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Dwight Howard: Tame Beast (Part I)
Dwight Howard is so dominating that he strikes fear and terror into his opponents in the blocks. The Orlando center added a new dimension to his game at the Beijing Games. But he still has the Magic dumb-founded about his free throw problems.
“Clang!” – that is the undeniable sound of the combination of Spalding basketball, rim and shaky shooting hand. And it’s a common sound at the Orlando Magic training facility. Practice is long over and players and coaches alike are either under the shower or on their way home. But the lights are still on at the gigantic RDV Sportsplex, where the Magic train. “Clang!” – and the giant with the dripping-wet jersey curses quietly.
Off again.
The free throw line is 10 feet (4.57 meters) from the basket. Dwight Howard has no problem covering that distance – even flying through the air. And the Magic’s starting center would like nothing more right now – in mid-January – than fine tune his choreography for the up-coming Slam Dunk Contest at All Star Weekend. But Patrick Ewing, Orlando’s assistant coach, will not back down. Ewing knows that Howard has no problems with dunks. The youngster doesn’t need any help in that aspect of his game. The hardest work Howard has in that field is implementing his own creativity.
10 feet – the rest of the league should include this magical distance in their nightly prayers. Nobody in the NBA has figured out how to stop Dwight near the basket – well, at least not with fair means. But with a free throw percentage of 58.9%, teams figure the likelihood of a three-point play is limited. Howard’s free throw woes have left the door open to to a new version of the well-used (and abused) tactic for overwhelmed defenses – Hack-A-Howard. This new tactic may not yet be engrained into the defensive playbook of Magic opponents during the NBA regular season. But that just might change come playoff time. Without trying to overuse the whole Superman and Kryptonite (or Kryptonate) spiel, there may be a way to stop Howard’s dominance under the basket.
The best center in the league
The fact that the 6-foot-11 (2.11 meter) center’s weakness is being hotly discussed by scouts and in fan forums just shows the overwhelming strengths of the young Magic star. Despite being just 23 years old and having just four and a half NBA seasons in his powerful legs, Dwight Howard has definitely risen to the top of class of NBA centers. And his numbers are very impressive, pouring in 20.3 points a game while grabbing 13.9 rebounds and swatting 3.1 shots a night. His rebounds and blocked shot numbers are league highs. “I really try to block everything that comes near the rim, even if I risk getting called for goal-tending. I can’t let something like that slow my aggressiveness,” explained Howard about his shot blocking motivation.
The NBA history books have Howard well on his way into an exclusive club. Only four players have led the league in rebounds and blocked shots in the same season. And Howard would join some lofty company, namely: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Hakeem Olajuwon and Ben Wallace. What else do those four players have in common? All of them own an NBA championship ring. In fact, other than Wallace, all have collected more than one ring.
Howard himself says his experience with the Dream Team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing gave him the push he needed for his current development – and that of the Magic. “What we did at the Olympics is exactly what we need to do in every NBA game – dominate every game. We didn’t care if it was practice or a game. We always gave everything we had. And that made us the team that we were,” said Howard. It really wasn’t the Olympic tournament which impacted Howard’s game and conception of himself – but more the way to Beijing, the preparation games and the training camps.
part II – tomorrow – add our rss feed to make sure you won’t miss the second part.
