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But that's what is causing the confusion. It looks like David Robinson's body. "People might say it's crazy,'' Hill counters, "but I think about Shaq.'' Shaq is at least two inches and five stone (that's 70 pounds, for non-Anglophiles) bigger than Dwight Howard. "But when Shaq was 20 at LSU, he was pretty explosive,'' Hill says. "I remember playing against him twice, I remember him having a field day against Arizona down at LSU one game and just dunking everything. Of course we see him now and we forget where he was in the early '90s. Dwight reminds me a lot of a young Shaq.'' That works for me. Until somebody comes up with a better argument, mark Dwight Howard as the next generation of Shaquille O'Neal. And don't take it as a red flag that he isn't quite as tall or imposing physically; it just means that Dwight Howard is suited to exploit the more fluid style of the coming era. Most of the talented young giants come into the NBA aiming to follow Kevin Garnett out near the three-point line, and more power to them. Jermaine O'Neal, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire -- if he ever regains his legs -- have developed perimeter games that make them dangerous from every spot on the floor. Even Yao Ming can step out and hit a face-up jumper, making it look as easy as a grown-up shooting on the Nerf hoop in his little son's bedroom. In the unique case of Dwight Howard, however, it's a blessing that he doesn't have three-point range. He is now in his third NBA season of concentrating exclusively on the low-post way of life that Shaq has long predicted would retire with him. "I think part of Dwight wanted to be the finesse, KG-type of player at first,'' Hill says. "A lot of young big guys are multitalented in the sense that they go out on the perimeter and shoot jumpers. But this guy goes in the paint, he bangs in the paint, he loves to rebound, loves to get physical. He's a throwback in the sense that I don't see anybody 25 to 26 years old or younger who's as powerful, as explosive.'' No one is complaining about the lack of a perimeter game. Three weeks before his 21st birthday, Dwight Howard was leading the NBA in rebounding (12.9 per game) while ranking sixth in field-goal accuracy (60.3 percent) and tied for fourth in blocks (2.3), with the last stat representing an ominous improvement in his game from last year. "One thing that coach [Brian] Hill talked to me a lot about is that if I'm out shooting jump shots, who's going to rebound? Who's going to be down low?'' Dwight Howard says. "We have the guys to shoot jump shots. He says, 'If you're down in the paint dominating, that's what we need, that's what's going to help us win.' '' The one minimal flaw thus far has been turnovers. Howard ranked fifth in the NBA with 4.3 per game when Brian Hill made a bright adjustment at practice on Sunday. He reduced the number of teammates cutting to the basket, which opened up space for Howard to operate out of the low post. "It's like disguising defenses against a young quarterback,'' Grant Hill says. "But it's not just a matter of Dwight getting used to double teams. It's also us getting used to how they're doubling him.'' On the Magic's first possession Monday in Boston, Paul Pierce drifted over and stripped Howard out of the left block. But that turned out to be a variance rather than a continuing theme. For the rest of the night Howard came corkscrewing up out of the painted area like Shamu doing backflips out of a swimming pool. He had 17 points (on just eight attempts), 15 rebounds and three blocks in the Magic's 92-89 win. All of this was done amid the bellowing of Celtics assistant Clifford Ray, who previously worked with Howard during his rookie year in Orlando. "I heard him the whole time -- 'Don't let him do it! Box him out!''' Howard said. Howard turned it over just twice more throughout his concluding 38 minutes. Instead of waiting to feed the cutters and inviting defenders to surround him, he was able to simply and relentlessly attack -- while still managing four assists. "It helped me,'' he says of the adjustment, "because it keeps all the guys who are able to help on the outside. It gave me a chance to get into my move a lot faster, rather than having two guys cut at the same time and clogging up the lane.'' "It's just a matter of getting used to it and reading the defenses and rotations,'' adds Brian Hill, who (as Howard's luck has it) was also coaching the Magic for O'Neal's first four seasons in the league. "Shaquille went through the same thing -- he led the league in turnovers his rookie year.'' It is with grave sympathy that we inform Cleveland, Chicago and other future rivals that Howard has been developing a 15-foot jumper with the goal of further opening up the floor without taking him too far away from the basket. Imagine the Magic a year or two down the road with Howard at center, 7-foot Darko Milicic as a bookend shot-blocking power forward in the role of the modern perimeter-based big man, Jameer Nelson as the game-winning point guard (he scored twice in the final minute to finish off the Celtics) and a bunch of surrounding shooters and scorers ... including the max free agent that the Magic will be signing next summer who might go by the name of Vince Carter. Howard represents the best of both the new up-tempo world and the old-school world of low-post play. The less his rivals focus on playing in the paint, the more they'll cede that territory to him. "He's the only one,'' says Grant Hill, referring once more to Howard's rival young big men. "He's back-to-the-basket, shoot the ball in the paint, dropstep-dunk on you. Maybe he'll develop that faceup mid-range elbow jump shot, but his bread and butter is backing you down and using his power. He's the definition of a man-child.'' |
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