Dwight Howard averaged 21 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks last year

[caliwestcoast1]

dwight is a beast though...it can happen 22/15/3...i can onLy pray bynum can be mentioned in the same breath as him some day

 

[ezflash26]

I wanna see D12 spend a whole summer to improve his overall craft...he hasnt had a chance to do that in a couple years. I think whenever he gets a chance to dothat, thats when we'll really see him start to hit his potential...he's still gonna be a top 3-5 MVP candidate this year tho and the most dominantforce in the L right now...

Look at where Al Jefferson is offensively...they put up similar stats, but its obvious Al is much more skilled on the block...

I expect Al to have a MONSTER year btw....

 

[supraturbo619]

Wasn't most of NT

on Howard during the Olympics?

 

[you go boy]

he will be unstoppable if he can shoot at least 70% freethrows and adds a jumper to his game or even a hook shot instead of just dunks...

 

[dunknforce]

Originally Posted by you go boy

he will be unstoppable if he can shoot at least 70% freethrows and adds a jumper to his game or even a hook shot instead of just dunks...

 

[longrange3ball]

Originally Posted by SupraTurbo619

Wasn't most of NT

on Howard during the Olympics?

Agreed. D12 didn't exactly show domination in the olympics... and if hes one of the best centers he would have had a much better showing inBeijing.

 

[dottsballer5]

Hes just really gotta turn down on the turnovers tho........whats his stats for that, if I can recall it was one of the highest in the league

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by JapanAir21

InMyMind, I think you can say the same thing with Bynum that people are saying with Oden. He's very good defensively, and he can grab boards/score around the basket, but he hasn't been consistent enough and stayed healthy to give him that acclaim either. I don't doubt the kid, but he only put up GOOD (not great, GOOD) numbers for half of a season last year before getting injured. He definitely has the potential to be something great, but I can't put him in the same category as Dwight right now. There are only two great centers right now, that's Dwight and Yao. Yao is always injury prone, and Dwight hasn't finished developing.

Horford has a chance to join that list. He's VERY consistent and durable, two things you NEED out of your Center.

Yes but Bynum has at least touched an NBA floor. Oden ain't even got that yet.

If Oden stays healthy, he'll be fine (once he leaves his current squad) but as of right this second, he's done zip to be considered "second comingof Ewing"

'round here, they are already counting their championships and plotting their parade routes. No, I am not joking, not even a little. They are also sayingOden will go down as one of the top players to ever play the position. Ever. The center position. Where Wilt lives, Kareem, Shaq, Russell, Hakeem, D Rob,Pat, all of em. They already have Oden amongst them.

And yet people wonder why i don't like Portland.

 

[rocthemikee]

oden riding needs to stop. he hasnt played a single minute, and we dont even know how his injury is going to affect his career. I am hoping he becomes the besthe can be, but we cant put them in top 3 centers in the NBA already.

 

[sick ik 23]

The scary thing is, he can still improve.

 

[crossisom]

Has this dude ever taken a jumpshot?

 

[osh kosh bosh]

Europe =/= NBA


Not the same.

 

[carlos tevez]

Originally Posted by THE GR8

Dwight Howard= the next Shaq

No.

Howard is a beast, but he isn't a dominant player...yet. Also, he cant defend mobile forwards (See: Chris Bosh's stats against Howard).

 

[iceman3699]

he can get his FT% up!!!

 

[lnmymind]

Welcome To My World!

Oct 21, 2008
Posted by: Dwight Howard

[table][tr][td]

I love the Chinese people; they're the greatest people on the earth.
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images
[/td] [/tr][/table]
INTRODUCTION

What's up y'all? This is your boy D. Howard. I'm starting a new blog this year and hopefully y'all enjoy it. I'm going to be straight 100 with everybody. I'm the people's voice! We're going to have fun this year, so nobody get offended by some of the jokes, some of the things I say about people. It's all fun and it's all love. You're going to see another side of Dwight Howard this year.

I just want you all to see Dwight Howard, see my personality. I'm not just going to be blogging this year; there's a lot of stuff that we're going to be putting out there. I'm going to try to get some virals out there on YouTube, try to get some things out there so people can see my personality, see who I am, not just the person on the court, but the character off the court, too. I just like to be silly, love to have fun and always try to put a smile on people's faces. I'm going to get out there on the court and try to dunk on somebody -- anybody.

HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER

My summer was great, hanging out with Kobe Bryant, LeBron - Lebanon! - James, D-Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Melo - Hello! - all those boys.

The first time I went over to Beijing they were building everything, all the event centers, so now to come back and see everything again, was like wow! … But I love the Chinese people, they're the greatest people on the earth. We had a lot of fun over there. They treated us like the Beatles, it was crazy. We couldn't walk down the street, couldn't go in McDonald's, unless it was in the village. We couldn't do stuff because there were so many people there.

I remember sitting on the bus one day with Chris Bosh after watching Michael Phelps swim and the bus was crowded with like 300-400 people just around the bus, hitting the bus, taking pictures of us. It was ridiculous and it was like that everywhere we went. There were times when we had to literally run to get away from it all. We had fun, though. It was cool, just running pranks, playing with everyone - I'm a big kid, so we were always doing crazy stuff. We had a lot of fun.

It was crazy, Chris Bosh and I were eating a burger in Macau and there were like a million people taking pictures of us eating and we're thinking "Is this really fascinating watching two people eat a cheeseburger?" We were just sitting there and people were just all around us taking pictures. A million people.

That's one of the things that I'll remember, but more than that it was just hanging with the guys. Me and Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer, we were always together. The Bigs. We hung out with the little guys too, but The Bigs always stick together.

They actually do have a lot of tall people in China, believe it or not. Everyone believes they're all 5'4", but look at Yao Ming, he's 7'12", if that's a real height. That's pretty tall.

One of the craziest things I found out from a man in China -- and this could be totally wrong, I'm not sure -- was how the Chinese pick their "American" names. There's like a raffle. They get a whole bunch of American names, shake 'em up, put their hand in there, and pick a name. So I went to the Village one night, got some McDonald's and ran into some of the volunteers who didn't have American names, so I decided to give them some American names that night. I think one man I named was Tony, there was a lady I named Stacy. I can't even remember some of the others, but they stuck with it! That's it. That's their American name for the rest of their lives. I named four people.

So imagine going over to China and you're staying over there for the rest of your life. You don't have a Chinese name. You reach into a box and pull out a name and that's your name for the rest of your life. That's crazy. I would rather pick a name than let Yao Ming give me my name, though…

PLAYING IN THE OLYMPICS

Playing in that first game against China was ridiculous. They said there were like a billion people watching. That was ridiculous. It really felt like a billion people, too. After that game, I was like "I can do anything now. If I can play in front of a billion people, I can do anything." It was just crazy. We had a lot of fun just playing basketball and representing our country.

[table][tr][td]

Forgetting the words to the national anthem.
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images[/td] [/tr][/table]Just to have the gold medal around my neck was unbelievable. Winning it with the guys that I trusted for three years, we stuck together, we stuck through everything and we got ourselves a gold medal. That last game, playing Spain, was such a great experience because the first time we played Spain we blew them out so we didn't know what to expect [in the final]. But in the end it paid off and felt so good to represent our country. We really worked for it and everyone on the team put in a lot of hours in the gym, both as a team and individually just to get ready to represent.

So when the national anthem came on, I forgot the words! I tried to sing it, but I forgot one of the words so I started to hum it. "Oh say can you see?… mmm mmm mmmm mmmm" I kept humming it and I looked around and no one was singing it out loud, they were all just singing it really low. But that was tight, hearing that national anthem and seeing everyone in the stands, all the fans, my parents, my homeboys. It was just amazing.

THE OFFSEASON

A lot of people don't know this, but I got injured last season in the playoffs, so I took some time off this summer, which was good and gave me a chance to rest a bit. Other than that, I've just been in the gym, really trying to work on my jumpshot, trying to be more consistent in that area. A lot of people don't think I have any moves in the post, which is crazy. They just think I dunk all the time. I guess a left-hand hook and a right-hand hook is not "moves in the post." I guess every time I catch it I have to make a million-dollar move to make it look good.

ON PATRICK EWING

So that's what I've been doing every day, working on my jump shot, shooting free throws, watching film with Pat Ewing. Pat's my dude. That's my homey. I love being around him. We call him "stut-stut-stuttering Pat." That's my dude. He's just a great person to be around. He's always pushing me to get better. Every day. I told him my goals for the year, told him what I want to be when I finish playing. So he's going to help me try to get there. As I go, the team will go. As I become a better player, the team will get better. He's told me a lot of different things, you know, just told me to go out there every night and every day in practice to work hard to get better.

GOALS

Our first goal this season is to win the championship. That's our first goal. As for myself, you know, in order for our team to be successful I have to block shots, defend really well and become more of a presence on defense. And also I've got to make my free throws.

Every year I write down goals and put them right over my bed. My three goals are to 1. Lead the league in rebounds. 2. Lead the league in blocks and 3. Make at least 70 percent of my free throws this year. Last year, shoot, I wasn't even in the 60s, I think I was like 59 percent, somewhere I shouldn't be. What people don't realize is that some of the great players didn't always start off great, but as they got older they became better. Like Shaq, he wasn't a very good passer when he first came into the league. He led the league in turnovers. Same thing with Steve Nash, but you would never know because they pass the ball so well now. It takes time.

MARCIN GORTAT

Everybody got better this year. But the person who improved the most was Marcin Gortat. He's been working extremely hard this year to get better and I think he got better this year. He's always in the weight room every day, but he's still the same size, so our trainer's gotta do something. He's been in the weight room every day for five years and he hasn't gained one pound. He still looks the same. He's still skinny. He's been here five years, but we still call him rookie. We're glad he's here now and he's going to be a big part of our team's success. I like him.

ANTHONY JOHNSON

We got some new additions this year. We got Old Head Anthony Johnson. He's got to be one of the oldest dudes in the league, but he's cool. He's got no neck, though, we call him "No Neck Johnson."

GETTING GOING

I just can't wait to get started. I can't wait. I'm going to have some stuff for you all. I'm going to talk about the refs, going to talk about the coaches. [table][tr][td]

See the resemblance?[/td] [/tr][/table]Nothing bad that will get me in trouble, but, you know, I may say a certain ref looks like a certain person or something like that. Here's one for you: Tony Brothers, that's one of my favorite refs, he looks just like Roy Jones Sr. Not Jr., but Roy Jones Sr. We call him Roy Jones Sr. because he could be Roy Jones' dad. Check it out!

We're going to have fun this year. Everybody stay tuned to the blog and my Web site that will be coming out. Also Dwight TV, it's going to be pretty cool, just me being me. Stay tuned and I hope everyone's seen my McDonald's commercial that's out. I thought I did pretty good. I don't mind embarrassing myself, that's the thing. If you don't mind embarrassing yourself you can do anything. Just have fun with it. You guys will see everything from Dwight Howard … on the court and off the court. Yessir!

 

[mo matik]

He could improve his PPG just by working on his freethrow stroke.

He averages 11 FTAs a game.

He hits only 6 of them.

 

[avitale8]

MARCIN GORTAT

Everybody got better this year. But the person who improved the most was Marcin Gortat. He's been working extremely hard this year to get better and I think he got better this year. He's always in the weight room every day, but he's still the same size, so our trainer's gotta do something. He's been in the weight room every day for five years and he hasn't gained one pound. He still looks the same. He's still skinny. He's been here five years, but we still call him rookie. We're glad he's here now and he's going to be a big part of our team's success. I like him.

The Warlock

ANTHONY JOHNSON

We got some new additions this year. We got Old Head Anthony Johnson. He's got to be one of the oldest dudes in the league, but he's cool. He's got no neck, though, we call him "No Neck Johnson."

No Neck Johnson...it sounds like Dwight dont even know the guy,he just talkin @#$+

But foreal, that no post-game argument is dumb as hell...so if Dwight scores 20 a game, then he does that all by dunking, huh? and his fg %age is so high. Soisnt the point of the game is to get the ball in the hole, no matter what type of moves you do. Dwight alway does hooks and has decent post moves, but peopleact as if, the fact that he dunks alot discredits his post game. IMO, ending a post-up on a dunk is better than throwin a hook, or turnaround jumper,percentage wise they're gonna go in alot more.
Also Dwight has improved his game, in the preseason game against Charlotte, down the stretch he was knockin down jumpers and turnarounds, crazy...I just hopehe can improve his ft shooting and his focus.

 

[chigaa]

That's why I drafted him first round in fantasy bball