I'm not going to say there will ever be another dream, but Shaq is one of a kind. There has never been a guy of his size that has the quickness and explosion from a guy 7'1 300lbs. Howard is a normal size for a 6'10 or 6'11 guy. We have seen guys as atheletic as him like shawn kemp or even Camby, but I have seen a guy with the package plus the work ethic since dream. To top that off, he's 22. He will become more refined offensively, but his ability to cover up players on the defensive side, plus guard quicker guys make him closest to dream in my eyes.
Until Howard develops a semblance of a jumpshot, young Shaq is the label I'm sticking to as well. From what I've seen, his post game seems really raw...alley-oop dunks/kiss off the glass layups+the occasional jump hook. Now, Dwight does have time on his side...but I just can't see him developing anything close to Hakeem's post game. And be honest...do you really see Dwight spinning back and draining fadeaway jumpshots at any point in his career?
i think d howard will make up what he lacks on the offensive end with his crazy defensive abilities. if the magic can put enough offense around him to where they dont need him as much for scoring then they will be able to play at a very high level for a while. If they add a legit PG that can create and knock down the long range jumper it will do wonders for that team.
i agree on your comment about yao’s defense. he sometimes gives way too much space to guys like brand, jefferson, and blount, etc. his p&r defense leaves some room to improve (and i suspect how much that can be improved due to his limitations like foot speed). but to say howard is the closest thing to dream since dream at BOTH ends of the floor is just imo way off. howard is a freaking athlete. as a result, he’s quick in defense and eats all the rebounds near him. blocks a lot of shots, too. but he’s a better help defender than he is a man-to-man defender. meanwhile yao’s a better man defender than he is a helper merely due to his immense size. i’d give an edge to howard in defense overall. neither is at dream’s level in terms of defense. if howard is already so close to dream in defense, he’d never need any help in double-teaming an opposing center like yao; but he actually does. at the offensive side of the ball, though, yao is miles ahead of howard. and that is what makes yao, overall, quite a bit better than howard – in terms of the impact to a game on a nightly basis. a typical example is the asg last night. yao pulled his own baseline move and then did a shake straight from the dream school. that faked howard out of his shoes and he had to hard foul yao to avoid embarrassment (a low-class move btw). howard is nowhere near of having the ability to pull moves like that. his buckets come from mainly alley-oops or put-backs off rebounds – attributable mainly to his athletic ability. he’s got no back-to-the-basket moves. his main create-my-own-shot move is to lower his shoulder and bump off the defender, much like shaq. an offensive foul technically, if you ask me. if a guy is not even as good as yao offensively, how can you say he’s the closest to hakeem? sometimes i doubt whether howard can ever develop one or two go-to moves and be as good as yao offensively. considering his young age, i’d wait a few more years and see. everyone knows i am a huge yaoming fan. but this is really just basketball discussion.
Did dwight howard grow up idolizing Eric wynalda or other soccer players from the U.S national team? I say that because what made dream the greatest center of all time was his footwork. It was something never seen before, in my opinion. I don't see those soccer instincts in dwight. I was reading this article on luis scola, where he wishes good luck to his good friend pau, and the the question "What is the most surprising thing you've encountered in the nba?" was presented to him. scola's responses was: " Yao's agility and his coordination at 7'6. From the rest, Lebron's talent. Truth is, Lebron is a player from another world. He is a foward that is built like a center and runs like a point guard. I've also been surprised by kobe. From a distance, one is not able to appreciate his passion." http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=483669&idseccio_PK=1011
Howard is nothing like Olajuwon. If there is any player with a similar skill set to Olajuwon's in today's game, it would have to be Garnett. Howard is easily closer to a young Shaq than any other great big man in recent years.
Say what u want ibm and brooks ball but I have watched dream since college and if u follow howard progression its very similar. Garnett isn't even close because kg is more perimeter. Kg never dominated inside like Howard does now. Go and get some dream tape his 1st 2 yrs and compare them to howard and you will see what I'm saying. Dream even when his offense wasn't as polished was a power athelete. Howard in his 4th yr is the same. I think howard leads the league in and 1 plays. IBM- No disrespect to yao, but he's not nearly as good on d as howard. That's not anything to be ashamed of, its just the truth. From awareness,revovery,strength, quickness standpoint, its not close. Offensively, yao is more refined and is a great ft shooter, but yao should be ahead because he's played pro ball longer. Its just scary to see how much ground howard has made up in a couple yrs. I can't speak for Hakeem,but he probably view pivot players like I do. Playing center is about dominance and attitude. A center can dominate without scoring more than 15pts. The center can dominate the game by rebounding,shot blocking and intimidation. There are probably too many games in which mings scoring affects the other areas. I like Yao, I just got spoiled by moses and hakeem. The young hakeem would tear ur head off and piss down ur throat. The older dream would kill u softly, but was still tough as nails during the game.
This may deserve a thread of its own, but is anyone else saddened by the fact that Olajuwon is being inducted in the hall of fame the same year as so many other greats like Dick Vitale,Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Don Nelson, and Dennis Johnson. I wish Hakeem was getting more of the spotlight but he may be slightly overshadowed too much by these guys.
I don't know how much of DH you've seen, but his defensive footwork is average at best. He blocks the shots he does because of his freak like athleticism. To most of today's brain dead NBA fans, defensive is blocking shots and steals only, positioning doesn't even exist in their vocab. Outside of the matrix-like dunks, his super mechanical post moves almost resemble that of Erika Dampier. He's an overrated defensive player and offensive player, but a fantastic defensive rebounder. Overall his a very good center right now, but nowhere even close to the best center in the NBA. He will however, take the crown eventually, just not for another couple years at the least.
Also like to add, DH's stint at the top will most likely be short-lived if Bynum stays healthy. Bynum has the coordination and offensive fluidity that DH will never have, although like DH, he is only a good weakside shot blocker now. Not the greatest defensive footwork to say the least. But Kareem may help him out with that.
I've watched about 25 magic games and his footwork is better than average. Is he dream,mchale,duncan or shaq? No, but his ability to drop step, pivot and power with contact is pretty good. No big guy will ever have hakeem footwork, but having duncan isn't that bad. I'm just saying that howard isn't getting by on strictly atheletism. many people didn't want to give shaq credit for his low post skill. They all wanted to point to his size and strength,but the guy had great feet and skill around the bucket. Howard is more than a guy getting by on atheleticism. Once the guy gets his ft to 75%, he going to avg 28ppg with the amount of fouls he draw. On defense, the guy is top shelf. Instincts for rebounds and blk are just natural. U can't teach that.
Howard does not have close to Duncan level footwork on offensive or defensive. If Howard had Duncan's foot work he would average 30 PPG. Howard can only go over one shoulder right now, and his coordination is not very fluid. I don't know he is ever going to be that fluid. You can't really teach that. Defense is a lot more than just blocked shots. And outside of that, DH is rather underwhelming. I'll say this with confidence, Kwame Brown is twice the post defender that DH is.
If Yao gets too close to those guys, they'll drive by him for a layup, because Yao is too slow. I'd rather concede the jumpshot, than risk a layup and a foul.
Exactly. Only Boozer poses serious match problem for Yao because their center is shooting even farther than Boozer. Al Jefferson did have a great shooting game against Yao but his jump shooting percentage is actually 37.3% for the season. Based on this number, Yao still should let him shoot mid-jumper rather than let him drive inside. Elton Brand? Why did you put Yao on him but not on Kaman?
Howard's offensive skill is being sold short in this thread. He has definitely improved as a post player in terms of moves and footwork. He's getting better. I just dont see him as a dominant player on D though despite his shotblocking ability. You look at just this thread and you'd think he's just a great athlete who can do nothing but dunk. He has a nice powergame and improving touch around the hoop.
Howard will never have the same combination of power and finesse as Olajuwon and Garnett. Howard is just a physical monster much like Shaq was early in his career. That is the source of ALL of his basketball value as is/was the case with Shaq. He has very poor shooting skills and gets all his points close to the basket, exactly like Shaq. Howard doesn't, and never will, possess shooting skills like Garnett or Olajuwon. He doesn't have the passing skills of Olajuwon or Garnett, either. Garnett is much more similar to Olajuwon in terms of offensive and defensive versatility. Both Garnett and Olajuwon could shoot from mid-range as well as hit turnarounds consistently. Garnett and Olajuwon were both much better passers than Howard. They were also much better at picking up steals because they had quicker and better hands. While Howard can move very well for a big man, he doesn't have the same lateral quickness as Garnett or Olajuwon. Garnett and Olajuwon both had cat-like quickness for their height. Howard, in his physical prime, is nowhere near as agile as Garnett or Olajuwon during the majority of his career. Basically, Garnett and Olajuwon both possessed legitimate skills that weren't typical for big men (passing, mid-range shooting, steals, etc...) in addition to the standard skill set for their position (rebounding, shot-blocking, etc...) while Howard's greatness stems purely from physical domination as was the case with Shaq. Comparing stats among these three players thoroughly proves this point.
To the above poster, yao plays too high. The reason why players can get by him is his back is straight and his arms are down. I've said it before, when old ass deke plays against the boozer types away from the goal, watch his stance. If I could draw it, I would. If u could see the height difference in the stance, u can see why yao struggles 12ft from the goal.
