Hakeem's Rockets and Dwight's Magic - Analysis from freedarko.com

Yeah Howard will never be as smooth and free-flowing as Hakeem, you can tell Howard was still preemptively deciding what move he was doing to do before he did them rather than just thinking of it on the fly. But Howard'll still be remarkable if he can at least maintain that relaxed mindset he had during preseason.

 

One of the best blogs out there.

DD

 

That was a terrific article, ClutchCityReturns. I've seen few efforts better at illustrating the greatness of Hakeem. Howard is a terrific player and possibly the best center in the league (we'll see about Yao), but in metric after metric, example after example by the author, the Dream crushes Howard. A good read for those who like to compare Howard favorably to Olajuwon.

 

I'd add that, like most great skill-based players, Hakeem is far more efficient in his movements. It's why Hakeem looks so smooth compared with Howard. You can see in those clips that Howard's post moves have him flailing a bit. Hakeem keeps everything smooth w/o much extraneous movement. That's why Kobe is so smooth looking too. The same can be said about their defense. Hakeem always maintains perfect defensive positioning so he can guard his man but also be available for help defense. Howard gets drawn out of the paint so he has to hustle more to help out. He's still effective because he is athletic enough, but he would be outright scary if he could figure out how to be more efficient. That's still the difference between Hakeem and Howard.

 

Life has a few treats for most people. For us (myself and the wife, lol), it was to watch Hakeem play for the Rockets from the time he was drafted until his departure to Toronto. So many great games, so many memories.

The word "beast" is too easily used to describe athletes. It should be reserved only for the great ones, and to me, Hakeem is at the top of the heap.

 

Anyone see much of Howard this season? I only saw the Rockets game vs. the Magic.

I can't see Howard doing much better under Dream's tutelage than Yao did. If you don't have what Dream had upstairs then all the teaching in the world isn't going to make those moves natural to you. There's a reason that the only guy who seemed to take what Dream taught him and apply it effectively in real games is Kobe Bryant.

Having said that, I think Howard just needs maturity and mental focus to take the next step. His athleticism and size are good enough where he can be a 24/14 guy just by play HIS GAME the right way.

 

What does Yao have upstairs that Dwight doesn't? If you're alluding to Hakeem's creativity in the post, that's more instinctive/reflexive than thinking things through. Yao is a very mechanical post player in comparison.

I think Dwight is much better suited to take Olajuwon's teachings than Yao was. All those spin moves are much more fluid for him.