Dwight Howard is back to learning from Hakeem Olajuwon

[insidehoops]

How important is it to train with legends?

Olajuwon obviously had amazing moves, but does that mean he's also good at actually teaching other big men?

What do you think?

Anyway, Dwight Howard is back to learning from Hakeem.

Skim-read this:

http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=8087

[get these NETS]

If Dwight grabs a rebound this year and either keeps the ball above his shoulders....or grabs it and pivots into a stronger scoring position..

then this off season work is helping him

if he comes back next year, grabs board..brings it below sternum and gets stripped by a smaller man AGAIN ......he wasting his time because he's not even absorbing basic fundamentals of being a big man.

[HylianNightmare]

lets see how much it helps

[NBAller]

Anybody who saw Dwight last season saw improvement. I'm sure he can pick a thing or two up and add it to his arsenal....Good to see Dwight trying to add to his game.

[ShaqAttack3234]

As scary as it sounds after a 23/14, 59 FG% season, Dwight is only 25 and has a significant amount of room for improvement. I'm glad to see he's working with Hakeem again, it really seemed to pay off last season.

I agree that one of the areas that he still has to improve on is keeping the ball high and becoming less turnover prone. Another is passing out of double teams, which is an area where Hakeem himself improved noticeably throughout his career. I think he at least has the potential to get in the 65-70% range from the line as well.

He started learning how to cut down on fouls and stay on the court longer and he clearly improved his post game. Those things will only improve with experience, imo, particularly his post game after a season of applying what Olajuwon showed him last year, and now another summer of staying sharp on those things and maybe learning new things.

[Eat Like A Bosh]

Yeah, Yao got tutored by Hakeem as well.

Dwight's only 25, and has a lot of room for improvement. I think at this point, he can surpass Yao easily. Free throw shooting

[D.J.]

Hakeem had the best footwork and post moves of any big. Dwight will learn a lot. He doesn't have Hakeem's range, but he'll pick up some tips. He has a lot of potential and he's likely entering his prime now.

[millwad]

This is great, Dwight is still only 25 as someone stated and obviously he's putting work into getting better so I really look forward to see him in 3-4 years!

I think he can improve his game alot by learning from Hakeem, Dwight moves really well for being a center and alot of Dreams moves should be possible for him to take after. This is nothing like Olajuwon trying to learn Yao, both of those guys played the game in two different ways and Yao didn't play anything like Olajuwon.

[juju151111]

How important is it to train with legends?

Olajuwon obviously had amazing moves, but does that mean he's also good at actually teaching other big men?

What do you think?

Anyway, Dwight Howard is back to learning from Hakeem.

Skim-read this:

http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=8087
DH just had his best season ever and was actually doing post moves and hitting bank shots. More training is good

[kumquat]

I think he made a big leap last year from the previous off season. I hope he can build on it, it's just that he's way too mechanical.

[hawksdogsbraves]

Dwight's post game was much better this year and it shows in his statline. If he improves even more, he's going to be scary. Well, even scarier.

Plus if he could just add 10-15% to his FT% that would be an immense improvement to his overall impact.

Somehow I feel like Dwight is underrated, I guess because his team around him is so shitty.

[Locked_Up_Tonight]

Dwight is only 25 and has a significant amount of room for improvement.

That was true about 20 years ago when people were coming out of college at 22-23. With kids coming out at 18-19.... 25 is relatively "old" in terms of basketball at the NBA level.

He may not be maxed out. But he is pretty close to getting there. After all, next year will be his 8th(!) season.

[ShaqAttack3234]

That was true about 20 years ago when people were coming out of college at 22-23. With kids coming out at 18-19.... 25 is relatively "old" in terms of basketball at the NBA level.

He may not be maxed out. But he is pretty close to getting there. After all, next year will be his 8th(!) season.

Yeah, but he improved a lot just last season, and there are still things that he can obviously do significantly better. Just building off the success of last season and working with Olajuwon again makes it very possible that he could become a significantly better player.

[get these NETS]

What I was getting at is....don't know if the training/instruction is specifically tailored to Dwight's bodytype, physical ability, strengths & weaknesses, and MODERN nba defenses.

When I saw him last year..he seemed to be mimicking Dream's moves more than incorporating Dream's training into his own game.


Read once that Dream was actually under 7 feet, and looking at him, he didn't have the freakish wingspan that you associate with nba centers.

What he did have was exceptional (for any position) lateral agility, speed, quickness, and footwork. He was mentored by Moses but he tailored and patterned his moves and game on his OWN strengths and weaknesses. In fact...he's quoted as saying he used to borrow moves from guards

-----------------------
Guy would be a fool to not practice against Dream, but if you think about Dwight's strengths and weaknesses and the fact that zone defenses are legal now in the NBA...I think Dwight could actually help his team more by incorporating some of Ewing's move/game into his repertoire.

[ShaqAttack3234]

What I was getting at is....don't know if the training/instruction is specifically tailored to Dwight's bodytype, physical ability, strengths & weaknesses, and MODERN nba defenses.

When I saw him last year..he seemed to be mimicking Dream's moves more than incorporating Dream's training into his own game.


Read once that Dream was actually under 7 feet, and looking at him, he didn't have the freakish wingspan that you associate with nba centers.

What he did have was exceptional (for any position) lateral agility, speed, quickness, and footwork. He was mentored by Moses but he tailored and patterned his moves and game on his OWN strengths and weaknesses. In fact...he's quoted as saying he used to borrow moves from guards

-----------------------
Guy would be a fool to not practice against Dream, but if you think about Dwight's strengths and weaknesses and the fact that zone defenses are legal now in the NBA...I think Dwight could actually help his team more by incorporating some of Ewing's move/game into his repertoire.

I noticed Dwight doing something that Shaq did a lot in his prime a lot last year, which is getting good position and going up quick with a jump hook off the glass, he scored a lot on that play. He also seemed to get better at using his strength to back defenders down, and the spin moves he was using are a good weapon for him because of his ability to finish with either hand. For years, he's used his ability to run the floor as well. So, I like what I'm seeing from him as far as how he's scoring.

As far as Ewing's moves? Well, I figured that he probably learned that running hook move from Ewing. Patrick didn't really shoot as much of a hook on his version, but that shot in the lane was really his signature move, or the "3 step move" as it was called.

[Crown&Coke]

Great move! Last time he spent 15 mins with Dream his post game improved 100 fold. Imagine a few months

[pete's montreux]

Great move! Last time he spent 15 mins with Dream his post game improved 100 fold. Imagine a few months

It doesn't even really take that long. Hakeem just needs to show him a few moves and then Dwight needs to spends a couple hundred hours practicing them. Just footwork all day every day.

[Nick Young]

If Dwight grabs a rebound this year and either keeps the ball above his shoulders....or grabs it and pivots into a stronger scoring position..

then this off season work is helping him

if he comes back next year, grabs board..brings it below sternum and gets stripped by a smaller man AGAIN ......he wasting his time because he's not even absorbing basic fundamentals of being a big man.
Exactly

[Screamingdoom]

If Dwight grabs a rebound this year and either keeps the ball above his shoulders....or grabs it and pivots into a stronger scoring position..

then this off season work is helping him

if he comes back next year, grabs board..brings it below sternum and gets stripped by a smaller man AGAIN ......he wasting his time because he's not even absorbing basic fundamentals of being a big man.

Wow absolutely nothing has changed :facepalm

[The-Legend-24]

If Dwight grabs a rebound this year and either keeps the ball above his shoulders....or grabs it and pivots into a stronger scoring position..

then this off season work is helping him

if he comes back next year, grabs board..brings it below sternum and gets stripped by a smaller man AGAIN ......he wasting his time because he's not even absorbing basic fundamentals of being a big man.
:oldlol: Dude hasn't learned shit.

[Kiddlovesnets]

Again Lakers fans are complaining about Dwight, this is so disgraceful.