Dwight Howard.
Come on, De-wight. No, actually, rebounding is not the problem. You're getting plenty of rebounds, playing like a beast on defense, and are by all accounts a freak of nature, probably the result of some sort of underhanded government science program. You're charismatic, you got robbed like there's no tomorrow in the dunk contest (which you single handedly have made relevant again) and you're not getting a whole heck of a lot of credit for the fact that your team has Rafer Alston, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, and not a single passable power forward, and yet everyone is playing enough DEFENSE to make it to Eastern Conference Championship. Take a look at those names again. Take a long look. These guys are historical me-first, offensive-minded players. They're great players, don't get me wrong. But they're not the most vicious defenders. And everyone credits KG for the marvelous work he did getting a bunch of has-beens and never-weres to play defense like a pack of rabid mongooses. But not a lot of people credit Dwight or Stan Van Gundy for getting the Disney Drainers to give a crap on the defensive side of the ball. Right now all I'm hearing is "they're playing below their potential, blah blah blah." Maybe they are playing below their potential, and they shouldn't have struggled so much with Philly, but they beat the Celtics in Boston in Game 7. And handly. So take that to the bank and smoke it.
Dwight Howard deservedly won Defensive Player of the Year. I really don't care what anyone else says. It's not really fair for Lebron to win MVP AND Defensive, and in addition, Howard has had a more individual influence on opposing teams' offensive strategy. Lebron affects your game plan because you're just generally shitting your pants that he's on the court with you. Dwight is tenacious when it comes to protecting the rim. As Kendrick Perkins can attest to, it takes superior athletic skill, a cauldron full of good luck, and supremely foul body odor for a big man to score easily on Howard.
Now that I've sufficiently buttered him up, here's what I don't entirely get about the Howard/SVG/Magic/Sportswriters dynamic going on right now--
Why is it that everyone seems to be in on this conspiracy that says Howard needs to have touches in the post?
He's just not a refined post player right now. The guy is like 23 years old, just starting to come into his fully developed physique, getting a handle on being "The Man" down in Orlando, his post skills are something that have yet to develop. It's not wrong. Big men typically hone their moves over the course of time, very very few come into the game as mature as Olajuwon or Duncan. When Shaq entered the league, his only real move was drop step and dunk. By the time he hit his prime with Kobe in LA, Shaq had an arsenal of low post moves and a ridiculous touch from inside 10 feet (yet still the stone hands from the line). I think somehow everyone is convinced that it would be offensive to Dwight to admit this, but the reality for young players in the NBA is that they can't do EVERYTHING. Teams would let Lebron shoot anything he wanted from the outside two years ago. They would probably let him shoot anything he wants from out there now, but only because it's a better alternative to easy layups and foul trouble. He's worked on that. He has accepted the honest critique throughout his career that he's not a great jumpshooter and if he wants to become Jordan, he should get in the gym and put up 1500 shots a day. So he's done that. Er, he's DOING that. He's on his way.
Howard just doesn't have a refined post game right now. He's got all the power in the world, but it's a lot more difficult for him (and anyone else on the planet) to dropstep and dunk like it was for Shaq coming in. He makes the most of good passes from his teammates, terrific offensive rebounding, and following the break. He's a superior athlete and can run and jump circles around other big men without breaking a sweat. But he doesn't have the most fluid hook shot, and he certainly doesn't have a set shot or jumper that the league's better post players (Gasol, Ilgauskas, Duncan) have. It's not WRONG. It just is what it is. Forcing your offense to get him touches and give him more shots is not the most effective strategy. The Magic have a boatload of excellent perimeter players, good ball handlers with the ability to create off the dribble. They don't even play a power forward, they just play big D in the center and four gunners on the wings. Hedo and Alston, especially, are adept at driving the lane, drawing defenders, and let's be serious for a moment, if you have Rashard Lewis and Courtney Lee and JJ Redick (okay, bad example) out there speckled around the three point line ready to fire away, it's more likely that you're going help off of someone who shoots 50% from the free throw line. The result? Layups, fouls, one-handed dunks, two-handed dunks, tomahawk dunks, reverse dunks, and a whole lot of those plays where Dwight just jumps up and throws the ball through the rim to save his calloused hands. Is this not effective? I'd have to wager that most players around the league are aware of the fact that Howard has a raw post game right now. If I was Mike Brown, I'd be looking over tapes of Howard's missed jump hooks and thinking about how I'd have to match up with either undersized (Delonte, Mo) or overmatched (Szczerbiak, Varejao) defenders out top, and the choice would seem pretty clear. I think Joe Smith could do a fantastic job defending Howard in the paint, though I'm sure there's some game tape out there that proves me wrong. But if Brown can't convince Ilgauskas to just stand motionless and not reach in, he'll probably get the call, and if all else fails they have at least 18-24 fouls to throw at him--to, as they all say, "Make him earn it from the line."
(Of course, half of the game, the announcers like to say, "Now why are you going to foul him and give him free points?" and the other half, they fall back to, "You can't give them baskets, you have to foul and make them earn it from the line." Pick one boys. It's not so tough.)
So that's my rant on Dwight Howard. There's plenty of stuff to like about him, I mean, the list is endless. And I think he's no question one of the first 5 players you'd pick if you had to start a franchise from scratch with today's player pool. I'd also love to have Josh Smith, except, if he started going to the media and saying, "Hey, I don't get enough three-pointers, why can't I get more three-pointers?" and everyone buys into it... well... you get the point.
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