Dwight's athleticism fallen off a cliff. That pathetic swat attempt at the end was reminiscent of Fat Barkley.
If Dwight said he would buy in to the pnr with Harden, as he is now, would you trade Nene for Dwight? I wouldn't.
i wouldn't take him even if he comes with a pick....love his personality but hes not a great player in todays nba
Dwight's done. He's made so much money, he should just retire. What a lucky man. I'm jealous tbh. People still throwin money at him.
What happened to Playoff Dwight??? Looks like Shaq is off the Dwert train once again. So glad his sorry act is no longer infecting the Rockets' locker room.
Dwight Howard is the New Carlos Boozer Spoiler Three years ago, the Washington Wizards easily dispatched the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs. Most of the credit went to breakout performances from John Wall and Bradley Beal and Nene’s dominance over Joakim Noah. But the Wizards’ victory could just as easily be attributed to a stubborn decision by Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. Early in the series it became apparent that 32-year old Carlos Boozer was a liability. Chicago began every game with a first quarter deficit and played markedly better as soon as Taj Gibson subbed in. Whereas Boozer could not score (42.6% FG) and was cemented to the floor on defense, Taj was virtually unstoppable in the low post (18.2 points per game on 56.1% shooting) and he averaged 2.4 blocks. Chicago scored an astounding 123 points per 100 possessions during Gibson’s 30.7 minutes per game and plummeted to only 94 points per 100 possessions during Boozer’s 24.2 minutes of playing time. Nevertheless, Thibodeau refused to adjust his starting lineup despite the fact that he appeared to recognize Taj was the superior player. Thibodeau would start Boozer every game then bench him in the second quarter. Then, as if he forgot everything he saw in the first half, Thibodeau would start Boozer again in the third quarter then bench him again in the fourth. This continued over and over again for five games. It was like an NBA re-make of 50 First Dates. It appears we may be on the verge of a similar romantic comedy starring Dwight Howard in the Atlanta-Washington first round series. The Hawks are a worse team when Dwight Howard is on the court. This is true for at least the following two reasons: #1) On defense, Howard cannot — or simply refuses to — step up and contest perimeter shots in the pick-and-roll. Instead, he sits in the middle of the paint, allowing uncontested 15-footer after uncontested 15-footer. That is a recipe for disaster against Bradley Beal. #2) On offense, Dwight is a shell of himself. Actually, that’s not true. Howard has somehow managed to play 13 seasons in the NBA on four different teams under countless coaches without ever having learned one post move. It’s quite remarkable. Dwight has spent his entire adult life — from age 19 to 31 — at the same job and has learned nothing. Now that his athleticism is sapped due to age and injury, Dwight is reduced to getting blocked at the rim by Marcin Gortat and Markieff Morris. Spoiler Plus/Minus is not always a reliable statistic, but in Game 1 it told a pretty compelling story: Dwight Howard minus-21 in 29:04 minutes. Mike Muscala plus-20 in 12:40 minutes. The revelation that Dwight is not great anymore does not qualify as breaking news. Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer surely knows this. In Game 2, he limited Howard to 20 minutes (all other Hawks starters played 30-plus minutes). In fact, when Dwight picked up his third and fourth fouls with 7:50 and 7:30 remaining in the third quarter, respectively, Budenholzer left Howard in the game, presumably hoping Dwight would pick up his fifth and sixth fouls in short order. Alas, Howard went foul-free for the next four minutes so Budenholzer had to do the dirty work himself and sat Howard with 3:38 remaining in the third period and never put him back in the game. Dwight did not appreciate his fourth quarter benching. After the game, he channeled his inner-Rasheed Wallace (“Both teams played hard”) and answered a series of questions with the same three-word response: “I don’t know.” While Dwight may be struggling for answers, his teammate Paul Millsap knows exactly what the Hawks must do to get back into the series. When asked where the Hawks have an advantage, Millsap replied: “Our small ball is better than theirs.” In other words, bench Dwight. It remains to be seen whether Budenholzer has the willingness — and authority — to bench the Hawks’ $70 million man. Howard is under contract for two more years, so any decision to bench him could have long-term implications beyond this first round series. Dwight already wore out his welcome in his last two NBA stops, and if Budenholzer removes him from the starting lineup, it could be the start of a very rocky two-year relationship. Either way, Wizards fans have no sympathy for Atlanta’s current predicament. Two years ago, the Hawks benefitted greatly from Randy Wittman’s stubborn insistence on playing Nene against Millsap every single game despite all available evidence that it was a colossal mistake. And Scott Brooks, who was crucified for starting a lead-footed Kendrick Perkins against the Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals, is surely relieved to have someone else wrestling with playoff lineup decisions. http://www.truthaboutit.net/2017/04...zer-and-other-wizards-hawks-observations.html
Dwight Howard is a tragedy to me. He could have easily been one of the best if he spent all his energy and concentration at what he is really good at: protecting the paint and rebounding. Unfortunately, he has always thought of himself much better than he really is at something he is average at best: Post scoring. The dude wasted his time and career trying to become a low post scoring machine. In the process, hurt his game and his teams over that fantasy. And I have to partially blame Hakeem for this. Tried to convince Dwight and he can be a dominant playmaker in the post and that the offense should run through him. Dwight was more than willing to bite. Dude should have spent his career trying to be Rodman. Instead he kept trying to be Hakeem and Shaq.
Obviously I wasn't a part of the Hakeem-Dwight training sessions, but Hakeem had to have seen something in Dwight's game to keep working with him and trying to build him up. It's not like Hakeem gives everyone the opportunity to work with him. In fact, I'll be so bold as to say that everyone on that roster, from McHale to Bickerstaff to Harden, saw something good in practice that told them passing it to Dwight in-game was a good idea.
SACRILEGIOUS!!!!!! Hakeem didn't try to convince anybody of anything. Dream was there to help because Dwight had already been swayed by outside forces. It was players like Shaq and Barkley that hated that Dwight was dominate as simply a rebounding dunking force. Barkley and Shaq sabotaged Dwight career by saying rebounding and dunking wasn't enough, he had to also be a post presence. Dwight wasn't strong mentally to tell these dudes to kick rocks. Dwight should have just worked on one move a year like Hakeem did. All you need is 1-2 moves MAX as a post man and you're in the HOF.
Dwight has no one but himself to blame. Too much blame and finger-pointing these days and not enough personal responsibility. It is pretty astonishing, though, that he's never really developed his offensive game in all the time he's been in the NBA.
Even kevin willis developed the t rex hook shot. Corner stone has eroded to pebbles. That block by his former backup is the equivalent of the rim blocking t mac in toronto.
It was all part of the free agency jiberjabish we promised him. So basically the organization had to keep their promise. Should of just let him go to the warriors.
I dont think its Hakeem's fault at all. When you sign a superstar in free agency, like Howard was when we got him, you lure them by offering the most money as possible and also offering to cater to all his needs and wants. It is widely known that when Howard came the Rockets offered him an active role in the offense which is what he craved. Now i am not saying its Morey's fault either, he did his job, he got what back then everyone thought was a game changer for us, and to be honest back then people still thought Dwight could be physically dominant and was still considered the best C in the game. Its is very likely that everyone at the Rockets FO were convinced that with the right system and proper mentoring (Hakeem) they could honestly turn Dwight in a post scoring thread, and they did their best to help him become that player. They were wrong and he never could become that guy. So while Hakeem worked with Dwight he, as you put it, tried to convince Dwight he could be a dominant player at the post. What is wrong with that? He was doing his job, giving someone confidence and trying to convince them that they can do something is part of said job. What was he supposed to say? "look Dwight you suck at this, we are going to try to teach you some tricks but to be honest i have no faith in you, you have two left feet and two left hands, anyway see ya tomorrow 7am sharp!!"????? Believing you can do something is as important as actually being able to do it, On the contrary, its not only not the Dream's fault, but I believe Hakeem did all he could for this guy, and so did the Rockets, he just didnt have it in him. I think they honestly tried because they honestly believed he could, but later when it became obvious that no matter how much they would work on it, it just would not work, they slowly decreased his active offensive participation, and then other problems of a different kind started to surface. He became bitter and problematic and showed that he is just a big immature giant and the reality is that He has failed everywhere, not only in Houston.
It didn't take Dwight very long to start acting like a little prick again. I wonder how long it will take him to start airing his teams dirty laundry this time and which people will he throw under the bus? He's already left 3 teams on mostly bad terms, when are people going to come around to the fact that maybe its Dwight who is the real problem?
I remmeber when doug gottlibe and chris broussard said harden got left off all-nba for not incorparating dwight howard into the rockets offense> Thank god this guy opted out, he would have ruined hardens legacy even more
2 of the 3 teams he's gone to have been reduced to flaming piles of trash and the one that made it out has James Harden on it. The Hawks lost Horford and will likely lose Millsap. Then what?
