Rockets Howard/Asik as told by a Scout

The Rockets have had an up and down season and at times you have seen parts of what this team could be. Early on the Rockets employed a 2 center lineup which consisted of the team’s newest toy Dwight Howard and last years starting center Omer Asik. After a few games Head coach Kevin McHale decided to go in a different direction and scraped the lineup, and seemed to hasten the end of Asik’s career as a Houston Rocket.

On Thursday November 14^th it was learned before the game with the Knicks that Asik through his agent had requested a trade and wants out of Houston. Asik since the ending of McHales big line up has seen his minutes shrink from 23 minutes down to 7 minutes a game the past 3 games including being benched on Thursday and Saturday. Last season before Howard, Asik was averaging 30 minutes a game, his role has been cut and it’s clear he wants out and now has asked twice to be traded since Howard become a Rocket.

When speaking with an NBA scout I went in to determine Asik’s value to the rest of the NBA and while talking with the scout he went on to share “he (Asik) actually may be more impactful offensively than Howard at this point as Howard seems to have regressed”. When he told me this I had to follow up and really wanted to understand what he meant, so the scout shared “he (Howard) has 0 post moves nor does he work to get the ball. He's playing like Eric Dampier, makes a move and doesn't take up space or fight for "real estate" when he makes his move.” While the debate is moot because Howard can catch the lob pass and can dunk the ball, the scout is right every time Howard shoots the ball it’s more luck than skill if he makes the basket. Howard on the season is second in the NBA with 23 dunks so far this season.

Asik has plenty of value to teams and proved last season he can be a legit starting big man, last season averaging a double double. This season Asik was phased out by the ultra-athletic Howard and Asik seems to not even be in the team’s plans going forward as he been benched in the past 2 games. The scout went on to say the Bull’s would take him back, and mentioned that Daryl Morey could be looking for “a high unprotected pick, in my estimation, along with a role player to strengthen his bench.” Lots of teams could you use this big man on their team. The question is where is he going and what will Morey get back in return!

   

Rockets Defensive as told by a NBA Scout

The Rockets have ran in to many problems early in this young season the offensive spacing early was off due to having both Dwight Howard and Omer Asik operating in the same space.  Defensively the Rockets at times were having trouble stopping 3 year olds from scoring.

In talking with a NBA scout he mentioned when you have a Dwight Howard you should be better defensively “you can certainly be more aggressive on the ball when you have Howard protecting the rim”. I can personally remember before the start of the season Jeremy Lin joked, the defensive was something the coaching staff stressed last season, and last season they just didn’t listen very much…. The scout I spoke to with mentioned “you should always have consistency at the defensive end, although there's let downs in some capacity during a long season.  That's why you need a consistent philosophy”. Really does anyone know what the defensive philosophy on this team is….. Anyone?

The team has defensive players and has players that have the talent to play defensive on high level, James Harden? The scout went on to say “He (Kevin McHale) has some defensive talent but they have to embrace their philosophy.” Which leads me to believe in what Jeremy Lin said, we just didn’t listen….  

Astros Name Minor Leaguers of the Year

Astros recently named their minor league players of the year and the Astros only had one position player to choose from. Not because only one minor leaguer had a good year but more because only one minor leaguer had an EPIC year. The Astors had soooo many more options at pitcher, lots of pitchers in the system had plenty of really good years. Below are the players chosen by the team.

George Springer Player of the year

Springer had one of the greatest seasons in minor league history, Springer between Double A and Triple A finished 3 homeruns short of 40 homeruns and 40 stolenbases. Springer finished among the league leaders in lots of different categories. Springer finished with a .303 avg, 37 HR, 108 RBI, 45 SB, and a 1.010 OPS. Springer also was a player of the week at the Double A and Triple A level.

David Martinez Pitcher of the Year

Martinez like Springer was one of the Astros better pitchers on the farm and even spent a little bit of time in the majors. Martinez finished with 14 wins and 2 losses and a 2.57 ERA between Triple A and Double A and tossed 11.1 innings in the majors. While Martinez was a more dominate pitcher in Double A he still showed promise for the seasons going forward.



      

Omer Asik Wants Out

It seems likely Omer Asik will not be here after the NBA trade deadline, it was leaned today that Asik through his agent has asked for a trade for the 2nd time since Dwight Howard joined the team. IMO coach Kevin McHale tried to make Asik happy by starting both him and Howard at the start of the season using the Twin Towers lineup.

After a double overtime win at home against the Raptors it was learned the McHale had soured on the Big lineup and the following game with the 76ers Asik was benched in favor of Terrence Jones. Asik has seen his role on the Rockets disappear VERY quickly, against the Raptors Asik saw 19 minutes action, against the 76ers Asik saw 4 minutes action, and so far tonight with the Knicks Asik has yet to see the court at all.

The big question going forward is what is the return value for Asik who last season made it clear he could be a starting NBA big man. In the coming days Rockets GM Daryl Morey and Hed Coach Kevin McHale will no doubts have talks about what the team needs going forward.

Rockets Greg Smith Injures Right Knee

Greg Smith while playing in only his 5th game of the season injured his Right Knee while jumping up to defend a drive by Knicks Carmelo Anthony. Smith jumped and while coming down laded awkwardly on his leg and seemed to twist is knee badly. It was learned via TNT he was not able to put any weight on his leg and had to use crutches to get his X ray taken. Per Ken Berger, Smith's X-Ray was negative and but an MRI will be taking to find out the severeness of his injury, but it is being described as Right LCL sprain. Similar LCL injuries have taken others 4 to 6 weeks to come back from this injury.

Texans Future Hall Of Famer Hospitalized

Thursday after practice Gary Kubiak updated the media on the health of the team, the health update is grim and includes a future hall of famer hospitalized. After the teams Thursday practice coach shared Arian Foster had is surgery today and that TE Ryan Griffin, P Shane Lechler, MLB Joe Mays, CB Elbert Mack, CB Kareem Jackson and LB Mike Mohamed all did not practice.


Coach shared the Punter Shane Lechler has spent the past few days in the hospital with the flu and could be released tomorrow. Per Kubiak Lechler did reach out to him and said he will be back, if Lechler does not return in time and healthy Kubiak said that Randy Bullock would have to pull double duty and handle everything punting, field goal kicking and kick offs.

Bullock in 4 years at Texas A&M he made 2 punts for an average of 22.5 yards a punt, which I don't need to tell you is WAY below what Lechler is capable of.
 

76ers 123 beat Rockets 117

Rockets went in Wednesday’s night’s game without the assistance of All Star guard James Harden who sat with foot issues. The Rockets also decided to scrap the so called “Twin Towers” lineup of Dwight Howard and Omer Asik. Head coach instead of going big, went small with the two guard lineup of Patrick Beverley and Jeremy Lin also starting Terrence Jones at power forward.

The big complaint since the start of the season has been the Rockets only play a few quarters a game, tonight the Rockets picked the 1^st and 3^rd quarters too show up to the game. The Rockets with Harden out got major help from Jeremy Lin who went off tonight. Lin made 9 3pointers tonight and finished with 34 points. Lin was a key component in the Rockets gaining a 10 point advantage heading in to the 4^th quarter. The Rockets played a decent game but just were not able to stop ex Rocket James Anderson who had 36 points, and was very efficient going 12 for 16 from the floor and 6 of 8 from the 3, including the one that sent the 76ers into overtime. The Rockets ended up losing in single overtime to the Rockets of the east 123 to 117.

Jeremy Lin in the last two games has been on fire and been gold for the Rockets, Lin has played 95 minutes in the past two games and picked up 65 points in the past two games. Look for the Rockets to lean hard on Jeremy Lin tomorrow as the Rockets head back to the place from Jeremy Lin became a star…. NEW YORK CITY!