The Official Dwight Howard Everything Thread

[O Town Terror 11]

Although I believe the key to our offense is through Dwight, I have to totally agree with your statement. We cant rely on his FT's. Through his own incapabilities, he has pretty much taken himself out of loop of go-to players in the 4th. My only problem is, then everyone wants to be "The Guy" and we stop passing the ball. I really think Von Wafer would be a good player to come off the bench in this situation. A guy who CAN take it to the hole and open up the perimiter shot.

As far as Dwight's shot goes, I don't understand. I know Van Gundy wants him inside, but with maybe an 8 - 10 ft jump shot, he'd open up the paint more for Ryno. He doesn't have a bad stroke. I'm also sure that if he were to shoot these shots more consistently, he'd feel more comfortable at the line.

[O Town Terror 11]

Dwight started with the griping to the refs, then to the team and orginization. Guess what fans, we're next.

[O Town Terror 11]

if there are 10mins to go and you're tied, would you go to your best player for a high % basket or (at best but more variation) 40% shot at the three? Like I said earlier, even if he gets fouled every possession and makes half his FT's that's still good. That plays into our strength because we don't have perimeter player that can score at will.

Doesn't fouling us with under 2 min on the clock put us on the line with the ball? What's the rule on that?

[magicblue 315]

what conversation is that?

 

D12: hey stan can I get the ball late in games?

Stan: No.

 

because that's how it had to go down. It would be awkward if the best player on the team had to have that convo.

 

face it, we aren't going to beat times by playing at a faster pace (nor are we built that way). I'm thankful Jrich got hot, but i'm not going to count on that every night. If we are up like that 78-68 with 5min to go, it's time to slow down the pace and feed dwight the ball. On every possession.

 

We are talking about the conversation he had with the media about wanting to be like Kobe and whining like a little *****, correct? You don't think its a little "awkward" for your best player and supposed team leader to be crying about wanting to be the closer, after a win, in a game in which he played like pure ass? This has nothing to do with whether or not he should get the ball (I see that argument is taking place now) but the way Dwight goes about expressing every one of his displeasures, desires, wants, and needs to the frickin media constantly! Its selfish and immature and there's no way to explain it away...anyone trying to defend it needs to stop.

[magicblue 315]

He should be complaining. Am I missing something here? He scores at a higher rate than anyone else on the team. He's a top 5 player on a team full of scrubs. He should be getting 20 shots a game or shooting a s*** ton of free throws. Either way, it's a better option that Turk "taking over" in the 4th which inevitably leads to me cursing and wanting to throw things at my television.

 

 

Again, a great conversation to have with your coach and teammates in the locker room, or on the flight back from Milwaukee, or during your next practice, or whenever....just not to the media after a game your team won despite your play!!!!!!!!!

[magicblue 315]

Dwight started with the griping to the refs, then to the team and orginization. Guess what fans, we're next.

 

 

He actually started with the fans and lack of support and noise level in the new arena last season. There's an established theme here, its everyone's fault but Dwight's

[Drain-O 369]

The media has also gotten wise on how to ask questions to Dwight because it seems like there is about one of these a week where he is either directly or indirectly criticizing the organization.

 

Though Jason and Turk made shots down the stretch that is like one game out of every 10 so he has a point.

[Stu Bronsilino 313]

Doesn't fouling us with under 2 min on the clock put us on the line with the ball? What's the rule on that?

 

if they foul someone on our team without the ball...aka this is why dwight doesn't get touches. because if he touches it, instant foul to send him to line. before 2 minutes you can foul away from the ball and only shoot free throws, hence the hack a howard sometimes. if its under 2 minutes and they did that, dwight would get his freethrows and we'd get it back.

[Miller4Prez66 545]

I'm for getting Dwight the ball late in games, but he picked a horrible night to complain about it. He was 5-15 from the field despite not being guarded by a legit big and J-Rich had the hot hand that rode us to victory. He sounds incredibly selfish complaining about this right now, as he has sounded all year long. If it were a game where we lost because nobody else had it going, I could see his frustration, but after a win when one of his teammates carried us to victory after he had a bad performance? Really?

[skinnyhoops 12]

you're missing the context of his quote.

 

We were up 78-68 with 5 minutes to go. But in less than 2 minutes we squandered that lead then found ourselves down 78-88. Then Jrich came back and won it for us. But I think he's making a good point; had we fed dwight the ball when we were up, we could have put them away for good. He's shooting 55% for the year and he's going to get a high percentage look; Even if he gets fouled and makes half his free throws, that's still 1 pt per possession which is just slightly less than the league average.

 

I think that's what Dwight was referring to.

 

I can understand that he wants the ball more during the 4th quarter and being the go-to man, which he normally is, but when he's struggling like Saturday night it's hard to keep force feeding him the ball. After all he was 5-15 and only 2 FT attempts the whole game. He had his opportunities throughout the game (besides 4th quarter) but he just couldn't get the ball in the basket. The problem I saw was everytime he touched the ball the defense wasn't allowing it. Perhaps that was the Bucks gameplan knowing they were going to be without Bogut, smother Dwight everytime he gets the ball. You have to take what the defense gives you, and Dwight can only create offense to a certain extent and then he risks doing too much turning the ball over. It just wasn't his night to dominate the paint like he normally does.

 

I guess the issue I have is Dwight making everything public. Even after his team won, he still wants to complain about something to the media. Every problem he has with the organization he goes straight to the media. This time the media didn't even pressure him with an uncomfortable question either. Now maybe thats a sign of character for the Magic organization....are they really listening to Dwight's concerns? Or is this just Dwight being the "Big Baby" cause someone else is playing with his toy....

 

I know there's alot of mixed feelings about his remarks, some people agree and some people are pissed. Thats the magic of diverisity. I'm just saying he needs to chill with the public negativity and quit belittling this team to the media.

[skinnyhoops 12]

I'm for getting Dwight the ball late in games, but he picked a horrible night to complain about it. He was 5-15 from the field despite not being guarded by a legit big and J-Rich had the hot hand that rode us to victory. He sounds incredibly selfish complaining about this right now, as he has sounded all year long. If it were a game where we lost because nobody else had it going, I could see his frustration, but after a win when one of his teammates carried us to victory after he had a bad performance? Really?

 

Exactly...his Saturday night stats just don't back up his arguement. Normally he dominates, but it just wasn't his night to do so. The defense smothered him knowing they were without Bogut.

[magicblue 315]

Since its clear that Dwight has so many "Wants" I thought it might be interesting to list the one's we know of:

 

- Dwight wants to be traded (he even has a short list of which cities he wants to play for)

- Dwight wants better teammates (again he has a list of players he wants)

- Dwight wants his coach and teammates to "trust" him and allow him to carry them in the fourth quarter

- Dwight wants the fans at the arena to be louder and more supportive (I tend to agree)

- Dwight wants to be a closer, like Kobe Bryant

- Dwight wants to be treated like a superstar by this organization (private jets to All-Star games, etc.)

- Dwight just wants to win

 

I'm sure i've missed some, feel free to add to my list.

 

Here are my wants for Dwight:

- I want Dwight to **** and play basketball to the best of his ability for THIS team

- I want Dwight to take personal responsibility for his shortcomings and quit pointing them out in others

- I want Dwight to concentrate on his free-throw shooting

- I want Dwight to realize that he will never, ever, be Kobe Bryant and that the best way he can help his team is by doing what he does best: defend, block shots, and rebound the basketball

- I want Dwight to go back to being the humble, Christian kid that we all grew to love here in Orlando

 

Feel free to add on to either list.