It usually only takes one look to form an opinion. And upon first glance of his big shoulders everyone knew that at worst Dwight Howard was just going to be a beast. It turns out he’s much more than just that. Howard has led the Magic to an outstandingly surprising 16-4 start, averaging 23 points and 15 rebounds a game. However he hasn’t been relying on his athleticism. He’s done a tremendous job of integrating post moves and finding ways to get to the line. He’s made Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu both look like all-stars and made people forget about their almost complete lack of a bench. Somewhere in last night’s tremendous Orlando/Golden State game I got wrapped up in it. I texted Coup and said he might be the second best big man in the L….behind Timmy of course.
But that made me think. Is he really? Is he that much better than Carlos Boozer? And that is the debate. Just like the Chris Paul/Deron Williams debate (which by the way Deron Williams has taken a nice lead), there is now the Boozer/Howard debate. And folks I just don’t have the answer to be honest. Opinions?
-Anderson Varejao looks to be signing with the Bobcats. Unless the Cavaliers match the Cats offer sheet. I’m surprised the Bulls didn’t sign him so they could add another energetic post who can’t score down low. I think this helps the Bobcats only because ANYTHING is better than Ryan Hollins and Primoz Brezec, but aren’t he an Okafor kind of the same player. They still need someone they can throw it into and score, but at least this should help their defense. Defense…something they haven’t played in three weeks.
-How come John Paxson isn’t getting more heat for the Bulls lackluster start? Most of it is going to Scott Skiles and the players…but this roster has been fundamentally flawed for a while. They don’t have a low post option and it hasn’t been addressed for quite some time. Paxson could have gotten Pau Gasol last year, a slim shot at KG before Danny Ainge got McHale drunk and showed him old Celtics highlights and Kobe. He pulled the trigger on zero, which if I was a Bulls fan would make me furious. Trust me…when I found out the Blazers could have gotten Vince Carter for Theo Ratliff I was inconsolable. He traded LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas, which looked like a good deal then but was obviously dumb. Think how nasty the Bulls would be with Aldridge at the 4….exactly. He refused to fix the problem instead putting band-aids on an open wound by drafting Noah and replacing ancient PJ Brown with ancient Joe Smith. No surprise that all of a sudden people are figuring out what the Bulls are all about…now they make them shoot jumpshots and *GASP* they aren’t making them. Silly.
-I really haven’t talked about the Eastern Conference hierarchy. Clearly we know who the top 3 are: Orlando, Boston and Detroit. I’m not sure I see that changing over the course of the season. Coup said the rest is a shit show…not quite. It’s very wide open. I’d say the next tier is Toronto, Cleveland and maybe New Jersey because of Kidd and Jefferson. The rest is the proverbial shit show. Right now Indiana, Milwaukee, Washington and Atlanta are all teams that you never know what you’re going to get from them. There’s no way that any of these teams could get a playoff stamp….but they can’t be counted out either. Charlotte, New York and Philly are all teams that can either be really bad or decent…we’ve seen both sides. And what about Miami and Chicago? Would it be that surprising if they both made runs at the 8 spot later this season? Shit show indeed.