Who changed Dwight Howard's shot where he sets for a free throw with the ball near his chest?

You still haven't quite grasped the concept. Being muscular is not an issue, a muscular imbalance is. you can have muscular imbalances whether you look like Kevin Willis or Steve Novak.

I'm sure you've seen Dwight at the FT line flex his pecs. He'll hold the ball for a second and squeeze his shoulders together. It's that position that he's locked into. Get in that position and you'll easily mimic his shooting form and free throw routine.

Which of these two looks more like dwight's upper body? (as far as body alignment goes, obviously not muscularity)

 

I thought you were gonna say Larry Bird

 

Initially, we were discussing his whole body movement in the other thread. As far as that goes, the imbalance definitely puts a ceiling to how well he can move.

Now we're shifting over strictly to shooting and I can't say with certainty that great posture/alignment always translates to better shooting. The game was created and then we tried to adapt to it, rather than creating the game with the human body's mechanics in mind. Sometimes you are forced to deviate from proper mechanics to be good at a very specific movement or job. This is why our natural inclination to move, when shooting a ball for the first time, is very different than when we finally practice and adapt to the game. I've seen good shooters with good and poor athleticism, but players who move with fluidity are almost always good athletes.


So, to answer question #2, Dwight could have that imbalance and still have been able to create an accurate shooting form for himself. An important aspect of shooting is consistency. He could be more consistent with his form, even with bad biomechanics, than someone with good biomechanics who's form wanders off from side to side. It could definitely all be mental.

That being said, he could still have a lot to gain by fixing his imbalance, as far as his shooting form goes. Mainly, i think it would allow him to shoot higher because he doesn't seem to be able to lift his arms enough right now. That should help him shoot with more arc and also keep it farther away from defenders. Somewhat related, if he can't lift his arms as freely as possible, then when reaching high for a rebound, that'll require more back extension (you'll notice people with bad form on a shoulder press arc their back too much in an attempt to get their arms up). This could be one, if not the, reason why he's had back problems.

Something that i think could tie all this in together is how relaxed he is in practice vs the game. If he's calm at practice, then he may not be very tense physically, which may allow him to move more freely and not be locked into that position so much. If he's more nervous and tense in games, then that's going to affect how his muscles react as well. Very much like we tense up when threatened and/or are about to fight. He does strike me as someone who tries too hard to be funny, so perhaps he's hiding some anxiety underneath what seems to be an outgoing personality...

 

Howard's FTs is going to be like Lin's PT, never ceased to be talked about.

 

Joker was hitting his freethrows during team warm ups. But in the game Oh Boi he was terrible.

Dude has had several people working with him on his freethrows. So your guess is good as mines LOL

 

he can, in practice

 

1. playing devils advocate, muscular imbalances typically lend to the individual fatiguing alot faster than usual. Alot harder for the extension typically associated with good shooters when you have such pronouced thoracic kyphosis (roundin of the upper back).

Everyone knows what good shooting form looks like, try and replicate it with a more rounded upper back and its much more difficult.

2. In practice you shoot heaps of shots in a row, get in a rythm, in a game, you're a bigman, sprinting up and down a court, you get hammered, have to gather yourself and then shoot the ball.

 

So what can we conclude from that? For me, it doesn't matter where the ball starts from, it is how the ball is released. DH can bring it down to his hips but if his release is inconsistent, it will not matter.

 

Thats a good point too. Dwight could come into practice with poorer form/accuracy, get in 100 "unofficial" FTs through which he tweaks his shot enough to get a better rhythm. Then, minutes later start the official count and knock down 80/100. It's much easier to transfer the muscle memory like that, than getting some FTs in 30-45 minutes before tip off and then trying to transfer that rhythm to his first foul shot in the game an hour later.

 

You might have seen the posts where DH was actually good in practice but can't translate it in real games. It's not the mechanics, it's his head that's the issue. He is thinking too much and needs to find his 'happy place' when he shooting those shots.

 

*sigh*

Just when i thought you finally were ready to have an open mind regarding this subject, you deliver this gem of a response.

I never wrote or implied he couldnt lift his arms up, like AT ALL. I wrote he doesn't seem to be able to lift them ENOUGH. As in, enough to get more arc in his shot. I'm not going to keep wasting my time answering your questions for you to twist around what i wrote. It's the same **** you did before in the other thread. All the text is there, learn to process it better.

If you quit being so dense, you'd realize you basically proved my point , yet again, within your own reply. What does improper posture and muscle imbalance cause? Altered, obstructed, and/or poor movement, in other words, not SMOOTH. Same **** you just said, Einstein.

Every time i say something, you narrow your focus on that one thing.

Shoulders!
Can't raise his arms!

And you apply that to everything else that follows. The body doesn't move in segments. Everything is a chain reaction. Everything is connected. An inability to raise/extend his arms completely isn't just that. The pattern doesn't just stop there at his elbow or shoulder. It may also be the inability to flex or extend his hips or even his knees. I know I've mentioned this more than once to you, but again, you can't seem to grasp this concept, which is widely accepted by professionals, including the Rockets' Director of Strength and Conditioning.

A bit of advice. Don't ever assume you know everything there is to know about a subject, especially at a young age and limited education on that subject.

 

You can start the free throw from the chest or waist and still be able to shoot well. I think it is more natural and comfortable for most people to shoot from the waist. The problem I see from starting at the chest for some people especially big strong people is that they leave their arms cocked to much. A free throw is such an easy shoot and takes little effort, that at big arm **** just makes for more motion to control which in turn is making the shoot more difficult than it needs to be.

 

Bwhahahaha yall are deep with it 4 sho.

Tell my why he can hit them in practice but struggles in the actual game?

I dont think it has nothing to do with muscular imbalanced. Lol

 

I'm sorry, just can't resist pointing it out! :grin: ~lol~

 

Dwight reminds me of Shaq and most other historically bad free throw shooters in that he goes through the motions (set the feet, bend the knees, begin the motion of the shot, extend the arm, follow through) but they never understand why they do it and, thus, never put it all together into a flowing movement.

Dwight bends his knees and the comes up until they are straight -pauses- extends his arms -pauses- and then flicks the shot from his wrists. He doesn't get that bending the knees allows him to straighten them to generate power and that extending his arms is to help focus that power into the shot before the momentum gets to his hands for the release and follow through.

I don't know why they can't do it. I'm a lefty and for fun I tried to learn to shoot with my right hand and within maybe 200 practice shots could hit 7 or 8 out of 10 free throws at all times.

 

bro when you tack on mass you sacrifice flexibility. that's just a straight up fact.

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