

Also, Orlando had Marcin Gortat for three and a half years, and the talented seven-footer never played big minutes next to Howard. If Gortat, who is a considerably better offensive talent than Asik, couldn't play effective offense next to Howard, why would Asik be able to? Asik has no shooting ability whatsoever, he doesn't have quick feet, and he isn't a great finisher, which will likely make him more of a liability in this year's offense than last year's offense. Even last year in Los Angeles, Howard had trouble playing next to Pau Gasol, who is a better passer and considerably better shooter than Asik. If Gasol and Howard both struggled playing alongside each other, wouldn't that mean the Asik and Howard frontcourt has a zero chance of finding success together?

The second reason, and probably the more important reason that the two would have trouble coexisting, is Asik's potential detrimental affect on Howard's fragile psyche. If Howard stumbles out of the gate with his post play, Asik, the fan favorite, could start stealing some key minutes from Howard. Houston's offense is going to look completely different with Howard in the middle, but the transition is not going to be an easy one. McHale ran a quintessential pro-style offense last season, predicated on spacing, pushing the ball, Harden's penetration in the high pick and roll, and three-point shooting. With Howard, I anticipate the offense to still revolve around the same principles, but now Houston can toss the ball into a big man, and he can force a double team or overpower his opponent for two points. If Howard struggles acclimating himself with Harden and Parsons, Asik could provide a stabilizing force on the defensive glass, while still playing the same role on offense as a screener and offensive rebounder. However, if Houston's wings start getting cozy playing with Asik, the transition to a new inside-out offense would become exponentially harder.

The last thing we want to deal with in Houston is an unhappy Dwight Howard. As a franchise, the Rockets need to welcome Howard by making it abundantly clear that he's going to be their starting center and their third foundational piece alongside Harden and Parsons. In the meantime, McHale and company need to find out where the young big guys fit in. The Rockets have Greg Smith (entering his third season), and second-year bigs Terrance Jones and Donatas Motiejunas, so figuring out where they fit in the future plans is essential. There are 96 minutes available per game at center and power forward next year, and Howard will be taking 32-38 of them every night. Therefore, 24 minutes apiece for D-Mo and T-Jones at power forward and 10-15 minutes a game for Smith as Howard's backup makes sense for Houston.

The bottom line is this: Omer Asik is a competitor, and the longer he's on Houston's roster, the more time Howard has to start whining about it. When the Rockets gave Howard his money, they knew he was a character (to put it kindly), and they felt like the on-court leadership of Harden and Parsons could keep Howard's mind on a ring. After Asik's successful first season with Houston, there's no doubt that he is a very solid NBA center. If the right move comes along to move Asik for a point guard, or package him with one of the young bigs for a power forward, Morey will pull the trigger.

Don't let anything Morey says about Houston's roster get to your head. He's paid to put the best team possible on the court, and with Howard in town, flipping Asik for another solid piece is the right move.
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Carl Herrera · Jul 22, 2013

Meh, Bleacher Report BS.

NotChandlerParsons · Jul 22, 2013

Carl Herrera said: ↑

Meh, Bleacher Report BS.
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Yahoo! Contributor Network, aka the less popular Bleacher Report.

KDJ3 · Jul 22, 2013

Carl Herrera said: ↑

Meh, Bleacher Report BS.
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I like reading other peoples' opinions, hence why I come to this site!

Haymitch · Jul 22, 2013

Carl Herrera said: ↑

Meh, Bleacher Report BS.
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Actually, he used to write for Bleacher Report but they gave him the boot. Lolz

I was born in Wayne, New Jersey and I've lived in the same house for my entire life. After playing on a state champion high school basketball team, I attended Montclair State University. In college, I received my Bachelors Degree in English, while taking mostly creative writing classes. Instead of focusing on a specific type of writing in college, I tried writing in every form that I could: poetry, screenwriting, sports writing, news writing, fiction and non-fiction. Since graduating from school, I have written like a madman. I started a blog in Ocotober of 2012 about the Houston Rockets (rocketsbeardbuzz.com), among many other creative projects. The highlight of the blog was receiving some feedback from Daryl Morey, who responded to a piece I had written about the post-championship Rockets via Twitter. In April, I started a blog on the Pittsburgh Pirates (thebuccobuzz.wordpress.com), but soon shifted my writing over to Bleacher Report after being accepted into their writers program. On Bleacher Report, I wrote mainly news articles for the in-season Pirates, while writing feature pieces of the Rockets. However, I was thrown off the site after writing an article about how Jeremy Lin wasn't a starting point guard on a championship caliber team. Bleacher Report deemed the piece too controversial, and suspended me right before the piece reached 12,000 hits, but continued to feature the piece on the top of the Rockets' page.
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Excerpt from the too-controversial article:

I believe that Lin will never improve dramatically and that the team will have to look elsewhere for a floor general to fulfill the organization’s championship aspirations.

Popular belief is that Lin will be starting next to Harden for the near future, but the bottom line is that Harden is eons ahead of Lin in talent and needs a better running mate to bring a ring to Houston. While Linsanity has rotted the brains of many disillusioned fans, the reality is that Lin is not a quality starting point guard in this league.

While Lin won’t have trouble finding 20-25 minutes per game in the league, his lack of foot speed, shaky three-point shot and inability to handle heavy on-ball pressure indicate that he’s more likely to find time on a winner as a reserve guard.

Additionally, Lin is a defensive liability.

Coach Kevin McHale was forced to insert reserve guard Patrick Beverley into the lineup down the stretch of too many games last year, especially against the better point guards in the league. Beverly (and Toney Douglas earlier in the year) also stole minutes from Lin in several games due to Lin’s offensive disappearing acts, which disproves the myth that Lin is an above-average offensive talent.
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KDJ3 · Jul 22, 2013

Haymitch said: ↑

Actually, he used to write for Bleacher Report but they gave him the boot. Lolz

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Now that is kind of embarrassing.

hashmander · Jul 22, 2013

yahoo contributor network isn't the yahoo i was expecting. thumbs down for deception.

b2bizchina · Jul 22, 2013

Rubbish

NotChandlerParsons · Jul 22, 2013

Haymitch said: ↑

Actually, he used to write for Bleacher Report but they gave him the boot. Lolz

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Bleacher Report booted a guy for writing clickbait...weird.

Deckard · Jul 22, 2013

KDJ3 said: ↑

Now that is kind of embarrassing.
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Well, you are that guy.

;-)-

Pak14life · Jul 22, 2013

A bit deceiving to write [Yahoo] in the headline, sounds like it came from Woj or Spears at first. This is just a less glorified bleacher report.

KDJ3 · Jul 22, 2013

hashmander said: ↑

yahoo contributor network isn't the yahoo i was expecting. thumbs down for deception.
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Pak14life said: ↑

A bit deceiving to write [Yahoo] in the headline, sounds like it came from Woj or Spears at first. This is just a less glorified bleacher report.
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I wasn't aware of the difference in caliber, apologize.

REEKO_HTOWN · Jul 22, 2013

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1ytCEuuW2_A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

zcity · Jul 22, 2013

wasn't a horrible read - that being said - we need asik as our backup C

that is . .. until we can move him for Aldridge

pippendagimp · Jul 22, 2013

for someone with a degree in english, homey's writing seems to be lacking in confidence....this cat need to awaken the reader, capture the reader if you will.....but alas, i was left uninspired and ho-hum let down by this 9th grader literary showing

RV6 · Jul 22, 2013

That guy is clearly a HOH

hikanoo49 · Jul 22, 2013

I really for bad for Asik

He literally did everything anyone could have asked:

- played 82 games

- played tough D and did all the dirty work

- got the MOST rebounds in the league

- improved his FT shooting a ton

and what does he get, nothing!

Now we are rolling the red carpet for a guy who is flashy but known as a coach killer, joker, complains a lot, doesnt improve his fundamentals like FT's and now he is the face of the franchise w Dream tutoring him and Yao, Sampson, Hayes patting Dwight on the back.

Where was Dream for Asik?

Poor guy

Kruze10 · Jul 22, 2013

The article makes it sound like Dwight will lose his starting spot to Asik if he struggles. That doesn't make any sense. Asik is a great player but Dwight is the superstar, he is getting paid like one and will start no matter what. I really doubt this team will struggle too, unless they're struck by injuries. Also, Dwight has been known to be mentally weak but I highly doubt he'll feel the pressure of playing in front of another starting caliber center, even if he has problems early on. The Rockets don't trout out their hall of fame players and thousands of Houstonians for just anyone.

smr6 · Jul 22, 2013

hikanoo49 said: ↑

I really for bad for Asik

He literally did everything anyone could have asked:

- played 82 games

- played tough D and did all the dirty work

- got the MOST rebounds in the league

- improved his FT shooting a ton

and what does he get, nothing!

Now we are rolling the red carpet for a guy who is flashy but known as a coach killer, joker, complains a lot, doesnt improve his fundamentals like FT's and now he is the face of the franchise w Dream tutoring him and Yao, Sampson, Hayes patting Dwight on the back.

Where was Dream for Asik?

Poor guy
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He still gets $20 mil paid to him over the next two years.

But on a serious note I agree. It was bitter sweet since I felt bad for Asik but knew this was good for the team.

RV6 · Jul 22, 2013

RV6 said: ↑

HOH
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I should clarify, this was aimed at the author of the article, not the poster.

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