After my last entry, I figured I'd just prove to myself that I was not writing on mere boredom, so I decided to write about Dwight Howard.
Dwight Howard. Orlando's driving force. Stan Van Gundy's supreme impressionist. Scorer of 7035 points in his regular season career, 814 blocked shots, and 5107 total rebounds since he was drafted by the Orlando Magic in the 1st round (1st pick, 1st overall) of the 2004 NBA draft. Superman himself.
Dwight has now led the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals. In what began as an amazing year, second to Boston and Cleveland's phenomenal start, Superman has his team poised to face the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, and the daunting thing is the fact that no one predicted the Orlando Magic to be where they are right now.
Why are the Magic in the position they are today? Is it Stan Van Gundy's coaching move in the Conference semifinals, where he chose to give D12 the basketball more times, and trust him to make a play down low? Is it Hedo Turkoglu's spectacular 3-minute spans throughout the playoffs? Almost all of these – and more – are great reasons why Orlando is back in the Finals for the first time since 1995. However, Dwight Howard's leadership ability, and sheer athletic prowess down-low is what got the Magic here.
Go back and look at the numbers. Without Dwight's performance in every game since he demanded more touches, the Magic would be no where close to the Finals. I say all of this as a preface to my analysis of the league's best big man. Chris Bosh, go home. Your stint as the league's best big man lasted about...2 weeks? Who am I kidding, Dwight Howard has been the league's biggest and best force down in the post since 2006 – at the very LEAST.
What makes Dwight so good is not the fact that he can dunk harder than Shaq. It's the fact that he knows the fundamentals of basketball so well, that he creates open looks for the rest of the team, as well as for himself. Dwight consistently gets to the rack with force, can put up a nice jump-hook, land a nice lay-up, and with any contest he will almost automatically earn a 3-point play opportunity. He is simply that good at what he does...down low.
Here is where I begin to critique Dwight. It's widely known that he is confident in his abilities. He will stand by that confidence and trust it to get his team to where it needs to be. However, if Howard could shape up TWO aspects of his game, he would be the greatest big man to ever play the game of basketball professionally – since Wilt Chamberlain. If you don't think so, after I present these two points – you're blind.
What does Kevin Garnett have, and Zydrunas Illgauskas for that matter, that Dwight Howard does not? A mid-range game. The Boston Celtics were overly successful this past season, and they can attribute a vast majority of this to Kevin Garnett's well rounded game. He can step out and hit a jump-shot with a man in his face with absolute consistency. Big Z can do this as well. Howard, who is about the same size height wise, can NOT hit a shot to save his life outside of the restricted area. Dwight – listen to me – practice this in the off-season. Grasp this concept and make it yours. If D-12 can incorporate this into his game this next year, the Orlando Magic (barring a huge trade that decimates the team's chemistry) will be the team to beat in the Eastern Conference for the upcoming season. If Dwight Howard can become an all-around big man, rather than strictly a post player who sets his teammates up from time to time, he will excel exponentially.
The other area where Howard HAS to improve? Free-throws. A good big man can shoot free-throws, because he's going to get there many times. Dwight has a lifetime average of .601 from the free-throw line. Howard has made 2056 out of 3423 free throws. (These are all regular season numbers over his career). That means that Howard has botched a total of 1367 free points for the Orlando Magic over the course of his career. Dwight, their called free-throws for a reason. They should not be a burden on your team. Granted, Howard has excelled throughout the postseason in this area, and is making some strides. His routine is getting better, and he seems to be locking in on his motion. Still, this has to become consistent. Dwight has got to become a better free-throw shooter, if he wants to be a truly outstanding player in the NBA.
I know many people have probably noted all of these things, but I just wanted to lay my two cents out there. Dwight Howard's potential is through the roof. He's virtually unstoppable right now, and he's barely even scratched the surface of what he can accomplish. If Mr. Howard can remain humble, continue to develop in every area of his game, stop with the technical fouls, keep his mouth shut, and stay true to what basketball is about, he will be one of the greatest big men that the National Basketball Association has ever seen take the floor. Count on it.
2 comments:
Dwight Howard doesn't have to improve at all for the Magic to be the team to beat in the East next year. They won the East and made it to the NBA finals this year, so they will already be the team to beat. Also suggesting that he developes a mid-range jumper in the off season is a getting a bit ahead of yourself. At this point he doesn't even have any go to low post moves and can't consistently make contested baby hook shots, let alone jumpers. He's the best defensive big man in the game, he does have a lot of potential, he is powerful around the basket and extremely athletic, but because he has no offensive game except for dunks, put backs, and the occassional but not consistent baby hook, at this point in time he isn't the best big man in the league. You can't be the best big man in the league unless you can dominate offensively night in and night out, and though he has improved tremendously, he's not there yet. Good thoughts, good post.
However, the reason he hasn't been able to "dominate offensively night in and night out" is because if you live by the 3, you'll die by it. The Magic occasionally die by it, which results in what we saw last night. D12 gets doubled up and tripled up. He can't produce consistently in these situations. For that matter, no one can.
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