How good will Dwight Howard be in his prime if he's not already in it now?

[Sriracha]

When you talk about a players prime, it's important to differentiate between athletic prime and their "true" prime.

I'd argue that Dwight is currently in his athletic prime. I can't imagine that he'll ever jump higher than he does right now. And in fact, his athletic skills will probably decline from here on out.

It's the little things he learns along the way which will compose how devastating his "true" prime is. If he adds a simple right-handed hook next season, it might not change his game much. But if he then adds a lefty hook the following year, followed by a greater understanding of how to box out for a rebound, followed by much-improved footwork in the post, it'll add up. What you'll then see is a 28-29 year old Dwight Howard in his true prime; Not able to completely dominate athletically anymore, but able to use a mix of athletic skill and "true" basketball skill to still compete at a superstar level, despite waning athletic ability.

What most people fail to understand is that learning these skills is a process. Many bash Dwight for not having these skills already, but when you've dominated with your strength, speed, and quickness for your entire life, why would you ever learn an eighteen-foot jumper? What you must judge by is whether or not Dwight picks up these skills as he ages; If he does, his true prime might not be for another six to eight years.

Well said.

[WildStyle]

How do you idiots think Dwight scores if he doesn't have a post game? He scores exclusively in the post. You don't know what the **** you are on about.

[kumquat]

There's a difference between post play and scoring in the post.... when you're talking scoring around the bucket. Dwight has rudimentary post moves at best. i.e. his godawful hook shot everthing else is dunk or oop, otherwise it gets ugly. Compare that to guys like Duncan or Boozer, past masters Hakeem and McHale, no dwight doesn't have post play.

[millwad]

I don't think Dwight is in his prime, he reminds me ALOT of Hakeem. Hakeem in his first year in the league was a monster but while he was getting older he learned the game better and while he got less athletic he improved his ballhandling, postmoves, his jumper, his defense etc etc....

I'm not saying that Young Hakeem=Dwight, I think young Hakeem was better but Dwight has every opportunity to work on his game and be one of the greats of basketball.

[yeaaaman]

There's a difference between post play and scoring in the post.... when you're talking scoring around the bucket. Dwight has rudimentary post moves at best. i.e. his godawful hook shot everthing else is dunk or oop, otherwise it gets ugly. Compare that to guys like Duncan or Boozer, past masters Hakeem and McHale, no dwight doesn't have post play.

Either you're not being honest or you're not informed. He definitely is not Duncan or Boozer when it comes to post moves, but he does have a lot more variety of moves now. You're actually a moron I'm noticing you said he doesn't have post play. Compare him to the players he's playing against and you see him displaying his post play. He shows he actually has a few counter moves, is starting to pass on the move which is resulting in more open threes that are also cleaner looks. He often uses his left hand, has shown he can spin both direcrections so if his post play was so ridiculously bad why is he dominating so much. I know he's strong but this is the nba, his opponents are no weaklings out there. He has a great mix of strength, speed, and athleticism that combined with some basic moves makes a good player. Combined with developing moves we can see why he's now a dominant player. I mean, you want to talk about post play, talk about hustle and sealing off your opponent like a real big man should. He runs down the court, hits the opponent and seals position near the rim. If half the other big men in the league knew how to do that they'd be alot better off for it. They're either not good enough to get the ball thrown into them in the post, they'd prefer to shoot jumpers or they don't have the SKILLS to take their man one on one with any sort of reliability.

Then again maybe your basing your assertion off of watching his ppg differential from this year to last rather than his actual play. Since as you said Dwight has no post play - well whatever the hell his play is and if his skills are so raw and non-existent, wouldn't it be quite easy to say he can improve? Well if its not post play, whatever he has its not a bad thing.

[stephanieg]

Hakeem in his first year in the league was a monster but while he was getting older he learned the game better and while he got less athletic he improved his ballhandling, postmoves, his jumper, his defense etc etc....

I dunno, Hakeem looked mostly complete in the '86 finals to me. As far as skill set is concerned. Experience is something else.

[Mamba]

dwight howard works out too much at the gym and doesn't really work on his post game.

compare this:



to this

his shoulders are much wider, which isn't a bad thing, but seriously the game isn't al about muscle its also about technique

[kumquat]

Rant

settle down b*tch. Compared to the guys i mentioned dwight has no post moves. Now cry me a river.

[yeaaaman]

settle down b*tch. Compared to the guys i mentioned dwight has no post moves. Now cry me a river.

Lol, I have to applaud you for a well thought out response

[lilmarcgasol]

He's already in his prime, he won't improve. He's been in the league for like 5-6 years? And he still has no post moves.

He's going where his body is going and his body is at his prime right now. Which means he's in his prime right now

I find the Shaq comparison just plain stupid.

exactly. Dwight just isnt a hard worker at all and this is proven in his complete lack of offensive game despite being in the NBA 6 years and getting coached by Ewing.

In comparison, ill give you a hard worker.


Bynum only started playing ball in highschool, and was being trained by Kareem Abdul jabbar for 3 years. By putting in alot of hard work in his footwork, Bynum at 21 already has better post moves than the veteran Howard, who is like 24-25, will ever get.

Also passing game doesnt develop like Magic fans keep saying it will. You either have the vision to become a good passer or you dont but that is a talent that cant be taught. Dwight can become a smarter passer, making less dumb mistakes, but he wont just suddenly become a Duncan or Shaq level passer he just doesnt have the talent for it.

If Dwight decides to put in a lot of hard work and gets a post game and works on his freethrows he could be good. Otherwise I don't see him improving much more than he is now.


Blind yokels say Dwight has a legit post game. What they dont realize is that an ugly clanking hook shot, a drop step and a spin move that gets called for travel alot,plus a gimmicky clanking bank shot that goes in at 30%, does not constitute a strong post game. Try watching guys like Andrew Bynum, Tim Duncan, Al Jefferson and Luis Scola.

[Sriracha]

The Lakers can keep the next G.O.A.T. Andrew Bynum. The Magic will be happy to take the lazyass Dwight Howard and his lack of offensive game. As fan we just want to support a competitive team and be in the hunt, because in the end only one team can win the championship while the rest look forward to the next season.

When Howard can't jump and dunk anymore the Magic will suck and get another top pick. Thats when we all say Dwight who? And homo will create name like lil(insert rookie name) on ISH.

exactly. Dwight just isnt a hard worker at all and this is proven in his complete lack of offensive game despite being in the NBA 6 years and getting coached by Ewing.

In comparison, ill give you a hard worker.


Bynum only started playing ball in highschool, and was being trained by Kareem Abdul jabbar for 3 years. By putting in alot of hard work in his footwork, Bynum at 21 already has better post moves than the veteran Howard, who is like 24-25, will ever get.

Also passing game doesnt develop like Magic fans keep saying it will. You either have the vision to become a good passer or you dont but that is a talent that cant be taught. Dwight can become a smarter passer, making less dumb mistakes, but he wont just suddenly become a Duncan or Shaq level passer he just doesnt have the talent for it.

If Dwight decides to put in a lot of hard work and gets a post game and works on his freethrows he could be good. Otherwise I don't see him improving much more than he is now.


Blind yokels say Dwight has a legit post game. What they dont realize is that an ugly clanking hook shot, a drop step and a spin move that gets called for travel alot,plus a gimmicky clanking bank shot that goes in at 30%, does not constitute a strong post game. Try watching guys like Andrew Bynum, Tim Duncan, Al Jefferson and Luis Scola.

[Take Your Lumps]

LOL....the Dwight hate is strong in this thread.

Truth is, all of you guys would bust a nut at the prospect of Howard joining your favorite team.

[VCMVP1551]

Dwight obviously has a post game. Not a great post game yet like Shaq, Hakeem, Kareem or Tim Duncan, but still he's pretty good down there.

His jump hook has become pretty good and he can shoot it with either hand. He'll often hit running hook shots as well. Dwight often catches the ball in the post turns and then attacks the basket. This often results in a foul or a dunk so this is another simple but effective move. Once in a while you'll see him catch the ball with his back to the basket and spin baseline. This can be a very effective move for him. He can also face the basket and spin on his drive, so if we can become more consistent with that he'll have a good amount of weapons.

He does like the spin and create space from his defender so he can go up and finish alley-oops. Shaq did this a lot in his prime. Don't forget that it takes a lot of skill on both ends to complete alley-oops. Not just finishing the play, but getting open for the pass. He'll also dunk anything close, he now gets a lot of baskets off of offensive rebounds as he's really improved in that area. That also takes skill.

He has found quite a few ways to score and no you don't just score off of athleticism, otherwise he wouldn't be averaging 5-6 more ppg than his sophomore year despite far more double teams. The move where he faces the basket and drives is based on his quickness and athleticism and so are a few of his others so as his athleticism fades those won't be as effective.

But his athleticism likely won't really decline for years. Shaq had far more injuries than Dwight and he was a lot bigger, yet he remained an excellent athlete up until about 30-31 years old. Hakeem Olajuwon kept his athleticism up until he was about 33 and David Robinson was very athletic up until his injury in the 1996-1997 when he was 31. Dwight is in tremendous shape, he isn't too heavy and he's had pretty much no injuries in his 5 year NBA career.

I wouldn't worry too much about Dwight not adding to his game. His offensive game is better than it was last season. More so than just the 0.3 extra ppg suggest. He does have to improve his passing, but even now all of the double teams he draws make his teammates better. His turnovers lately have been a concern too, but you can't expect a player to be perfect at 23. Especially a big man who entered the league very raw out of highschool. Big men usually take longer to develop.

Don't forget that Shaq had his best season when he was 27-28 years old(1999-2000) and he then had probably his second best season the following year. David Robinson's two best seasons came in the mid 90's when he was 28, 29 and Hakeem played his best basketball in the mid 90's when he was in his early 30's.

Dwight just turned 23, 2 months into this season. The fact that he's already averaging 21, 14 and 3 is amazing.

All Dwight needs to do is improve his passing and footwork. The latter will give help him with countermoves and the former will make his teammates even better.

As it is he's truly dominating the paint which is what every coach wants from his big men. He's top 5 in blocks per game, rebounds per game and FG% for the 2nd straight season. He's almost a lock to become just the 3rd player in NBA history to lead the league in blocks and rebounds in the same season. And he's almost a lock to win the defensive player of the year award.

His team is also on pace to win over 60 games and last season they already won 52 and got out of the first round.

I'm not sure what his numbers will be in his prime, but I'd imagine that he'll be the centerpiece of a lot of championship contending teams, he'll always be among the league leaders in blocks, rebounds and FG% and he'll continue to be a defensive player of the year candidate.

He's been a 20-20 machine for the last 2 seasons and no he's not in his prime. He'll most likely average in the 23-24 range in his prime as far as points, but I also expect him to be around 4 blocks per game eventually.

[Dresta]

He's nothing like Olajuwon. He does sort of play a bit like a mini Shaq, with more hustle but much less skilled. They both try to power there way to the basket though.

[AznTacoLover]

He does have some post moves. but not really good ones.. maybe devolpe a medium range jumpshoot. and a small hookshot.then he can improve his passing when he's gets double/triple teamed in the paint then pass to the open shooter.