[nba.com] Olajuwon the Teacher on Dwight Howard http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2013/...ches-out-to-nigerian-youth-and-dwight-howard/
Dream makes good points. Dwight does seem to be over-thinking his post game right now just like he over-thinks his free-throw shooting. By the way, where's Carrol Dawson? He was a master at teaching the hook. Dwight would be a FORCE if he had a reliable hook shot. Just dribble, step, hook, score. He needs this part of his game as he gets older.
Howard will give you 4 counter steps: ball gets stolen, travel, offensive foul by pushing off defender, if he is lucky, finally the shot goes off and gets blocked.....
Even though we lost this game in the worst possible way and will be a haunting loss especially at the end of the season, I still can't help but smile at this. LOL
once a while his pray works. he scores two pts by throwing the ball into air. it makes McHale think it might be worth to continue his experiment.:grin::grin::grin:
I still think the cause of it is mechanical not mental. It appears mental because he realizes he can't do the moves and he hesitates. The body senses when you're about to try movements that are out of your comfort zone and ability just like in any other setting. So, he tries to work around it and just looks bad. If you break it down to the movements within the moves, he can't do them. He can't reverse pivot smoothly or correctly. He can't stay straight up as he spins, he moves like his head weighs a ton and it causes his upper body to sway. He can't establish a wider stance, so his feet stay close together, which is why he can't get separation on moves. It's all about being able to transfer your weight from one hip to the other as you move and he can't do it correctly. His body always stays within a "safe" pattern of movement. He may be able to sort of pull it off with Dream in practice, but those are broken down movements at half speed. Once you ask he body to go at full speed and contact, it's going to revert back to the safe pattern. Forget using a basketball and set moves, they need to take him back to the basics of pivoting with his body weight alone.
Howard in the post has a few things going against him. 1. He has no go to move. 2. He has awful footwork. 3. He is very indecisive. Not sure if he will ever learn how to play on the block in all honesty. i just want him to be the defensive presence and dominant PnR player that he was on Orlando.
I don't understand why Dwight has taken crap for this... it was a smart play any way you look at it. Shame on the national sports media for their biased coverage.
There are other players in the NBA who have worked with Hakeem and seen improvements in their post up game. So no, please don't give up Hakeem.
Give it up, Dream! If he keeps posting 9 times a game, it will cost us about 9 games for the season. (see spoiler) Spoiler Postup efficiency: 0.58 PPP Number of postups: 101 Points from 101 possessions: 59 points Team synergy efficiency: 0.95 ppp (points/possession) Team Efficiency w/o D12 postups: 0.98 ppp Points difference between Dwight postup and team average offensive possession: -0.40 ppp Total difference (11 games): -40 points Points difference/game: -3.67 point/game Pythagorean Wins for -3.67 points/game? -9.4 games for the season!
Dwight just isn't natural making post moves. This is why he gets stripped, tied up, and turns it over. Everyone can nitpick how/where he holds the ball, but he just isn't comfortable. It's like dribbling. You can tell someone how to do it, but if they can't, they'll always look awkward and get stripped.
Does he have to go to the middle EVERY TIME? He never realizes that they play him for his sweeping hook shot, i.e., they wait for him to show the ball as he gathers and strip him when he does. All he has to do is drop step baseline and shoot that easy banker. He does it on the left block because it's a right handed shot but he doesn't seem to have the same confidence in his left handed hook.
DH's post moves are less successful than that Fabio guy of the Celts. Dude just needs to set picks for Howard, Lin or Parsons. Plenty to go around that way. He is like going away from that and park at low post as if he was Yao.
