Dwight Discussion: Griffin for Dwight?... Naaaa (1011)

Once he gets his speed back, he can go around most of those big guys. And he is still stronger then most.

Bynum definitely has the best touch around the rim I have seen in a long time. But his offensive game still gets overrated because of the way he plays. I would rather have my bigman dunk the crap out of the ball rather than turn around and make a twisted layup.

Bynum does have more weapons in his arsenal...but if I could choose, I would take a straight dunk over any other shot in basketball. Dwight can also take his man off the dribble where as Bynum always looked like he might break his own ankles trying to dribble.

The man is so strong and his shoulders are so wide, when he turns it's difficult for anyone of any height to put their body in front of him.

What I'm loving is watching him see what the defense sends and then adjusting to it. When he's got a smaller guy (last night it was Maxiell) he takes him to the block. When he's got a bigger guy (their athletic rookie, I don't remember his name), he uses his speed and quickness to get around him. That sounds simple, but watch some of the other bigs around the league. They don't exhibit that kind of read and attack offense. He's just a mismatch all across the league.

And he's not even 100% yet. He knows it and the league knows it. Soon he'll get his legs back and start throwing things down around the rim more often. But while it's not there it's great to know he's got a nice feel for the basket.

^^ Nice post realdeal. Yeah, there's a reason D12 is considered the best center in the league and it's most dominant big and we're seeing it. Even though he definitely doesn't have his legs back yet, he's been pretty relentless and shown more than I expected on the offensive end. I don't even mind him lacking a little athleticism right now because I'm seeing him use more of his smarts and working on other skills rather than relying on that. That lefty hook is money. And like you said, he's really canny anywhere near the hoop and he has better footwork than I remembered him having. Or maybe he's just using it more with his freakish athleticism not quite there.

He's a handful for sure, and I love his play out there on the court. He works hard and he's aggressive. I guess that part I already counted on, but it's nice to see he didn't lose that edge after the surgery. He's still a beast. I think his defense will improve when he gets his legs back.

Thanks, LJ.

Yeah, his footwork has been a pleasant surprise. He's not Bynum on the block, but he's got the basic moves down. His drop step to his left hand is really almost flawless. It looks like he's been working with Gasol on that one because I used to think Pau's left handed hook was perfect.

Another thing I hadn't realized is that he's ambidextrous around the basket. I hadn't even thought about that. Coupled with his freakish strength, he's seriously an insane matchup around the rim. The amount of attention he gets while still putting up huge numbers is shocking. Not to mention that the amount of attention he gets is almost directly correlated to the amount that Kobe gets. That's why they're both shooting such insanely high FG%s right now.

Dwight is amazing man, still hard to believe I am seeing Dwight freakin Howard out there as our center, puts up points so easily and this is only his 4th regular season game coming from major surgery, you can see his timing is off and he STILL is beasting out there.

the worry about howard was always, what will he be when his athleticism goes. well we've gotten our answer. a guy who still puts up 25ppg at 69%

by midseason he'll be slamming the ball like it's nothing again (hopefully but he says he will so i believe him), putting the ball back off rebounds. guy is gonna average 30ppg once he's 100%.

also if bynum doesn't averag 20 and 10 i will be incredibly disappointed in him. to me anything less considering he's the #1 option is a disappointment

I don't really care about offense with Bynum and Howard. Anyone can see Bynum is more refined offensively with his back to the basket but he doesn't play with the same passion as Howard and Howard is alot more active on the offensive glass and is a super athlete...and definsively it's not even close...I expect once Howard is in shape we will be scary defensively.

revgen wrote:Dwight's good offensive games so far have come against undersized bigs (Monroe, Hickson) or guys who don't play D (Curry). Granted he was in foul trouble against the Clips, but the size of Deandre and Hollins (both are 7 feet) did give him more pause than usual.

Revgen you do got a point...but I think other factors contributed to him playing a little more tentative around the Clips big men. You obviously have the foul factor as you mentioned, so he really couldn't be aggressive both defensively and offensively cause the refs were blowing the whistle on him all night.

Also, I'm thinking he got stupid fouls from time to time since he wasn't moving his feet as well, so you'll get the defense to read your lazy movement and draw offensive fouls and then on defense Howard was reaching alot instead of moving his feet. I really attribute this to fatigue. There's the matter of getting on the basketball court after a 6 month hiatus, so his conditioning is not what it should be. But if you look at the schedule, the Clips game was the 3rd game in 4 nights and Mike used the time in between, not for rest, but instead had extensive practice sessions. Metta was saying that the day off they got on Saturday before the Pistons game was the 1st one they got after 8 straight days of either practice or games.

So all those factors came into play and I'm almost positive that the foul problems will mostly be resolved when he gets his legs back and if Mike doesn't drive his starters into the ground. The fact that he's putting up these type of numbers and he's not even close to 100% is really exciting. But LA has to force the issue and get him and Pau to get going right out of the gates. If they follow that blueprint and Dwight doesn't suffer any setbacks, we should be rolling over teams by late December.

Conditioning and rust are definitely factors. It will be interesting how he does against bigger players as the season wears on. Bigs like Gasol, Bynum, Chandler, Hibbert, etc are the bigs he's going to meet up with in the postseason. It's okay if he struggles against them now, as long as he's ready to face them in April. The next "real" big he'll be facing will be Marc Gasol on the 23rd. It will be interesting to see how he does against him.

Just to clarify: he's ambidextrous because he's left-handed, but had a left wrist injury which forced him to learn how to shoot with his right. He still prefers the lefty hook shot.

I also think he's working with Pau on some of his moves. And that's something he should do more because, when it comes to offensive fundamentals, Pau is a much superior player.

One thing I don't understand is how does he manage to get all that muscle mass back so quickly. He looked much smaller this summer. He's an athletic freak... obviously. Look at that chest+shoulders. Unreal.

^In an interview he told the reporter that at one point his back injury prevented him from doing a full calf lift. Basically his legs were MIA. I don't think it affected his arms. That's why he's trying to get his legs back moreso than his upper body.

revgen wrote:^In an interview he told the reporter that at one point his back injury prevented him from doing a full calf lift. Basically his legs were MIA. I don't think it affected his arms. That's why he's trying to get his legs back moreso than his upper body.

Still, with a back injury that severe you're not suppose to lift anything more than 5-10 lbs. How he was able to not lose any weight (which he mentioned) without working out in 4 months is beyond my knowledge.

He did not get fat either, which is sometimes difficult for basketball players. Genetics, I guess. In combination with the right diet.

he's done fine against those bigs in the past, just needs to get 100%. once that happens i have no worries about who dwight can handle

karacha wrote:He did not get fat either, which is sometimes difficult for basketball players. Genetics, I guess. In combination with the right diet.

Just by looking at his pictures when he first entered the league you can tell it's really difficult for him to gain weight. He likely has to consume large amounts of calories and lift a lot just to gain 5-10 lbs. Like you said it's likely his genetics that will really help him through this process of getting back into form.

karacha wrote:He did not get fat either, which is sometimes difficult for basketball players. Genetics, I guess. In combination with the right diet.

Yup the dude is just an athletic freak of nature, like Malone was

Wait until dude is 100%. Honestly, we haven't seen anything yet. The guy is a monster (I've watched him closely for years and have probably been his biggest proponent on this forum) but he's not close to his dominant self yet. That's scary. Once he gets those legs back, watch out...there will be no doubt who the best player on the Lakers is.

Anybody notice the ease at which he scores? He sets up good post position ((putting in work before the ball gets to him), one dribble and hes up. And hes like 70% right now lol incredible

^

He's too quick and nimble for the big, strong guys - and too strong for the smaller ones. It's the reason why Bron is so good.

One of the things I was really frustrated in the first three games was I felt Howard wasn't getting enough touches. He did last night and you saw the result of that, a blow out victory. Obviously Dwight was very efficient making 12 of 14 shots, but the biggest thing is he commands so much attention. Teams don't wanna play him straight up obviously because he'll score at will because of his superior talent/athleticism, but if you double that will leave the other guys open. They just have to be able to knock those shots down consistently.

Well, when Kobe and Metta shoot well, it's hard to stop the Lakers. Same thing goes for Nash when he comes back, if he finally decides to shoot the ball more. You can't defend everyone if you double team Dwight. If they leave Kobe alone, he will just score at will.

I have not seen keepbynum in a while.

laker911 wrote:I have not seen keepbynum in a while.

that's because he's Texas Lakers Fan.