I missed the whole Dwight Howard calling out Stan Van Gundy thing, but am amused by this commentary, which includes these harsh comments on the "first team all-NBA'er": I've always thought Howard was overrated, both offensively and defensively. There is no doubt he is a great rebounder and shot-blocker, but I don't think that makes you first-team All-NBA. Yao destroyed him the last time they played. But this column also reminded me a lot of Greg Oden. Oden has a Howard-esque offensive game, but tends only to get the ball with his back to the basket. More penetrate-and-dish or pick and roll would benefit Greg enormously.
Stan Van Gundy is on the hot seat right now (I guessing Shaq is loving this). I really like Dwight Howard as a person and a player . . . but given how much hype he has gotten this year, I could see why some would feel he is overrated. What I see is a young 7 foot physical speciman that continues to grow leaps and bounds each year.
I disagree. I have watched a fair share of Magic basketball this year, and in the games where they establish him early, he does great late in games. He shoots at damn near 60%. I don't care if most of them are dunks, 60% is great, and I would fucking kill to have that here. The Magic are losing for the same reason as they lost when Shaq was there. The perimeter players shooting too many 3's. If you live by the 3, die by the 3, in the playoffs, you will die. Period.
D-12 is more skilled than Oden at this point - but Oden's lower body seems much stronger - he had little problem moving Perkins out of his way in the game at the Rose Garden.
It is true that Dwight Howard just doesn't have a post game. He just is not a big scoring threat. In fact, if they didn't have all those outside shooters, defenses would completely collapse on him and he'd be pretty useless. He's sort of a Tyson Chandler on steroids. (And I mean literally. You do not have a body like that naturally. He looks like some science fiction character where a tiny creature is in charge of a giant robot. The tiny creature being Howard's head.) Say what you like about Shaq but he developed an effective post game. I actually saw someone claim that Dwight Howard is the best Magic player ever. He's about half the player Shaq was. Shaq at his age would absolutely destroy Howard. I love it that he's shown himself to be an egomaniac. I hope he gets Van Gundy fired and he finds out how much Van Gundy meant to that team.
yao always beats dwight in their matchups. however, that doesn't mean that yao is better than dwight or the he deserves first team over him.
Dwight Howard had a .572 FG% and a .600 TS% this season. Greg Oden had a .564 FG% and .599 TS% this season. No need to kill, you've got it! Howard is a bit more skilled than Oden right now, but he's played 5 seasons in the NBA and is older than Oden. Oden doesn't have to go very far to catch Howard in terms of low post skill. I think Oden has the ability to be a significantly better scorer in the post than Howard is.
I think that where both Howard and Hollinger are off is that the number of SHOTS isn't an issue... it's the number of TOUCHES. Howard barely touched the ball down the stretch. I don't think that them feeding him and him forcing up shots would be wise, but making the defense collapse on him opens up the perimeter... kicking it back out and then reestablishing position leads to dunks and fouls and easy points (even Howard occasionally hits a free throw). To be honest, it sounds like the Magic failed to do what the coach was saying... SVG says that he wanted the team to PUSH the basketball, rather than slowing it down every possession. That, ultimately, is the coach's fault, but if the team didn't run when the coach wanted them to run, I'm not sure how he could have gotten Howard more touches if he wanted to get Howard more touches. I think that everyone is right here... Howard should WANT more touches. Hollinger should point out that Howard getting more shots doesn't lead to more wins. And SVG will need to do a better job of getting his team to listen to him. Ed O.
The Magic have so many shooters on the floor that you can't double him. If he had a post game, we'd be seeing it. Kendrick Perkins is guarding him with no help, when Perkins is out, Big Baby is doing the same. Off the top of my head, I can't think of one time he got the ball outside of 5 feet and scored on either guy. That running hook through the lane usually misses badly, too. He might just be having a bad week or something, and honestly, I don't watch him enough to know if that's the case or not. But aside from rebounding he doesn't seem to be a factor for the team offensively and I don't think he has any right to complain.
I find it interesting that Yao and Howard are both such divisive players among fans. No matter how good they look on the stat sheet, there is a considerable group of fans who don't consider either of them to be true stars.
They're sort of polar opposites. Yao is a great basketball player (no doubt because Sabonis was his idol) who is NOT a great athlete (unless height is an athletic ability). Howard is an amazing physical specimen who is not a great basketball player. We were spoilt by people like Hakeem, who was both. (Also Shaq, who was a more amazing physical specimen than Howard as well as a better basketball player.)
Hakeem, Shaq and David Robinson. All exceptional athletes and players. I agree that Yao and Dwight basically have deficits that the other has as a strength, which is why neither of them are on that inner-circle Hall of Fame level. Oden has the size and athletic ability. To me, he showed the ability to be a great player, too, at Ohio State and in flashes this past year. Even if he never develops the array of skills that Yao has, he could be a Dwight Howard-like player with his athletic ability and instincts. Which would be a superstar level player, but not a once-in-a-generation center.
They both are living in the shadow of Shaq. It's like after Jordan retired and people kept asking, "Who is the next Jordan?" Only the criticism is probably more severe, because Yao and Howard are the only two star centers in the game. There have been a dozen guys compared to Jordan (although the comparisons inevitably failed). I hated Shaq as a player, but you have to give him credit. He was a truly awesome star. He had the physical tools to finish up with 7 or 8 titles and a strong argument for being the greatest of all time. Even without that drive, he wound up with 4 rings. If it weren't for Shaq, people would be saying how Yao is everything Rick Smits never could be and the best center since Hakeem, and how Howard is going to be even better than Alonzo Mourning's short stint as a great player. Instead they both seem just kind of....meh. I think Oden will eventually suffer under the same comparisons. Or at least I hope he will. If Oden is even in Shaq's shadow, we're winning championships.
Maybe, but I wasn't comparing him to Oden. I was stating that he is the main option on that team and he only got 11 touches for the game. I would go ballistic if Brandon Roy only got 11 touches in a playoff game. Dwight Howard is their horse. He is the one guy that you can go to in almost any game, and have a distinct advantage, for Orlando. I can tell you this. Stan Van Gundy better find a way to make it happen, and get Orlando a victory, because if they go out against Boston with Howard only getting 11 touches in a game, he will be packing his bags and looking for a new job.
He's not their main option. He's not a good scorer. He's arguably the best defender in the game, he's probably the best rebounder in the game and he has some offensive game. He is definitely not a #1 option. As Hollinger pointed out, their record with him getting under 11 shots is almost the same as their record when he gets 11 or more shots. He only averages a little over 12 shots per game, and his number of shot attempts in wins is the same as in losses. Howard matters on offense, but he definitely shouldn't be their "go-to guy."
Well I beg to differ, because every game where they have established Dwight Howard early against Boston, they have won. That is a fact. See the difference you don't seem to understand it, when Orlando establishes their game from the inside out, the 3 point shooters are much more efficient. In the last several games, they have not been establishing Howard at all, and all their shots are contested on the perimeter. If you establish Howard early, he usually ends up with the number of touches he has not because "he isn't their horse", but because they start double and triple teaming him once he is established. Then he kicks to the open shooters, and Orlando's offense works. Not coincidentally, they have lost those games, where he wasn't established early, because it is only a matter of time before the 3 stops falling, and in the playoffs, that is death. Secondly, this is the playoffs. Howard is their star player. He should relish the challenge, and ask for the rock. He is doing that. He is saying ok, my normal amount of shots isn't enough, get me the ball. When your star asks to step up, you give him the shot.
What you don't seem to understand is that Boston isn't double-teaming him (let alone triple-teaming him). They've been playing him one-on-one with Perkins and Davis. Howard doesn't have the post moves to beat players he can't push around, and Perkins and Davis are too strong for him to simply overwhelm. Your comments sound like someone relying on an abstract theory rather than actually watching the games. If it were true that Howard was drawing double- and triple-teams, I'd agree with you that he needs lots more touches. But that isn't remotely true. He's getting the ball against one defender and he's looked inept when he's tried to score out of the post. His value to Orlando in this series has been on the boards and on defense, not on offense. I have no problem with him asking for the ball. A good coach shouldn't do what his star asks if it's bad for the team. Feeding Howard, when he's pulling single coverage and can't score against it, would be bad for the Magic.
Oden doesn't have Howard's athletic ability, but he does have him on size. Howard is one of the more athletic players in the entire league, which is incredible considering his size. Oden isn't as coordinated as Howard at this point, and simply watching Howard in a dunk contest versus Oden rimchecking himself tells me Greg has a ways to go to regain all of his athleticism.
