Howard is returning in 2 weeks...b. johnson wrote:Reason wrote:best way to incorporate love (who is most effective when he has the ball in his hands) is to make him your 6th man, let him operate with the ball in his hands and be in predominantly when one of or both of lebron/irving aren't on the courtb. johnson wrote:Just an awesome game all around from both teams.
crazy to think cleveland is given the best odds to win it all (by vegas) when you consider where they were a couple of months back.
if only they could incorporate love...
he's just a terrible fit for lebron/irving who are ball-dominant players to be their most effective on offense, only one ball on the court at a time is death to love's strengths, he's an inconsistent spot-up shooter (i can't tell you how many wide open 3's i've seen him brick off perfect passes from both lebron and irving) and he doesn't play a lick of defense so unless you have a younger chandler/marion/etc. covering up dirk's defense type of situation you won't win with love as a focal point, mozgov fouls too frequently and tristan isn't ready and varejao is out for the year
you know i feel the same way, but i just can't come to grips with moving love to the bench. i believe love has to go back and watch bosh's tapes the past 4 years in miami because he's in the same exact situation. i think the difference is that spolestra would actually call plays for bosh from time to time (especially early in the game) and also spolestra would have stretches where wade and lebron were on the bench and everything was ran though bosh. I don't see how that's not possible in cleveland for love.
and yea love has to play defense, but even that is masked by lebron and mozgov's defensive dominance.
tristan is an interesting player as well. he shoots high percentage shots, rebounds, and makes his free throws. but he isn't really a good defensive player at all (not yet atleast). he seems to be getting the bulk of the minutes down the stretch, but it really should be love. i also think varejao getting hurt was the best thing for cavs as they probably would have never got mozgov. varejao is okay, but not who he used to be 5 years ago either.
i'm also worried about houston's rotation. they have too many forwards (luxury, not a problem), but they should have done something and addressed their roster when they had the chance. montejunas, terrance jones, j. smith, and to an extent brewer and ariza are all fighting for minutes and they are all starting calibur players. they have no bigs without howard and really no viable backup to beverly except for using harden as the point. the way harden is playing combined with their roster, they should be championship favorites or at least more in the conversation, but they just aren't cutting it. and i haven't heard anything about howard's return.
Dwight Howard (right knee) went through a one-on-one workout on Wednesday and he expects to return in two weeks.
Howard reported no setbacks and his conditioning is good, but coach Kevin McHale emphasized that Houston's trainers "are going slow ... They want to make sure that they have a handle on it." A return on Mar. 25 vs. the Pelicans would give Howard a dozen games to prep for the playoff. Terrence Jones should hold value all season but owners of Donatas Motiejunas and Josh Smith should prepare for an eventual dropoff once Dwight takes the court. Mar 12 - 9:04 AM
Source: ESPN.com