D12 Thread: Brushin' his shoulders off (Won't need surgery)

^D12's biggest problem as a post player is that he has no butt. Guys like Bynum and Shaq postup by simply sticking out their big booty and bulldozing their defender. D12 should be using his shoulders like Kobe does in the post since that's where he has his strength advantage. But instead of doing that, he he sticks out his hands and picks up cheap fouls.

He used to seal well in Orlando by just turning his body and squating down.

But that takes tremendous leg and core strength and he doesn't have that right now. Give him a season to lift again (with or without shoulder surgery) and he can come back and start doing that again.

I just think Dwight needs to keep on his feet rather than settling for one position. You'll notice all Dwight does is just run to the middle of the floor and try to get the ball. Which would work for players like Shaq and Bynum, but he's just not that type of player. He's quicker and more agile, and would benefit from constantly moving around the paint, rather than settling for one position where position defenders can frustrate him.

The more he moves, the more fouls he can draw rather than having fouls called on him. He needs to keep his hand 1)for the ball 2) to seal. Right now all I see is his body is straight up with his hands in the air, throwing around his elbows and shoulders because players can just reach over and under him. That's not posting up.

I agree with both revgen and therealdeal. I think Dwight knows how to use his body in the post, but just doesn't seem comfortable right now because he'll need an offseason to work on his core strength again. That's normal.

As far as I'm concerned -- I expected few things from Dwight and he mostly delivered. I expected good D on a consistent basis. So far, he is providing that, while having some room for improvement, and that's good. Not that Drew wasn't an excellent defender. He was, but he played it in a "Kobe fashion" -- when he felt like it. Ie. not consistently. Dwight plays defense differently then Drew, which is obvious, but that's alright. If it's effective, don't change it too much.

Next, he rebounds really well, and grabbing 12 rpg is not easy on this Laker team. So far, so good. The effort is there.

But man, I expected him to hit at least 55% of his Free Throws. That's not happening, and his shoulder injury is definitely not going to help that. I wonder if he can address this in the off season somehow. Because a hair under 50% won't cut it. I'm sorry, but it's true.

As far as his personality goes, it doesn't bother me much. But then, almost nothing bothers me in general and when I'm watching basketball I'm not paying attention whether Dwight is a primadonna, Kobe is an arrogant jerk, Bynum parks in a handicapped spot and Pau is a wuss. Honestly, none of that bothers me. Actually the only thing that ever bothered me on the Lakers was Shaq's (disrespectful) lack of work ethic.... but then Shaq was a dominant winner, and that's why I liked having him on my team.

But not playing as a team and putting an inadequate product on the floor because the guys are not on the same page (and are tiptoeing around each other) -- that does bother me. It seems they are working on that, they are developing chemistry, talking about issues openly and that's great to see. I want more W's. That's all.

If Dwight truly wants to be a real leader, he will have to work on that. I think he can do it, but it's not easy. God knows Kobe wasn't exactly easy to work with when he was younger. But he is much better now. Some people, like Fish for example, are born leaders.

I have seen people say Howard is a Ben Wallace clone with better offense, but to me he can be a Bill Russell clone if he had that mind-set, but I don't think he has the intelligence/will to be a Bill Russell.

Here is the log from tonight.

New Orleans (Jan. 29, 2013)

Mr. Activity on the defense end.

Scored a lot of points. Good. But, this is what I liked even more: defense. Defense. More defense. Steals. Defense. Blocked shots.

That defense was awesome, deflections, steals, absolute rejections. On offense he got spoon-fed and he was having a dunk fest, fun to watch.

Yeah I know he likes posting up, but he hasn't been effective there. I'm glad he's accepted getting the ball in other areas instead of needing it in the post.

Defensively... damn. These are the kinds of games we thought we'd see more of. His energy was high and his effort was there. Hopefully he can keep this up.

DPOTY performance today but he needs to keep it going

Holy Crap When Dwight is reasonably healthy and into it, he defends out on the perimeter too like a small forward with that quickness of his.

KareemTheGreat33 wrote:DPOTY performance today but he needs to keep it going

I think he has a higher level of confidence that there will be at least an attempt at a rotation behind him now..... thus he's out there stopping the ball.

N.O. had a few chances at the rim last night off of missed rotations but it seems to be getting better.

He tied his career high in steals at 5 and added 4 blocks as well.

He should pressure more bigs when they have the ball. That back tap he had against Lopez (a move borrowed from Artest's playbook) is going to be there a lot. There's not a whole lot of big man ball handlers out there and he's quick enough to bother them, even with a slow back.

Dwight is a solid defender when not engaged on the offensive end, but when you get him the ball he turns into that DPOY.

Here is the log from tonight.

Phoenix (Jan. 30, 2013)

please let his shoulder be ok.

6:25 def-rebound
5:25 def-rebound
4:20 def-rebound
3:55 def-rebound
3:25 def-rebound

Dominated the boards for a stretch. Hope he can continue playing through the shoulder injuries, we can't make the playoffs without him.

Suns went on a 19-8 run after Dwight got hurt UGH

Whole new level of Hack A-Dwight!!!

This injury could be decisive.

We need this guy, he needs to be OK

We need this guy, now I get why so many want to keep him going forward, our defense goes to hell when he goes out. He was deterring shots at the rim and grabbing boards down the stretch before he went out, we need him this season or we are done no question.

The thing is...this type of injury was inevitable. It was only a matter of time before someone swung down on a shot attempt of his and reaggravated the shoulder. There's no avoiding that in basketball, especially as a big man that can't shoot FTs.

If he's out for a lengthy period of time the team is finished. They won't win a single game on this road trip without him.

Kit wrote:Whole new level of Hack A-Dwight!!!

Absolutely