Perfect article on what Howard brings Offensively

[Guest]

Dwight's legs are really disproportional to his upper body, but I guess most ballers are like that...see Shawn Kemp..

[macdaddy]

2 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

What's up with the shorty shorts??? 

 

 

 

 

I'm getting worried that all we're seeing is Dwight working on long range jumpers.   I'm not down for us trying to watch Dwight becoming a stretch 5.   Work on free throws and hook shots or something but not 3s.

Bringing back a classic look?   

[thecampster]

A simple career stats comparison of Howard and Horford should tell any fan what they need to know.

Howard - 17.8/12.7/2.1/1.5 on 58.2% shooting.

Horford - 14.3/8.9/1.2/2.7 on 53.5% shooting. 

Except in Assists, the offensive impact is obvious. It can be argued the difference in assists can be attributed to the personnel around Horford (Smith/Sap) getting predesigned plays (Josh getting the back door cut play) or plays where Horford as a part of the offense at the top of the key gets assists on pass-off shots behind screens. The Howard impact is fairly obvious if any coach uses him correctly.

[AHF]

4 hours ago, thecampster said:

A simple career stats comparison of Howard and Horford should tell any fan what they need to know.

Howard - 17.8/12.7/2.1/1.5 on 58.2% shooting.

Horford - 14.3/8.9/1.2/2.7 on 53.5% shooting. 

Except in Assists, the offensive impact is obvious. It can be argued the difference in assists can be attributed to the personnel around Horford (Smith/Sap) getting predesigned plays (Josh getting the back door cut play) or plays where Horford as a part of the offense at the top of the key gets assists on pass-off shots behind screens. The Howard impact is fairly obvious if any coach uses him correctly.

Even factoring in the FTs, Howard still scores more at a much more efficient rate:

Howard .599% TS%

Horford .570% TS%

The positive impact for Horf is ability to spread the floor and inability to get exploited on the hack-a-shaq defense.

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

Even factoring in the FTs, Howard still scores more at a much more efficient rate:

Howard .599% TS%

Horford .570% TS%

The positive impact for Horf is ability to spread the floor and inability to get exploited on the hack-a-shaq defense.

We've got new rules working against hack-a-shaq this year.  I didn't agree with them at first but for some reason i do now.    

[High5]

I have no desire to ever see Dwight shoot a three. Stop practicing that...

[Guest]

What Dwight Howard's Shooting Overhaul Means For Hawks

Quote

Dwight Howard has never been a good shooter from anywhere other than close to the rim. His career free-throw percentage is a poor 56.8, and he just accomplished a career low in 2015-16, knocking down 48.9 percent of his shots from the charity stripe. With the game clock ticking, he’s made a measly 27.1 percent of shots 10 feet or further from the hoop throughout his 12-season career. That total includes only five made three-pointers.

Those numbers obviously haven’t precluded the newly-minted Atlanta Hawk from a Hall of Fame resume. Thanks to his beastly strength and graceful athleticism, the 6’11” center has been a demon on the glass (12.9 career rebounds per game), protecting the rim (2.1 career blocks per game) and finishing at the tin (71.6 percent shooting within two feet of the hoop in his career). Said skills have guided D-12 to eight All-NBA Team placements and three Defensive Player of the Year honors.

But this summer, he’s shown real commitment to making himself a more versatile offensive threat.

Take this video from July, for example:

This is significantly different from his previous motion at the line, which looked like this:

The major differences I see are as follows:

-In his old motion, he would crouch down a little bit further, with his butt out and his knees further in front his body. He’s more upright in his new motion.

-In his old motion, he held the ball up near his face prior to shooting, getting his elbows ready at the same angle he would release the ball at. The new motion has him resting the ball lower, giving him a clearer look at the hoop. The angle he holds the ball at is a larger one than what he releases it at, which makes the motion less stiff and involves him bending his elbow right before the shot. Since his old motion had him maintaining the same angle the entire time, it was his wrist doing most of the work at the release point, rather than both his wrist and elbows.

 

-The bigger crouch in his old motion suggests that he uses his legs more for power than in his new motion, but that isn’t true. In his old motion, he simply straightened his legs upon release, which is a bit different than the new release. You can refer to the above video to check this out, but his knee bobs back and forth right before the release, which shows he’s getting a lot of the power from his legs. That’s a good thing.

D-12 has also worked on his mid-range jumper, and it looks surprisingly pretty for a guy who made exactly zero shots from 15 feet or further last season.

Obviously, the sample size on Howard shooting mid-range jumpers in actual games is extremely lacking. But the form here looks nice — the motion doesn’t have any wasted movement, his elbow angle and release point are optimal and he even does “the hop” to square himself up as the ball approaches.

If Howard can translate this stroke and to game action, along with the confidence to take the shot when he’s open, that’s obviously a good thing. However, he needs to be careful not to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. If the mid-range game starts to take up too many of his attempts, he’ll clog the perimeter for the Hawks’ shooters and detract from his own ability to finish at the rim.

The default is to consider a big man who shoots from the outside as someone who spaces the floor, but that isn’t the case when the other four players on the floor are already parked around the three-point line. That just creates congestion around the perimeter, which plagued Atlanta last season in a disappointing offensive campaign.

Among the 43 players in the league with 300 attempts inside of two feet last season, Dwight was third in the NBA in field-goal percentage (75.2). He was behind only Hassan Whiteside (77.3) and DeAndre Jordan (76.9) in that category. Howard is one of the premier alley-oop finishers in the league and a perfect guy to drive and dump to for a slam, with his quick leaping ability and powerful upper body.

One of the Hawks’ main problems on offense last season from watching them was an unwillingness by many of their posts to stay close to the rim. Tiago Splitter did it, but he injured himself early in the season and wasn’t athletic or strong enough to put much pressure on the hoop. Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Mike Scott, Kris Humphries and Mike Muscala had their strengths as post players, but none of them were relentless around the rim on offense.

Howard has a long way to fall to compare to those other 2015-16 Hawks in terms of percentage of field-goal attempts at the rim, but he needs to keep that distance pretty healthy. He’s a physical freak, more so than any other of the players on that graph, and he can’t forget that. If D-12 is open and in rhythm from mid-range a couple times per game, sure, he should take it. But he (and Budenholzer) shouldn’t make putting him in those situations a frequent part of Atlanta’s offense.

D-12, in an ironic way, will help the Hawks’ spacing more than the jumper-happy Horford did if he can stay closer to the rim on offense. The vertical threat of Howard slamming down an alley-oop after diving to the rim or making a short cut along the baseline to benefit from a drive-and-dish will help keep the Hawks more balanced and therefore, more dangerous.

And, of course, any sort of improvement from the free-throw line is welcome.

http://www.todaysfastbreak.com/nba-east/atlanta-hawks/dwight-howards-shooting-overhaul-means-hawks

[Guest]

@JayBirdHawk have you been checking ur credit score much? Lol

[Guest]

Luckily @kg01 didn't post that article or we'd be seeing Swedish made wenis enlarger ads......

[Guest]

On 9/4/2016 at 7:08 PM, Spud2Nique said:

Luckily @kg01 didn't post that article or we'd be seeing Swedish made wenis enlarger ads......

... says the dude with tiny handz .... boom. 

You walked into that one, sir.

[Guest]

On 8/22/2016 at 0:33 PM, JayBirdHawk said:

What's up with the shorty shorts??? 

Aye @Spud2Nique, you diggin' the shorty shorts ....

Mmkay, bruh.

On 8/22/2016 at 0:40 PM, Spud2Nique said:

Dwight's legs are really disproportional to his upper body, but I guess most ballers are like that...see Shawn Kemp..

Eddie Johnson had that criticism of Howard this past season.  Seems too top-heavy.  He speculated that was part of the reason his post game was so spotty (couldn't fight for/hold position long) and why Howard was so mechanical (too bulky up top).

I don't know.  His argument could have some merit or it could be as you said.  Most basketball players are built sorta that way.  I'll lean on your decades of studying the male figure I guess (ah, c'mon that was funny).

[Guest]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

Aye @Spud2Nique, you diggin' the shorty shorts ....

Mmkay, bruh.

Eddie Johnson had that criticism of Howard this past season.  Seems too top-heavy.  He speculated that was part of the reason his post game was so spotty (couldn't fight for/hold position long) and why Howard was so mechanical (too bulky up top).

I don't know.  His argument could have some merit or it could be as you said.  Most basketball players are built sorta that way.  I'll lean on your decades of studying the male figure I guess (ah, c'mon that was funny).

Lol...nice try kg. I'll give you a C- for that comeback. Anyways, I also think that Dwight is a bit too heavy. I mentioned this before as well. But a lot of guys are and were built like this and still excelled. Shawn Kemp was one of them.

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

Lol...nice try kg. I'll give you a C- for that comeback. Anyways, I also think that Dwight is a bit too heavy. I mentioned this before as well. But a lot of guys are and were built like this and still excelled. Shawn Kemp was one of them.

True, true.  Kemp was a demon before hookers 'n blow took over.  Then he devolved into a Spud2-esque doughboy.

Anyways, here's to hoping we don't see a plethora of Howard long-2's this season.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

Anyways, here's to hoping we don't see a plethora of Howard long-2's this season.

It's nice that Howard is working to improve his offense after so many years of hearing he's added nothing to his offensive game. But maaaan, imma be pissed if that midrange shot becomes his staple. Get in the paint, PUT PRESSURE ON THE RIM.

However. If he can develop that midrange and hit a good percentage it opens up the rest of his game, i just don't want him shooting it all willy nilly.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

It's nice that Howard is working to improve his offense after so many years of hearing he's added nothing to his offensive game. But maaaan, imma be pissed if that midrange shot becomes his staple. Get in the paint, PUT PRESSURE ON THE RIM.

However. If he can develop that midrange and hit a good percentage it opens up the rest of his game, i just don't want him shooting it all willy nilly.

Just keep 'em honest with it.  That's all.

[Diesel]

What caught my eye is this:

 

Quote

"In a lot of ways we've adjusted to who we've had the first three years," Budenholzer said, "and in some ways it will be going back to what I know, and maybe even better and maybe even more comfortable with: having someone who can put that kind of pressure on the rim."

The dieselputer translation of this statement is as follows:

Horford was SAWFTA...  so we  had to develop a finesse gameplan that got us aways from playing strong in the post on offense.   Now that we got Howard, we can do some of the stuff that we did in San Antonio... Like when we let Timmy D.. the Big Fundamental dominate the inside before we focused on shooters. 

 

[Guest]

What is really up with these shorty shorts....again.

[Guest]

 

 

The Hawks were really, really bad at scoring off turnovers and offensive rebounds.........

Hopefully this changes with Dwight (Orebs) and Dennis pushing the pace with Baze running after turnovers.  Our transition scoring was also atrocious.

[Guest]

We might win 60 games again. I know I'm a Hawks fan but I really think we can do it. But honestly, f*** the regular season, I want to dominate in the playoffs.

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, Spud2Nique said:

We might win 60 games again. I know I'm a Hawks fan but I really think we can do it. But honestly, f*** the regular season, I want to dominate in the playoffs.

Yes.  I'd rather peak late.     Plus i really hope this is the beginning of being a physical team.   If we go down in the playoffs i want to make someone feel it.   Not be the doormat that we've been in the past.   Dennis, Dwight, Hump are capable of that.    Hopefully Prince and Bembry can become that too.