Can Dwight Howard Keep Omer Asik on the Bench

   Dwight Howard can’t be any happier in Houston,  the fans adore him, he has two hall of famers to tutor him, a second star in Harden and a very good backup in Asik.Regarding Asik, Howard said that Asik was a big piece to a championship .  Howard  unwittingly put himself in a tremendeus pressure by  signing with Rockets.  For the first time in his career, Howard is expendable.

   This writing doesn’t argue that Asik is as good as Howard, nope and with to Rocket coaching staff  focus on Howard, he won’t. It argues  that in the most likely scenario in which Howard and Asik will never be on the court together at the same time, Asik will unlikely  be limited to under 10 minutes per game. Howard shouldn’t take his playing time  for granted.

First,  people forgot how good asik is,He had stone hands ,but it didn’t stop him from racking up points last season he had 5 20+ games and played a defense that can strangle even the league’s  best centers.

Vs Chicago Bulls 20 points, 18 rebounds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBx7rnE5-rA

VS Miami Heat 15 points, 14 rebounds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RGKD3kInkY

Omer Asik 3 blocks on Tim Duncan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZxypRIKVNc

   Second,with Howard locked at starting  spot, Asik has to face backups. Looking at  the depth chart, you can see some backups are rookies, other are washed up veterans.  Howard  being a better player is a meek point because Asik will face weaker opponents. While Howard  has his hands full of  Bogut, Jordan and Pekovic; Asik can have fun with O’neal, Hollins and Turiaf

   Third, last season  everytime  JamesHarden took  a day off, Asik suddenly became reliable offensive players. So Asik will be doing just fine with  weaker supporting casts.Below are  videos of two of three games, the other game was 21 points, 10 rebounds vs San Antonio Spurs on 10 December 2012.

Playoff game 4  vs thunder 17 points, 14 rebounds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_mikBd8Ui4

Career night, vs Orlando Magic 22 points, 18 rebounds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcQplyRExVU

  Asik will earn his minutes, 15 minutes at the least. There wil be games where Howard have stalemate with opposing center, Asik will comes off the bench to break it and get his 25 minutes. 

   In the end,Rockets can  win in regular and playoff with either Howard or Asik and Kevin Mchale is a coach whose rotation is based on merit.For Rockets this a good thing, because when Howard starts to throw tantrum, he can do it on the bench.