why dwight will never be as good as hakeem defensively

Not fit to lace Hakeem's shoes.

 

i saw that block last night and thought about hakeem controling his, i don't remember if hakeem started to do that later in his career or from early on

 

later on. he used to send his blocks into the stands.

 

If Dwight Howard played in the 90s he would be Kevin Willis.

 

This has always been a big pet peeve for me, and one of my favorite things about Hakeem. Most of the players nowadays care about being on the highlight reel, so they try to swat them as hard as possible, which results in them going out of bounds 90% of the time. When Hakeem got the block he almost always kept it inbounds, and quite often got it to a teammate.

I was trying to think of something to say about the comparison of Hakeem & Dwight, but I couldn't top Burko, so I'll repeat it....Dwight isn't fit to lace Hakeems shoes.

Pugs

 

I remember when this was relevant in the game action and roster moves forum.

 

That's my intuition. I looked to see if the interwebs could confirm, but failed. In any case, I don't see why Dwight Howard wouldn't be able to learn to control his blocks.

 

will there ever be ANYBODY as good as Hakeem defensively?

 

Dwight plays like a stiff. Limited offense and inferior at defense compared to Dream. Dwight has as much offense like our very own Kevin Willis did plus the dunks. I'm not being biased but its flat out true. I don't see Dwight resemble Akeem in any way shape or form. It's not even close.

 

ha ha

 

Dwight still cannot play one on one defense very well, he is a great weakside defender and rebounder, thats it

 

A lot of Jelly here towards Dwight Howard , Yao fans need to chill the F out .

Dwight Howard fans are not comparing to Hakeem , Hakeem was in a level of his own. So Dwight Howard haters don't have to compare him to Hakeem.

I notice many teams fans dislike Dwight Howard , but Rockets fans get more emotional when Dwight Howard topic gets brought up .

 

Some of you guys are ridiculous. First of all, the reason he he'll never been as good as Hakeem defensively is because he has nowhere near the remarkable quickness as Hakeem did. This extends to his leaping, since while Dwight might be able to jump higher than Dream did, Hakeem's second jump was probably the quickest that the NBA's ever seen. He also lacks Olajuwon's defensive instincts.

Physically, I think he compares better to David Robinson, but Robinson was much more polished defensively (and of course, offensively) coming into the league than Dwight is now.

Keep in mind, Robinson was 24 when he entered the league. Howard's 25. I can only imagine the beast Howard would have been if he had spent four years at an elite ACC or Big East program.

Oh, and the Kevin Willis comparisons are way, way off base. Kevin Willis was 7'0" with like, a 6'5" wingspan.

EDIT: Willis, like Howard, had a limited post arsenal. But he wasn't the overwhelming physical presence that Dwight is, and he shot a lot of jumpers. He was a tough, tough player and very physical, but I'd be shocked if he had as many dunks in his 22 year career that Howard's had in the last seven seasons.

 

DHoward does bear a resemblance to Kevin Willis. Good observation!

Amazingly, alligator arms played to a ripe old age. Dwight should be so lucky.

 

True. Dwight is like the modern day Kevin Willis but with much longer arms. The difference between Howard and Hakeem is Hakeem is much more fluid and smooth. Hakeem is quick as a cat and his foot work is elite. His ballhandling skills is elite for a Center and he can move like a guard.

No matter how hard Dwight Howard works on his game to be close to Hakeem, he will never be anywhere near the level Hakeem was. Hakeem is just too good and his natural ability is out of this world. He is gifted in so many way. Dwight Howard just doesn't possess that natural talent Hakeem has. Howard is more of a banger. Dwight natural ability is his athleticism and strength but he will never possess the shooting touch, the fadeaway, amazing footwork, fluidness, and quickness like Olajuwon.

The only guy in the Nba today that has the same elite footwork as the Dream is Kobe Bryant. That just shows you why Hakeem was so dominant. A big man that has the amazing elite footwork like a superstar guard in Kobe Bryant. There will never be a player like Hakeem. He is like an elite guard playing in a 6'11 body.

Hakeem dominates Howard in every single way. But Hakeem has more competitive drive in him, a will power to do whatever it takes to win, a rare trait you don't find in many players today. Howard is a great player in his own way. I just don't think its fair to compare Howard to the Dream. Hakeem is just too much of an elite rare special player that comes only once in a generation. There are so many players that are like Howard. Even if you put Howard into the group of centers in the 90s, he wouldn't even be top 5 I believe. And that is not taking anything away from Dwight. That just shows you how great the Centers were in the 90s

 

And you can't forget the hands! The only center in the top 10 all time in steals.

 

25 years old

I mention this because it's rather important, especially for a big guy.

 

one of Dwight's issues is his strength, if he played in the 90's, he could do what ppl like Hakeem, Robinson and Ewing did and basically body check his opponents when blocking them in the paint (not to mention the complete smackdown he could lay down if he could body all these power forward c*m centers in the paint), instead (and amusingly he calls himself Superman) he has to do what his namesake does and check his strength so as to try and avoid the furor of the zebras.

Howard's post game with that practice with Hakeem has improved leaps and bounds, but its still not polished at all, and we're looking at a 25 yo center putting up 23/14, with more polish he's going to be the most dominant player in the league (and it won't even be close)

 

The comparison is more along the lines of reputation. Dwight has his dominance because there just arent any real centers left anymore. He can wreck the smaller finese PFs parading as Cs these days.

If he played in the 90s, he would be just another guy kinda like Willis was. If Willis was playing today he would share similar success as Howard.