Hakeem learned his footwork from both soccer and Moses Malone. I remember sneaking over to their side of the gym at Fonde Rec when I was a kid during the summer program to watch them.
Oh, man. I love seeing things like this! Dwight has a bit of range I don't usually see in games, which is intriguing. Sure, he isn't being defended like he would ordinarily, but there's no reason he couldn't free himself to take shots with clean looks at the basket, if he works at adopting what Dream's teaching him. Yeah, why does he keep fading away? Force of habit, I bet. He wasn't taught properly when he was young and coming up. Dream had Coach Lewis and Moses schooling him not only on the art of being a big man in the post, but the fundamentals for a big man. Go straight up when you take the shot. Sure, Dream didn't always do that, but he had a nice midrange game, even at UH and as a rookie in the league. Didn't always show it, but he had a better shot back then than people realize, and heck, he is who he is, the best of his generation. With his body control and skill, he could fade away taking the shot and make them. Dwight needs to nail down the simple offensive skills, and then build on that. The other thing he's showing Dwight, which every big man should have drilled into his noggin from the get go, is keep the freakin' ball up! Don't bring the ball down where a guard can get at it. Dwight needs to practice that over and over again, until he doesn't have to think, he just does. Fundamentals. Get those down, and then try to expand your game. No, Dwight will never be Dream, but he doesn't have to be to dominate in today's NBA. There just aren't that many good big men. Dwight already dominates on the defensive end. If he can improve offensively, it's huge, it's gravy. I don't think he'll have a better teacher than Dream. The pity is that he didn't have a mentor like that as a youth. There's something to be said for going to a great college program, and that's what UH had back in the day. That, and resources in Houston like Moses. Well, maybe it's late, but Dwight's got Dream now. I'm diggin' it.
Dude is driving me nuts with the leg kick on every shot. He is so fundamentally unsound it amazes me. I had better fundamentals in jr. high than this guy displays after almost ten years in the league. How can he not learn the game when he has the best coaches in the world? Oh well, he will still give us 20/13.
