(SBNATION) Asik's versatility makes him one of the NBA's best defensive centers

My take is this is an excellent article and his scouting videos show Asik guarding multiple PFs away from the paint, which leads me to believe an Asik/Howard pairing can work moreso than I did before.

 

Most people are on board that Asik and Howard can play together on the defensive end. No doubt about that. Question remains how the team will do offensively with them two in the paint

 

I would describe Asik as a rare thinking big man. As a play develops he's constantly making correct decisions about his positioning and being in the right place.

 

I hope we keep Asik and find a way to play him at least 30 mpg.

 

Coach, is that you?

(pause)

Yep, I do, too. 'Cause we need the lockdown D.

Do I think we'll keep him? If Dwight stays healthy and the right deal comes along....no. But I would like to see them make this work.

 

I think Asik's shortcomings as an offensive player is the greatest problem of playing him and Howard together for a lot of minutes, but honestly, if he gets all of the backup center minutes, they'd only have to play together for 6 or 7 minutes a game to give him a very respectable amount of play time.

 

My wish too, Easy.

 

I'm not sold that he's consistently a 30 mpg type player, his conditioning isn't the best, I think he'd do better averaging something in the 20's. Like closer to 25 mpg to keep him fresh and at his best. He got exhausted way too much last year.

 

He's one of the best centers in the league.

 

I would describe Howard and Asik as 2 of the top 5 defensive big men in the NBA. And I'm not sure which one is the overall better defender. And I'm not sure they aren't the top 2 defensive big men in the league.

Defensively if I needed a stop I don't know of any big man I would take over either Howard or Asik.

We have the greatest 48 minutes of defensive center play and its not even close with the next best team's defensive center play. We may have arguably the best defensive center combo ever in the history of the NBA. Think about that for a moment. Shaq and Alonzo. Hakeem and Ralph. Hakeem and Robert. Hakeem and Larry Smith? Hakeem and whoever. Robinson and Duncan. Parish and McHale. Patrick and Oakley. Yao and Deke. Patrick and Camby. Are any of those combos better than Howard and Asik defensively? In my opinion...no. Not defensively at the center position.

I think there are 29 other teams that are crossing their fingers and hoping we don't keep Asik.

 

Asik is the second best defensive center in the league, and we now have the first. With both, we should have a top 5 defensive team. You don't give that up for a couple of added point at the PF position.

 

What I hope too.

 

Agreed, trading Asik for anything less than LMA or Kevin Love would be beyond stupid. Asik IMO is the key to this team making a long playoff run this year.

 

Great article. Asik is such a great asset to have. I say keep him until we are blown away with a trade offer.

 

Howard and Asik would be a such a defensive nightmare for other teams. As long as our perimeters players stayed with their men, I just don't know how the other team would score. Conversely, I see our scoring going down a bit, but the lockdown defense more than making it up for it. This is a win win situation.

 

Amazing! Look at that footwork. He confirmed that he is more than capable of guarding all the way out to the 3 point line if needed. He took on Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Tim Duncan among others in those videos and came out on top quite frequently. There isn't a PF or SF on the roster that could have done a better job on the floor and lets not even get into how he contested every shot and altered them. Can't wait to see Howard and Asik shut down a team in the halfcourt on defense. Please, please, please let them at least hold their own on offense enough so that we can have the privilege of seeing these two juggernauts of defense work together frequently. I mean, who else in the whole league can throw out two big men with this type of defense? I'm still thinking...

NO LAYUPS!!!