Why does Dwight shy away from his Finesse game?

[ThisIsTheYear 241]

Believe it or not, Dwight has much more to offer than his high flying dunks, but he just doesn't display it much. He has a very effective hook shot, but it seems that whenever he gets the ball one-on-one he prefers to face up against the basket and drive on his opponent.

 

During the first quarter, he got the ball pretty deep against Dalembert and gave him a little spin move and put in the hook with no problem. Now, I know that he is a mis-match against virtually every center in the league and can over power them, but when he resorts to that, and that only, he winds up either bull-dozing over his defender for the offensive foul, turning it over, as it's fairly easy to read, or end up taking a much more difficult shot (aka the sweeping hook).

 

I remember when we faced Detroit, they interviewed Shaq and Shaq told him that when he receives the ball in the post, he should go to work immediately and get in a high percentage hook, and he did that pretty well during the earlier part of the season, but now he's playing much like the Dwight of last year. He had a decent game tonight, but there's a reason why he usually gets most of his points in the early going and that's because the defenders usually start to clamp up on him in the second half, and he becomes far less effective on offense. I'm just saying that he could be so much better on the offensive end.

 

Another note, does he really need six minutes to rest for the start of the second period? He's young, extremely well conditioned, and can rest up during halftime. Turk always plays the full first period and ends up returning a couple of minutes into the second to finish the half up.

 

 

......but other than that, nice game!

[ThisIsTheYear 241]

Believe it or not, Dwight has much more to offer than his high flying dunks, but he just doesn't display it much. He has a very effective hook shot, but it seems that whenever he gets the ball one-on-one he prefers to face up against the basket and drive on his opponent.

 

During the first quarter, he got the ball pretty deep against Dalembert and gave him a little spin move and put in the hook with no problem. Now, I know that he is a mis-match against virtually every center in the league and can over power them, but when he resorts to that, and that only, he winds up either bull-dozing over his defender for the offensive foul, turning it over, as it's fairly easy to read, or end up taking a much more difficult shot (aka the sweeping hook).

 

I remember when we faced Detroit, they interviewed Shaq and Shaq told him that when he receives the ball in the post, he should go to work immediately and get in a high percentage hook, and he did that pretty well during the earlier part of the season, but now he's playing much like the Dwight of last year. He had a decent game tonight, but there's a reason why he usually gets most of his points in the early going and that's because the defenders usually start to clamp up on him in the second half, and he becomes far less effective on offense. I'm just saying that he could be so much better on the offensive end.

 

Another note, does he really need six minutes to rest for the start of the second period? He's young, extremely well conditioned, and can rest up during halftime. Turk always plays the full first period and ends up returning a couple of minutes into the second to finish the half up.

 

 

......but other than that, nice game!

[Kramer 0]

Eh, I don't think he is more effective with his finesse game one-on-one because he will get a dunk or a lay-up against anybody one-on-one. But I agree that he should do more hooks and use these next few weeks, while we have the third seed all but locked up, to try to extend his game and get more comfortable with jumpers and scoring outside of the paint. The finesse is good for the future but one-on-one he should overpower people and get the highest percentage shot imo

[Big J 0]

IMHO He should start using the whole list of moves (repertouir? lol) that he currently has right now.

 

One on One, or whatever the situation. Overpowering people is going to work for a couple of possessions and is fairly easy to read and the better teams (team defense wise) will take it away.

 

You show a hook here and there and now they have to gamble, play the bulldozer or is he going to just hook it, if they play the bulldozer when he is doing something else (ie the hook) he will have the advantage of height and the advantage of being on a nice position for the pass. If they play it safe, he could easily bulldoze anybody.

 

If he only does one thing 3 different ways, they will read it and take it away from him. He needs variety in order to make defenses glamble.

[ThisIsTheYear 241]

That's what I'm saying. When he gets to the Shaq-age, the explosion isn't going to be there, so he's going to have to lay on his finesse game to get him through those years.

 

I know that's ages from now, but I can't believe that Pat Ewing hasn't told him about this. It just seems that when he faces up against the basket, the best we usually get out of it is two freethrows, and even then, those aren't guaranteed.

[The Dude Abides 0]

I think an important point made here is that we have a bit of time to ramp up some of our game before the playoffs. Every little bit of tuning and offense we can hone will not only be beneficial to the Magic, but will also give our opponents some new stuff to think about going into it.

 

Dwight is not a "great" offensive rebounder, and that may be a product of facing up goin in strong everytime, if he worked the offense a bit more around the basket instead of going strong right for it , it would most likely take two defenders with him, it will open up under the basket for others and allow himself to follow his own shot more effectivley, the shooter usually has the best idea of where it will come off anyway.

 

So basically, I agree, not only would it be adventageous for Dwight to show that bit of his game more, but it would reap many more benefits for the rest of the guys out there, and give others some new material to pour over going into the playoffs.

 

Although tonight, he may be better takin it to the Hawks, they aren't a very big team.

[Tommaco 0]

Like stan said in the post game interview last night. they take what the D-fense gives them. And honestly its got to be tough to be dwight howard right now. He had it made in the beginging of the year when we had that big run because teams didnt take him that seriousely. But now every single time he touches the ball he gets swarmed by two or three oponents and in some cases the whole freaking team! Its tough to try and finess anything when you face that kinda coverage. These guys are really taking it to dwight, and i just find it amayzing that he still gets the numbers that he gets, the only other player on our team that handles trap situation really well is turk but other than that if anyone else was to face coverage like that it would be a turnover every time.

 

Give the guy some credit for the abuse he takes every game. Eventualy dwight will figure it all out and will become a better passer wich will free him up a bit more.

 

But what i feel we need more than anything is another star that commands a double team to free dwight, Much like Yao/t-mac. But that will probly not happen sooooo the best we can hope for is our point guards/ and the rest of the team to learn when and how to get the ball to him. Because right now it is verry predictable for the other team and it makes it really tough on dwight.

 

Bottom line he needs to move without the ball, more than just setting a quick screen. And the team needs to practice feeding him, cause the passes he has to catch down there are borderline rediculas.

[Big J 0]

He needs to develop a hook shot from his post up position. This will allow another weapon when teams tend to double quickly. A quick hook from the post up position would be a quick deadly weapon. ala Hakeem, shake, shake... hook instead of jumper! lol

[jack daniel 999 27]

Maybe he is waiting to use it as a secret weapon during the play-offs...

 

he's been practicing something with Ewing.

[My 6th Rebuild 6]

IMO....

 

During the Shaq years, Shaq use to always do a little hook shop. It was a routine. Skiles/Penny would feed him the ball. Shaq would back down his defender with 3 dribbles, then he would lean in and do a hook shot banking it in.

 

He was also really good at following his shot. After he would shoot the hook he followed his shot. In case of a miss, he would rebound it and dunk it in using his signature "shaq attack" dunk. 60% of the time Shaq would get the foul as well and a chance of a 3pt play.

 

If D12 went more to the hook, and kisses it off the glass, follow his shot and dunk it through, he would get many 3pt play oppotunities.

 

Comparing Shaq with D12 at the same age, Shaq was not the muscle machine and have anywhere near the athleticism D12 has. It will take him longer to slow down, barring any injuries of course. Back then Chip Carey and Goose Givins use to always talk about Shaq's "second wind." No one ever talks about that with D12.

[Sinister Grin 3]

I dont think Dwight will ever wear down. He has the body type of the Admiral who in my opinion could play today if he wanted.

 

Dwight should even use garbage time when you are up by a ton to shoot those 10 footers and work on the hook. That way he will have real defenders who dont want him scoring guarding him not just in practice against yes men.

[jack daniel 999 27]

I wonder what he is practicing with Ewing