http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-orlando-magic-notes-1227-20091226,0,3706763.story Dwight's response
Perkins plays Howard well. It's not that he needs lots of help either. The Celts had no backup bigs last playoffs and Perkins still handled Howard (Howard's highest scoring output was 23). There were a couple of games where Perkins was a better player than Howard in that series.
Perkins has developed into a very good post defender. When you have a guy like him on a defensive-minded team, players like Howard are going to struggle, especially since DH can't shoot or create his own shots very well. One guy Perkins hates playing against is Greg Oden. The last couple of times they played, it was obvious Oden was much more physical than Perkins was comfortable with.
Well, that's because Dwight isn't the best individual post defender in the league. He's average really, Jeff Van Gundy had said Marcin Gortat was the better individual defender but Dwight was the better weak-side defender. What Perkins said is pretty much true. There are a lot more players other than Kendrick Perkins that can neutralize him in single coverage. He's honestly just playing in an Era where Big men are too short, small and undersized. From what I see, anybody just as big or strong as him can defend him. Unless your Big Z.
Perkins is in the running for 3rd best center in the east. There's Howard and Lopez as 1 and 2, then Shaq, Bogut and Perkins are in the running for that 3rd spot. Perkins should get that all star center reserve spot if enough people punish Lopez for playing on a terrible team. Unfortunately Shaq will probably make it....
Speaking of Bogut I think he's one of the more underrated centers in the league. He's got really good size, pretty mobile and probably the best post moves out of all the Eastern conference centers and arguably the whole league currently if we count Duncan/Gasol as PF's.
Agreed. The guy has NO moves. If Dream or Robinson could play in the league today they would dominate so easily.
Perkins is a very underrated defender and did a great job against Dwight in the playoffs -- in addition to his stellar play on Christmas Day. All the same, he should probably keep his mouth shut.
Yep, that's why Then>Now. Jordan would average 50 in this league with his eyes closed and probably draw around 15 FTA per game. I'm really starting to hate the NBA, I really am.
So true, Dwight is just a freak, arguabally the most gifted athlete in the NBA. Too bad he is not a basketball player though. :grin:
Thinking about this more, I think a lot of teams actually do try to play him physically and they get fouls called anyways, even Perk himself. Perk just makes him work the hardest, denying post position, making him have to work just to catch the ball, and you all know what happens when Dwight has the ball against the Celtics defense. It will be either a turnover or a miss shot, It's that simple. I think Yao defends Dwight the best, because he makes him work on both sides, as does Perkins, but I think Dwight thinks about defense a lot more going up against Yao then Offense. Luckily he can't stop Yao on offense either
i never get the impression that howard doesn't like physical play. it's just that when he can't overpower people, he has no go to moves or jumper to fall back on to get points. now of course the list of people he can't overpower isn't a very long one (and it wouldn't be all that long in any era) so he's still a big problem for most of the league, but if perkins or yao or shaq is between him and the basket, they probably aren't going anywhere and that means dwight has to put up an ugly shot or pass it back out.
Dang man, I don't know u but I'm agreeing with just about everything you're writing today. You're just bringing the heat today in your posts. Nothing but the straight truth.
Dwight did have a particularly bad game against Boston, but not that much worse than he's been doing lately. He struggled offensively, but still grabbed his 20 boards and blocked 4 shots. Thing is, he struggles offensively regularly. Even when he is "on", he can't get the ball. He's only scored over 20 points 3 times in the last 12 games, and seems to have regressed a fair amount offensively this year. I get the impression that Dwight doesn't actually work too hard on trying to get a decent offensive post game in the off-season. I'm not saying he doesn't work out, stay in shape, try some moves out, but he never comes into a new season with a new move or two, as you would expect.
Getting physical is the right thing for Perkins to do with Howard because he's big, strong, and defensively skillful enough to do it. A lot of other guys would simply look silly doing what Perkins tries to do. Guys like Perkins and Yao have some success against Howard because they are big, wide, and strong so that Howard can't quite push through them or jump over them. He can try to get around them, but due to his limited shooting range, Yao and Perkins only have to defend a limited amount of space so Howard's speed advantage over them is negated.
Has Dwight tried contacting one of the greatest big men the game has ever seen yet? Even Kobe has asked him for a tutoring session..