The Dwight Howard Thread

[Drewski]

But everyone goes to Hakeem!

I agree, Dwight should broaden his scope of offensive bigs to learn from. Slap on some Spurs footage from their runs and take notes.

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[23]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

Hakeem was great... but they have Dwight mentored since when by Patrick Ewing

Fail.. I remember I used to rant about that a few years ago

They did the same thing with Yao, and Yao turned robotic under Ewing, until Ewing went to ORL
then they put Yao with Dawson and Hakeem... go figure

[Kruza]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

Yeah, if he puts enough fear in his defender that he can spin off or make a quick move they'll have no choice but to concede a little space....its just another thing hell have to work on....he bounces off of his defenders way too often to be as big as he is...

Eh, Dwight Howard is a mystery to me, and you and 23 are touching on why right here. There's no doubt he has a big, strong upper body. Plus he has explosive legs with the ability to jump high and far for a big man. But despite all that... it seems to me that he still lacks plain 'ol raw lower body strength to deal with stocky undersized bigs. I've seen guys like Ben Wallace and Jason Maxiell be able to stand their ground while Howard is trying to back them down in the low post, and that really shouldn't happen. Now Big Ben and Maxey are strong guys for their respective sizes, but in no way should they be able to prevent a guy Howard's size from backing them down on the low block.

Maybe Dwight Howard should go on a lifting regime in the offseason that involves deep-squatting heavy weights frequently so he can build mass and overall strength throughout his entire lower body -- especially in his quads and glutes. But maybe he already does that and the increase of lower body strength just isn't translating well onto the basketball court in his movements. I don't know.

Kruza

[bigeastbumrush]

Can't do all that when he's spending his summers looking for acting gigs, now can he?

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[23]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

Its a center of gravity and core issue that he's having.. and frankly Ewing hasn't nor can he show him how to use his size correctly....but they wont fire Ewing so they tried Dream once...

He has to continue to add to what he has and no an acting career full time wont get him that

[Jonesy]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

Kinda funny how they use the Dream and expect Dwight to suddenly have all of these amazing post moves. Hakeem was / is a genetic freak as much as anyone we have seen and to have that kind of footwork and coordination at his size is just as impressive as the other genetic freaks like LeBron etc. Dwight could spend the rest of his career working with him and would never even come remotely close to resembling Hakeem's low post awesomeness.

Totally agree about Ewing as well. What is he going to show Dwight about dominating in the blocks when Pat never did it himself? I'm not hating on Ewing's career as he was a great but his was more of finesse game and I don't think trying to emulate that should be the direction Dwight is going in.

I agree about Dwight being top heavy as well. He has crazy upper body development and seriously some of the most developed shoulders on the planet but he needs more lower body mass and a bit of a rump to help with leverage down low. Aka he needs to squat and deadlift more and stop doing bench press and curls so much.

[23]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

He doesn't need mass he needs strength.. no need to put more pressure on the knees

He just needs to learn some good ole fundamental post moves and counters...

They dont need him doing 20 dream shakes a game, run step back spin fake fadeaway... thats not even his style


When Dwight faces up, you already know he's going middle for a hook shot.. its not even a question... once he adds some counters to that, they will take it more seriously

Watch some Duncan film and see that this guy was a walking lost art

[LionsFanNJ]

Dwight needs to get some hooks in his repetoire, and build one or two counter moves from that to keep the defense honest.
Hell I don't think I've seen him ever spin to the baseline for an
Easy two either, but I could be and probably are wrong.

also don't think dwight has the lower body strength to back people down straight up. Orlando should be setting high screens on his man and getting movement to get him deep position at the rim. At least that's what I would do especially if Ryan Anderson is the screener.

[Kruza]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

Its a center of gravity and core issue that he's having.. and frankly Ewing hasn't nor can he show him how to use his size correctly....but they wont fire Ewing so they tried Dream once...

He has to continue to add to what he has and no an acting career full time wont get him that

Yes. Lack of core flexibility shows with Dwight Howard too and that's also significant. Oftentimes he doesn't drop his hips low enough in the first place to negate that leverage advantage shorter stocky bigs gain against him on a backdown. Honestly, Howard should be able to uproot those guys without much sweat.

I feel if Howard was incorporating deep squats in his training then he wouldn't be having this type of problem. I hope he isn't type of person who does his leg strength workouts strictly on isolation exercises on machines and not complement them with compound exercise routines that involves heavy weighted plates and barbells and/or freeweights. Doing deadlifts would help his cause too, as Jonesy pointed out.

At any rate, being able to spin away from a defender like the Dream had often done comes with excellent footwork and also a flexible torso in order to keep balance. This may also explain why Howard looks like a robot when he does a lot of his low post moves.

Kruza

[Drewski]

Just reading all of this, seems like yoga (specifically many of the different balance postures) and plyometrics training could help in the areas you guys are analyzing. Just an observation.

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[Kruza]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

I think Dwight Howard has been doing plyometric exercises considering at how well he's able to jump. He can explode and leap off the ground with one or two feet without much of a problem.

But as for yoga... yeah, incorporating that into his training regime could certainly help him out a lot. It sure would go a long way toward loosening his stiff hips and torso so he can move around better while in the low post.

Kruza

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

Duhwight in Boston next year?:

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?&articleid=1398798&format=&page=1&listingType=celt#articleFull

[Dice]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

I'm surprised no one has reported Dwight getting offers from overseas teams.

[23]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

Duhwight in Boston next year?:

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/b...lt#articleFull

Is this the first time he's actually thrown a team name out there in the public on his own?

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: Could Dwight Be Playing Somewhere Else Next Season?

Directly as in saying a team's name? Yeah

But I think we all know by now the teams he'd prefer to play for and I don't think you need to have an inside source to figure that out on your own.