<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Thirty games into what many expect to be a long all-star career, Howard has learned basketball lessons and life lessons. The road gets tougher soon. Howard never played more than 35 games in a season in high school and averaged just more than 32 games a season at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. At 6 feet 10 and a well-muscled 252 pounds, Okafor is three years older and physically stronger than Howard. Plus he spent three years refining his game in college. He talked about hitting that proverbial "wall" most rookies hit after his 19-game double-double streak ended Monday.</div> Full Story Interesting writeup regarding the two players, who knows - maybe we have a rivalry in the works.
The rookie wall is something all players seem to hit. Some recover from it quicker than others. Lebron had a few rough games last season, but always recovered quickly from it which was attributed in part to his conditioning to quickly get rid of fatigue and in part to the lack of physicality a point guard (what lebron played his rookie season mostly) would face compared to a power forward. I do not blame Dwight for being fatigued though he denied it. It is a normal thing even the best have it happen to them. I mean a jump from 30 something games in a high school season to 82 plus playoffs will slow down anyone a bit. He just needs to get his head back into what he is doing and he will be fine. I mean eleven double doubles by Howard this season is not bad, and he is averaging a double double so that is always good. He has a bright future in the league.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ice:</div><div class="quote_post">Interesting writeup regarding the two players, who knows - maybe we have a rivalry in the works.</div> Maybe, maybe not, here's another piece from an aritcle: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Okafor said the hype with Howard will die down, even though they will square off for the next few years in the Southeast Division. "It will be forgotten," he said. "It will get watered down. In college, you had rivalries where you're not supposed to like the other guy, but hey, I like Dwight. He's a cool kid."</div> Okafor holds no grudges (Full Story) - need to scroll down a bit Regarding the wall they hit, Okafor seems okay so far and Dwight might be slightly tired, but that's all, no big thing.
