This is probably stupid, but I got his Rockets bobblehead for $10 at the NBA Store last night, free shipping too
I appreciated that he was a good player here except he couldn't make up for not hitting free throws as well as not getting along with James. Made the playoff games extremely frustrating. We'd be rolling and all they had to do was foul him over and over and all momentum was lost.
I appreciated how much the league let Draymond Green absolutely hold, pull, and maul Dwight on every shot and rebound with minimal repercussions at all. Then Dwight would get T'd up over and over because who wants to play with a mutant hanging on them the entire game? Of course, we wouldn't have won the series, our offense was running on 2 cylinders instead of the V8 we have now. I also wonder if Capela playing with Dwight helped Capela focus on his great alley-oop game as he saw Harden and Josh Smith tossing lobs and how much that over-the-top threat helps space an offense.
I appreciate the slick manner in which he pretended to be a good guy while single-handedly torpedoing an entire freakin' season before we got smart and decided not to re-sign him.
I'm conflicted with Dwert. He chose us as a Free Agent. We had a solid year with him. That last year was wasted because he didn't want to evolve his game and give up his clownish ways. He's been nothing but excellent to the city and the people though.
I appreciate how Dwight literally gave up during a game in Denver in his final season. I have never seen a player go talk to the fans while his team was setting up on offense. I was 2 seats away from him smiling that Crest-White smile and giving no Fs that James Harden had to work so incredibly hard for every shot. Kevin McHale, arguably the worst coach I've ever met and studied, simply had James playing 1 on 5 most nights. Dwight didn't mind. Denver will always be the game that revealed his hunger to compete. When an aging Jason Terry has to pep-talk you into joining your team on the sidelines, during timeouts or to set a pick to free up someone other than James, it's over. Maybe John Wall can get Dwight to work again. For our sake, I'm hopeful that Dwight destroys that locker room by immediately buddying up with the backup PG and creating cliques. That's the easiest path to a Wash implosion...and, well, that team has some pretty interesting pieces.
Can you imagine if one of the GOATs had Dwight's body? Like if Larry Bird was vanilla shoulders instead? He'd be the greatest ever and it wouldn't even be a decade long debate on facebook. What if Dwight's body just had Capela's mind/attitude and not some grand skill level? He'd still be a monster. Biggest waste of athleticism ever.
Does he remain on the poster for tradition of Bigs when we get our next 7'7 behemoth? That's going to be the big decision.
I have had a lot of negative things to say about Dwight. Tons. But off the court he strikes me as a great person. The last game I saw him play in Portland, a guy behind me came up and said "are you a Rockets fan?" Wearing a jersey wasn't clue enough, so I said yeah. He told me how he hated Dwight, and thought he was a petulant child... well up until about 24 hours before the game. Dwight apparently went to a local children's shelter in Portland where the guy worked with no cameras or press and gave them all toys and clothes. The fan said "I really want to continue to hate the guy, but I can't. He is nothing but a class act." That's the Dwight I want to remember more than anything. Again, it doesn't have to be a hate everything about the guy kind of situation. We can choose to like some aspects, but understand that he just isn't right for this team basketballwise. I mean, he's a hell of a lot nicer than Harden. I can't even get Harden to engage with me during shootaround. The guy is kind of an ass to fans in other cities, or at least Portland.
Dwight had GOAT-type athleticism but was stuck was the hand-eye coordination of a middle schooler. Larry Bird had GOAT-type hand eye coordination. Of course if you fused the best qualities of the two players together you would have a GOAT player. Dwight could shoot 1000 free throws a day and never hope to get above 50% at the free throw line. In another context, he could never hope to be a good golfer or hit a baseball. It's not a work-ethic problem; Dwight only made it to the NBA because of his height and crazy athleticism. For most players to make it to the NBA (450 people out of billions on the planet), they have to have been born with superior athleticism plus natural coordination plus height. Then they have to work hard, stay healthy and receive good coaching. Plus be scouted and given a chance.
