After tonight's game I was watching the TNT Crew do their thing as I think it's hilarious. I usually don't pay them any mind when it comes to the rockets because I understand that we're not going to get any respect untill we do something in the playoffs, but Shaq got me thinking when talking about Dwight Howard. He said if Dwight can be that 28 and 14 guy I know he can be he will win a championship. Wow.... that's strong words from Dwight's toughest critic, but it got me thinking. Why can't Howard be that big time player his talent suggests he should be? I want to know what you guys think is the reason Dwight doesn't bring the effort and control to his game like tonight? Personally I think it all comes down to getting him the ball every trip down court the first 5 min of the game. When Dwight gets involved offensively early he tends to rebound and defend better. With the effort show against Portland brought every night we should see no less that 20 and 15 from him every game. With Howard playing at this level the rockets are contenders this yr IMO and our serious threats out west. My question is do you think Dwight can get to this level every game? Will he step it up in the playoffs and that's why he's not as consistent right now? Howard's the best big in the game and when aggressive is unstoppable down low we need this Howard to take it to the elite status. Can he take it their? I say yes but time will tell.
His post game is what's holding him back (which in turn will get his teammates trust). He is way too turnover prone in the post, he rarely uses a counter move when what he wants to do is taken, indecisive when he does have the ball in the post. He has obviously shown signs of improvement this year so I have hope for him to turn into that kind of guy one day. Can some problems be blamed on our post entry passers? Sure, but there are still flaws in his game. Maybe the key to get him back to the post up game he showed in December is to start out games constantly feeding him in the post to get him into a groove. Hopefully he can develop that post game after a few more years of practice with Mchale (IMO is a better teacher for him then Hakeem), heck Lebron sure as hell did.
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/614/shaquille-oneal 28 and 14? Shaq has been barking that for at least 5 years. When Dwight was with Orlando, when Dwight was with the Lakers and now. Shaq had 3-4 seasons when he averaged around 28 and 13. Had a season when he averaged 30 and 14! Championship season. Folks forget that Shaq was a level above Orlando Dwight offensively. Defensively he might be close to Dwight or worse. Shaq O'Neal as a commentator demands that 28 and 14 from Dwight because he did it himself and not just for 1 season but several seasons.
The 3 problems stopping Dwight from dominating this league: 1) Dwight plays great when the team's winning, he plays horrible when the teams losing (2nd Dallas game is the exception). He doesn't want the ball if the team's losing a close game in the last seconds, he just doesn't want that pressure aka he's scared of missing & quite possibly disappointing the fans &/or the team. Dwight, who gives a ****. Play your game man, if your potential game winning right hook shot rims out, no ones going to hate you. I promise. Free throws fall in this category, he's bad under pressure. 2) I believe he knows whether he's going to make a basket or not (in the post) before he even makes a move, which is bad. Why? because if he knows he's going to miss it or turn it over, pass it back out & contribute in a different way during that possession. No sense in hoping for a lucky bounce 50% of the time... 3) Stupid fouls. Tries to strip the ball, unnecessary techs & offensive fouls. Dwight... This is your 10th year in the league. There's no excuse for this. We all know what we got when we signed Dwight Howard. He's playing great this year though so I'm not complaining.
The way Shaq played has since been phased out of the league. The backup the dump truck move. The turn around and put your crotch in your opponents face move. All those would be offensive fouls now. Plus with flopping rampant in this era, even his baby hook would be prevented a lot of the time by sliding sissies in the paint trying to draw that third foul before the half. That's Dwight's problem more than anything. The BS foul calls he gets every game that force his butt onto the bench.
if Dwight goes quickly on offence like he did on that great dunk against Lopez, no one can stop him, he just needs to be more aggressive like that
He's simply not an offensive option you can rely on when the 3pt shot isn't falling. Teams like the Pacers and Heat have post options but the Rockets have none. At the end of the day this team is still a 3pt shooting team.
TJones is stealing all his rebounds and offensive putbacks. Will never happen. Question: why do we need two Dwight Howards on this team?
How many years has it been now for Dwight? Was a fan of his back in Orlando but not so much these days.
I don't think a center will ever average 28 and 14 again until the league changes the rules (or the way it enforces them). Low post play simply is not as rewarded as it was in Hakeem's or Shaq's heydays. In fact the only big man I see in today's game who could sometime average 28 and 14, is Kevin Love... a pure stretch 4. And the only reason he could maybe get to 28 is because he takes so many threes. And no, LMA will never make it. This is his career season, he'll never be this good again.
I think EXACTLY the opposite. I think in this current system, if we force feed Dwight enough for him to average 28ppg, we WILL NOT win a championship. Everyone is afraid to tell him he is not Hakeem. He is not Shaq. He is not a dominant post player. BUT..... if he were to embrace the pick and roll he would be a 28/14 guy. And we would win a championship. I'm not saying he's not a good post player. I'm saying he's not a dominant guy you force feed the ball. Sure he feasts on smaller scrubs like robin Lopez. But he still commits turnovers with weak hands, and gets bullied off the block by guys like Perkins and Cousins. He has the potential to be a 28/14 guy but he needs to come off the block against those bigger centers and use the p&r to take advantage of his quickness.
I think we should be forcing the ball inside every trip down that Dwight gets there early. Dwight is a fantastic post passer and is strong enough not to lose the ball if he does not dribble. I doubt he'll get to where he averages 28 and 14, but he could win it all averaging 24 and 13. Dwight is a championship center when it comes to defense, he's a championship rebounder, but he isn't scoring down low when nothing looks possible. Good post players clear out room and score when it doesn't look like there is a place to do it.
Agreed. Officiating does play a role in Dwight not being as dominant as he could be. We all know that he doesn't have the best post moves in the world, but too often the defender just has to fall down for referees to call an offensive foul when Dwight is backing into the defender. I mean, if the same fouls that were called on DMo in the Portland game were called on Dwight's defenders, he'd average like 30 free throws a game.
I think the another reason why Dwight isn't putting 28 and 14 like Shaq said is because the game has totally changed. If you want to average those numbers as a big man, in this current NBA, you're going to have to be able to hit some face up jumpers. The only big man I can see averaging those numbers in his career is Anthony Davis as he can hit jumpers while having a still improving post game. This isn't the NBA where you can bully your way to the basket on post ups like Shaq was able to do his whole career. How many times have we seen Dwight back in and someone flops and gets the offensive foul on Dwight? But Dwight should be averaging better numbers though. I do agree with Shaq on that. I think he should be getting at least 22 and 14 each night. And those numbers are what Dwight averaged in his best seasons in Orlando.
This. If Shaq played in today's game he would rack up the offensive fouls real quick. It is really annoying how weak the current game has gotten and it is actively discouraging the play of post players who have a physical advantage over their opponents. Sure Dwight is stronger than most people he faces, but as soon as he tries to use that advantage he gets whistled for a foul.
at the end of the day I would like us to have a reliable post player. Howard does great sometimes but its not someone we can got to with 2mins left in the fourth. Harden is the guy that will usually get the ball. I was watching the pacers last night and what made them stand out to me is the playoff game they bring. They have west as an option at PF that they can run a play to hit a jumper or post up. And hibbert can shoot a hook etc he rarely turns the ball over trying to get his shot like howard. Then they have George up top like our harden. I like the jones/howard combo because of his D but in the playoffs we have to consider having a go to post option when the game slows down,I really feel like that will make this team complete in the playoffs. NO knock against jones but a millsapp go to guy at PF will put us over the top in the playoffs I feel. Harden cant do it all by himself. Im sure morey knows this. & fyi the pacers are the team to beat this year.
exactly seems like all you have to do when a guy backs you down now days is stand wait for him to touch you and fall down and its a charge everytime, that was shaqs bread and butter. You can no longer back a player down using your strength and until that is allowed a lot of dwights advantage is eliminated
Shaq actual critcism on Dwight is based on: - Stupid fouls (trying to steal while thinking hes a PG). - For a man with his size and athleticism, he should NOT leave the basket this much to set up picks. TNT creaw mentiions that even the greatest Centers like Shaq himself or Olajuwon who had "PG legs" never did it that much. - Need to work on his footwork offensively: all he does is a head fake following a spin to the basket. (BTW, they LAUGH about that horrible left hook he has). - He seems to be an "early-peak" player since his technique is not improving, while getting physically older. Again, this is the latest TNT feedbacks i head on him. But hey... I agree with 95% of it!
