McHale and Dream had the best post moves I've ever seen. I love Scola but he's a poor man's McHale post move wise at best, which is still a compliment cause most big men today can't chew gum and make a decent post move at the same time. Plus McHale was good at both sides of the court, he was on numerous All Defensive teams. I know I was the first here to compare Scola to McHale, but that was the homer in me saying what Scola reminded me at the time. The actual difference is wider but again it's a compliment to even be compared to McHale's post moves, he had the up and unders and fakes that were even more varied then Scola's (he didn't just go right every time).
3/10 for someone with "post game". Two out of three games now where Howard has looked like a complete bum. This kid is overhyped because of lack of quality big men in today's league.
Howard is overhyped for sure, but maaaan does Rashard Lewis suck. 4 pts in 28 mins, 2-8 shooting. Avg. of 5 ppg against the Celts this series in 37 mins per. And its not just the lack of offense, it seems like he's getting owned by everyone on defense. I remember being so disappointed that we didnt draft this guy a few years ago....
Here was an interesting blog post about how the Celtics are frustrating Dwight Howard in the pick and roll, and it helps illustrate some of Howard's shortcomings as a post player. http://celticshub.com/2010/05/24/video-stopping-orlandos-bread-and-butter/ The most relevant video is the last one, in which the initial pick and roll is cutoff, but it leads to Howard getting the ball with good post position about 10 feet from the basket in the middle of the lane. This is too far for a spin and dunk, requiring Howard to make some sort of fake and spin, shoot a long hook or take a fadeaway. He takes an awkward looking hook which misses. In contrast, Yao is pretty much automatic from this position, as he has a reliable fadeaway in addition to a series of moves to get around the defender. With Dream of course it was a major surprise if he didn't score from this position. An interesting point made in the blog is that against most post defenders (but not against Perkins), Howard would be able to use his strength to start his move from about 6 feet instead. This would allow him to simply turn and power up either a dunk or layup. I don't have the data, but my guess is that most of Howard's "postups" are in fact plays like this when he catches the ball 6 feet from the basket. It's not technically a pick and roll play but as you can see from the blog it's a deep postup option which is designed into the original pnr play. This would suggests that Howard's postup efficiency is somewhat misleading, since this play, while technically a postup, does not typically require a post "move." Another subtle point is that this is probably the play that the Magic run most. If Howard were a reliable post scorer from a standard post position where the entry pass is easier (e.g. 10 feet out on the left block), the Magic would probably have switched to that play by now. The fact that they haven't suggests that the Magic coaches don't trust Dwight from there.
d12's only move that is high quality are the dunks. everything else looks like it needs a prayer to go in and just plain awkward.
All that matters is your team benefits by dumping the ball in to you. If Howard's talents allow him to muscle through guys or leap past them to gets dunks, then that's terrific. A dunk shot is the best shot you can hope for from a post player.
How did the Dream play? He dunked,but he had a variety of post moves. Your stats don't take Dwight's weaknesses into account.
Everyone is over-hyped in this league one point or an other. And no over-hype can be compared to that of Yao.
I agree. Any player that could be held to only 7 points in a playoff game clearly has no post game. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=290424010
You're correct in saying that these concerns are premature. And fact of the matter is, how loss of athleticism affects Howard's game is something no human knows the answer to. I was simply saying that sustainability of his production wasn't something that was captured in the "Post Scoring" statistic. I am curious as to what that statistic actually encompasses. Does it account for pick and roll situations? What about ally-oops? I doubt offensive put-backs are included though.
I'm in the camp that thinks Dwight is the better center but the points scored don't tell the whole story. Yao pulled down 13 rebounds to Dwight's 7. Yao also only took 7 shots while Dwight took 10. Most importantly, the Rockets won that game. Orlando lost theirs.
Of course the points scored don't tell the whole story. Just as one game doesn't tell the whole story about a player's ability, or even one series.
