Dwight Howard's ceiling?

[what would jack bauer do?]

I'm just curious as to what you all think of D12 and his max potential. To me there are a lot of unknowns about how his career will pan out. Does he have what it takes to bring his game to the next level? What do you guys think? This conversation from my end is about his skill, throwing out the questions of his back fully recovering because I believe his back and body will be will be "healthy". I mean hell, kobe's had 2 knee surgeries. Some s*** you're just gonna have to play through.

To me the current Dwight Howard is at his best facing up 8-10 ft to the basket attacking his man with his 1 to 2 dribble drive forcing other center's to move their feet laterally. He gets a lot of dunks out of this and he's proficient with the running hook when his attack angle is forced a little away from the bucket. Problem is this Dwight isn't inclined to getting any assists attacking off his face up game and he's incredibly turnover prone. Even when he is drawing fouls from opposing centers he's atrocious from the free throw line.

Does having "that" Dwight Howard mean we can win a championship? I think the answer is no, not with this roster and our asset limitations. If we were a much younger deeper team, the answer is yes. But we're stuck with Nash and Kobe as a $40mil defensive liability against a very point guard driven NBA.

Dwight is not an indomitable force like shaq was. For him to drop 30 and 12 like shaq did on an almost nightly basis he needs to have a far superior set of offensive skill like Kareem or Olajuwon. I don't think he's got the natural feel to execute complicated moves like Olajuwon, but I do think Kareem could guide Dwight into becoming a better center. If Dwight could just slow the f*** down on offense, seal his man without fouling, take a couple crab dribbles while reading the defense, then either kick the ball out or give a little shoulder fake and elevate into a balanced hook shot he'd be unstoppable. To me Dwight just tries to power through everyone and ends up getting tons of turnovers/offensive fouls. I know it's sad that I'm basically asking him to be more like Bynum, but if Dwight could just develop in this way he'd be one of the greatest of all time with his offense and defense. "Jump hook them to death". (And yeah I guess this brings up another question of - is d'antoni a one trick pony or can he get the best out of a team currently constructed for a half court game...)

But yeah on athleticism/effort alone Dwight is the best center in the NBA, but this is a weak NBA as far as big men go. So what do you guys think about what his ceiling really is? I know he's had the guidance of Ewing and a little help from Olajuwon, but is this guy still capable of learning more?

[Dr Aki]

3 time DPOY. In the era of great centers, he'd be fantastic garbage man/energy guy

sent from a floating pie in the sky

[kblo247]

I'd say he would be über Zo

[craig01]

But yeah on athleticism/effort alone Dwight is the best center in the NBA, but this is a weak NBA as far as big men go. So what do you guys think about what his ceiling really is? I know he's had the guidance of Ewing and a little help from Olajuwon, but is this guy still capable of learning more?

People are always capable of learning more.

To what level they can learn depends on their effort and their capacity.

Howard (in Orlando), had usually displayed effort, usually "talked" about working on his game (and often times did), received different teaching approaches to improve facets of his game.

But some of the important things did not resonate to the floor with any consistency.

I said 4-5 years ago that Howard's biggest problem was not FT's, TO's, etc., but was his "capacity" as a player.

Howard is not an intelligent player, has been unable to apply learnings, and has shown minimal effective changes to his offensive approach.

No one knows for sure, but my guess is that Howard might still have some offensive upside coming from experience, but really, has likely peaked as a defensive player, and maybe offensively as well.

[Danny Darko]

[Patman]

Dwight just needs to keep it simple.

- backdoor cuts/spins for lobs
- offensive rebounds + putbacks
- pick and rolls
- hard back-downs + baby hooks

You're not Hakeem, you're not Shaq. By all means, keep working on your weaknesses, but when it comes to game time, stick mostly to your bread-and-butter. Dwight just needs to accept this.

[Patman]

But yeah on athleticism/effort alone Dwight is the best center in the NBA, but this is a weak NBA as far as big men go. So what do you guys think about what his ceiling really is? I know he's had the guidance of Ewing and a little help from Olajuwon, but is this guy still capable of learning more?

People are always capable of learning more.

To what level they can learn depends on their effort and their capacity.

Howard (in Orlando), had usually displayed effort, usually "talked" about working on his game (and often times did), received different teaching approaches to improve facets of his game.

But some of the important things did not resonate to the floor with any consistency.

I said 4-5 years ago that Howard's biggest problem was not FT's, TO's, etc., but was his "capacity" as a player.

Howard is not an intelligent player, has been unable to apply learnings, and has shown minimal effective changes to his offensive approach.

No one knows for sure, but my guess is that Howard might still have some offensive upside coming from experience, but really, has likely peaked as a defensive player, and maybe offensively as well.

I agree with this. He will never be a cerebral defender like Russell. Dwight''s physically dominant. Just like his offense, his D needs to be dumbed down. Imaginw what someone like Thibs could do with Dwight. Thibs has made guys like Boozer look like competent defenders.

[ballaholick]

its funny how no one mentioning his ft's shooting, which is the main issue.

[CraZyPraiZ]

Dwight just needs to keep it simple.

- backdoor cuts/spins for lobs
- offensive rebounds + putbacks
- pick and rolls
- hard back-downs + baby hooks

You're not Hakeem, you're not Shaq. By all means, keep working on your weaknesses, but when it comes to game time, stick mostly to your bread-and-butter. Dwight just needs to accept this.

This here. Unfortunately D12 started changing after his stint on the Olympic team. Someone told him he needed to be a offensive type of player or maybe he just saw all those dominant stars and wanted to be like them.He will not accept that he should just do the things above. He will never dominate offensively if it requires the ball going in to him and then him having to create. He has awfully small hands for a guy his size thus why it is so easy to strip him. Bringing the ball down instead of keeping it high does not help him. These are things he should already know but at 28 he still hasn't shown much progress from his early days.

[madmaxmedia]

His ceiling is what he's shown in Orlando the last few years, which should be significantly better than what he showed this year.

It's not going to get that much better, he doesn't have the soft touch to be an Abdul Jabbar. But what he was in Orlando, was pretty damn great already (overall, not offense.)

[Patman]

its funny how no one mentioning his ft's shooting, which is the main issue.

I'ts one of the hardest things to improve in terms of the ratio between hours practicing and results. I'm sure he's already spending some time shooting free throws. I think most of his problems on the line is mental anyway. His FT% dropped almost 100 points (!!!) over the last two seasons, which is coincidentally were his most drama-full seasons of his career. He shot almost 70% in his rookie season, when he didn't have much pressure to win, or be the man, or questions about where he will play. Yeah, he was the first pick, but people just saw him as a green kid coming straight from high school. He wasn't under a microscope. It goes with the notion that while Dwight is a beast physically, he's a mental midget.

[arsenal6106]

Magic fan here. I posed a similar question a few years back with this thread.
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1112955

Honestly, he really hasn't improved since 2010. At this point, what you guys saw out of him towards the 2nd half of the season is what you are going to get out of Dwight.

[The Laker Kid]

Let's talk about this when (if) he resigns.

[EArl]

Let's talk about this when (if) he resigns.