it's his 10th year in the league now, he's what he is. i'm not expecting any improvement from dwight.
Regardless of what you expect from Dwight - if you didn't see shades of Hakeem's influence on his fakes on some of his jump hook moves v. Robin Lopez- you weren't watching last night.
he didn't watch. you've been around here long enough to know that only a certain % who comment actually WATCH THE ROCKETS. they are here for agenda reasons, like that time I told someone Len Bias outrebounded Yao Ming and they got mad and some excuses for the Celtics.
Are there any advanced stats to give us Dwight's precise turnover rate/# dribbles he takes? Seems pretty high with one; ~.500 with two; approaches certainty with three-- but maybe I'm too pessimistic... Or maybe not. Seems like the same graph would describe Harden. That seemed like the difference last night: we dribbled; they passed and moved. It's the difference between hero ball and team ball. And, of course, their hero beat ours. We've got some improving to do. If we can just get a few more stops and fast breaks, that right there will conceal a lot of our basketball IQ or chemistry issues.
He looked great last night. He's much more effective when he spins towards the paint as opposed to the baseline. There were a few instances of the latter last night that there were cringe-worthy to watch. All in all, keep doing what you're doing big fella.
The lob passed seem to happen more fluid plus u can see sings of hakeemr moves and Hes making the moves much quicker he had what 17 rebounds granted aldridge had a heck of a night
I'd say a significant amount of improvement from Dwight's game has come from the rest of the team's increased ability to get him the ball in the post. They have figured out how to get him the ball in the correct areas of the court, and then how to space the floor properly for him to be able to make a strong move to the basket. Last night, the Blazers refused to double team him in the post, which allowed him to make strong moves to the basket.
Dwight usually struggles against taller centers but last night he was at full force against Lopez. Showed some spin moves, pump fakes and drop steps. His free throws are getting better too. Slowly but surely, d12 the beast is coming back and with a post game this time.
I haven't been that much of a buyer-inner for the "Hakeem the Magical Post Tutor" line only because his skill set is so unique and capitalized on his somewhat anomalous body type/skill set for a big man (agile, good leaper, strong, yet low center of gravity with quick feet) but at least it appears taht Dwight is working pretty hard and has commited to using guile as much as brawn.
Not only did he show more decisiveness and quicker moves, he threw in a few of his trademark power moves to finish: like that drop-step baseline that bumped Lopez off of him for a dunk. I agree with the above posters that say that not only is he getting better in the post, his teammates are learning to use him better. We played the Blazers well last night but it was obvious that we were missing some bench scoring (Lin's return to full form will rectify that) and Asik.
What he did right last night, as I saw it, was his patience in pump faking his defender. (Maybe that's from Parsons, not from Dream. :grin: j/k)
He's definitely starting to look more comfortable. Definitely didn't just try to barrel over his defenders last night. He looked patient and more calculated. Not to mention, he's looking more confident at the FT line. I think he would be even more effective if the other players looked for him earlier in the shot clock though.
The post-up game in the NBA hasn't been the same since George Karl figured out how to shut down Dream in the 96 playoffs with his illegal zone. Now the zone and hybrid zone defenses are legal, making it even harder for players to dominate in the post like they did in the past. So while having "Dream Moves" is a nice weapon to have in the big man arsenal, it cannot be the dominant force in today's NBA. Additionally, the league has implemented rules in recent years that favor guard play over center play, and it shows. Dwight's PnR abilities are more important than his ability to imitate Dream in the post.
