LaMarcus Aldridge- All NBA 3rd team

That's fair, but putting 4 guys above him means you think 4 guys are better than him.

Factually speaking...this is correct but......I think even Portland could make the Eastern Conference Finals facing Indiana and Atlanta....

 

Before this season...maybe, but this season...

That's not true, especially if you watched the Atlanta series. They dropped the ball into him almost every time and he put 27 PPG on 60% shooting.

Getting to the line and putbacks are part of his offensive game, but it's clearly not his only measure of offense, especially since he's a big.

 

People are really underestimating Howard's offense. In past seasons, he was just a garbage man on offense but this season he's become much more capable of getting the ball dumped into him and scoring or drawing a foul.

Combining his best defense in the league, best rebounding in the league and impact offense (good enough to score 20+ PPG plus draw double teams), I think he's arguably the most valuable player in the league, but at least second behind James.

 

just going on straight stats for the fantasy league I play in Howard was clearly the #1 guy this last season

I'm not saying he's clearly the actual best player in the league, but he's in the argument.

STOMP

 

Howard's post moves improved a ton this year. He actually has some good ones.

 

Huh?

 

Its not really hard to understand. He's not the game changer that people make him out to be. Doesn't mean he doesn't have a game changing impact.

 

Well i'll start out my first post being on topic, Big congrats to LMA for making third team all nba, well deserved.

 

Howard is a huge game changer no matter how you look at it. He is a monster in the paint on both sides of the floor to the fact that he demands a double team or he is getting a dunk is huge. He doesn't have many post moves but when you can power over anyone you don't need that many to get 20ppg. The only effective way to handle Howard is to foul him, and he has improved his FT % and if he can get it up past 75% that won't be a very good option anymore.
#2 in rebounds, #2 in FG %, #4 in blocks, #11 in PPG at 22.9. The guy is a monster and the best defender in the league as well as one of the top help defenders in the league too. Orlando doesn't have another good post defender so he takes on the brunt of the work there. Not only do you have do you have to take into account Howards on offense you have to do it on defense too. teams have to create there offense around how to score vs Howard. How many players can you really say that about?

 

Howard is in the conversation for best player in the league, personally I would take LeBron but Howard is right there in the mix. I can’t believe someone who scored 27ppg is talked about having no offensive game, what a joke. By that logic Shaq had no offensive game when he was threepeating with the Lakers since Shaq didn’t hit 20ft jump shots.

How can people say Rose lead a mediocre roster to the ECF but not talk about Howards horrible teammates? He has Turkoglu and Gilbert Arenas as his two sidekicks, Rose has Boozer, Noah and Dang in the frontcourt along with solid role players on the bench. SG is the only Bulls weakness. Howard made Rashard Lewis and Turkoglu look like all-stars when he carried them to the finals by collapsing a defense and getting everyone wide open jumpers. Howards game has even improved since that finals trip. Rose is a great player but he doesn’t command a double team like Howard and his defense is miles behind the DPOY.

 

Rose doesn't have a mediocre team around him. He has mediocre offensive teammates, but the Bulls have the best team defense in the NBA and it's not due to Rose. Rose is passable on defense, but is not some kind of defensive monster. The team is similar to the Isiah Thomas-led Pistons...only Thomas was anything special offensively, but they had great defense and rebounding. And it's not like these Bulls are some kind of juggernaut.

 

The pieces from a defensive standpoint arent much different than last year. In fact, Tyrus Thomas was a better defender than Boozer (who is awful). The difference has been from a schematic standpoint with a coach that is a defensive guru. From an offensive standpoint they're mediocre. Omar Asik, Bogans, Kurt Thomas, CJ Watson as rotational players on an Eastern Conference Finals team is pretty ridiculous and says a lot about what Rose has done for that team. Those Pistons teams never had reserves that inept.

Who's saying they'e a 'juggernaut'? But, a 60 win team and an Eastern Conference finals team with that roster 1-16 is pretty impressive.

 

Those Pistons also had significantly tougher competition to get through. I'm not saying this Bulls team is exactly as good as that Pistons team, but it's built along similar lines. A great team defense, very good team rebounding, no offense stand-outs except for their star point guard. The Pistons had better reserves, but were facing teams like an an end-of-prime legendary Celtics team and an up-and-coming Bulls team. The Bulls struggled slightly with a very mediocre Pacers team and a decent Hawks team.

I don't think team accomplishment shows Rose is amazing. His quantifiable contributions are pretty impressive and they make him a top-ten player. The Bulls' accomplishments are as much a matter of what the team does well (defense, rebounding) as it is Rose.

 

In fact, looking at that roster who are the great individual defenders? Of course you got Noah and Bogans. But, outside that Deng? meh. Brewer? meh.

They win with team defense. Any team could do it. Not every coach can implement it.

 

The 3-time defending DPOY and 4-time defending All-NBA first team player isn't worthy of being called a great "game changer".

Fucking brilliant. I guess Bill Russell was an overrated "game changer" as well.

 

I never had really analyzed Howard's Advanced Stats.

Looking at his last 3 seasons, and all I can say is Holy Crap!!

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/howardw01.html

We Blazer fans had better hope to God or whatever else you believe in that the Lakers don't get this guy. He's putting up these numbers with crap for sidekicks.

 

Howard 2010-11

PER 26
Ortg 113
Drtg 94
WS 14.4
DWS 7.7
TReb% 21.8
TS% 61.6

I think a legitimate argument could be made that Howard should have been MVP. That's a simply incredible season.

23ppg/14rpg/2.5bpg

He's overrated as a game changer!! :MARIS61:

 

Mutombo?

 

Speaking of Rose, I'll go out on a limb and state that Brandon Roy meant more to the 2008-09 Blazers than Derrick Rose did to the Bulls this season. Plus, Roy's advanced stats, and even win shares, surpass Rose's MVP season.