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Howard is the Orlando Magic center who is bidding to become the youngest player in NBA history to win a rebounding title, hoping to parlay his almost freakish combination of size/athletic ability, his steaming desire and his innate sense for the skill into a career that may reset the modern standards for retrieving missed shots. "My whole take is just knowing mentally that I can get any rebound I want if I put my mind to it," Howard said. "To rebound, you have to really want to rebound. It's not that complicated." Although Howard makes it sound simple, rebounding isn't as simple as it sounds, which is why there are very few great ones in today's game. The keys are power and positioning, having the heart and desire to fight for space when two-thirds of the time the fight is fruitless, the ball going into the basket or in another direction. There are tricks to learn about holding off or holding down opponents seeking the same rebound, about using the arms, legs and butt to make it happen. There is the required relentlessness that it takes, the dexterity to jump off either foot and just the knack of anticipation. Rebounding always has been regarded as one of the thankless yet critical jobs that a great team must have. No one grows up dreaming of being a rebounder. Great ball handlers are cool. Hot shooters are chic. Dunkers make the highlight shows every night. Rebounders have bruises. "The desire to want the rebound is the most important thing," said Magic Coach Brian Hill. "Great rebounders just have a nose for the ball and a willingness to go after every one, which is something that a lot of guys won't do." Geat rebounders of the past include Charles Barkley and Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, all of whom shared one common trait -- the want -- despite using different techniques to achieve their goal. "I think it's also an instinct, something innate," said Charlotte Coach Bernie Bickerstaff, whose own Emeka Okafor is one of the young guns chasing Howard in the rebounding race. "Often the great leapers aren't the best rebounders. But every great rebounder has an instinct about where the ball is going. There's an art to how it's done." Barkley was tremendous at tipping the ball, then grabbing it on his second or third jump, which many of his opponents couldn't do. Malone was incredible in his work ethic toward rebounding. Rodman was so crafty yet relentless in his pursuit. Neither Kevin Garnett, who has won the past three rebounding titles, nor Ben Wallace, who won the previous two, can combine Howard's combination of power and athleticism. Howard (6 feet 11, 270 pounds) has a wingspan of 7 feet 8 inches and a vertical leap of 38 inches. There have been guys with long arms like that, guys who could jump like that and players even more powerful, but hardly ever anyone with the total package. "He's just a physical specimen who gobbled up every single rebound out there," said Cleveland Coach Mike Brown, who watched Howard grab 16 rebounds last week against his team. "He came out of nowhere with those big, long arms, broad shoulders and just gobbled them all up. He's incredible." It didn't take long, or more than one look, for anyone to see the rebounding potential of Howard. During summer camp after the Magic made him the No. 1 pick of the 2004 draft -- with only a small private high school background to draw from -- Howard left spectators in awe. "Three minutes into the first time I saw him play in summer league, I said, 'Wow,' " said Matt Guokas, former NBA player and coach and current television analyst for the Magic. "I didn't know if he could make a shot, or if he could develop any offensive game at all, but you could see he was going to be a great rebounder." Guokas, during his career, was a teammate of Chamberlain. He played against Russell. He coached both Barkley and Malone in Philadelphia. Yet he still speaks in awe of Howard's potential. "From a rebounding standpoint, Dwight is Russellish," Guokas said. "He can be as good a rebounder -- or better -- than anyone who has played this game." Guokas admits that Howard never will have the rebounding statistics of Chamberlain (22.9 rpg, career) or Russell (22.5 rpg, career), but they played in an era where there were considerably more shots taken, and many more missed. Rodman averaged 18.7 and 18.2 rebounds in back-to-back seasons (1992-1994), but he strictly was a one-trick player, carving his niche as purely a rebounder. Howard, conversely, is likely to become a regular 20-point scorer. Most big men in the league, Shaquille O'Neal for example, never become great rebounders because they don't go out of their space very well. They are what coaches call "vertical rebounders," who can grab only the ones coming in their direction. There also are big men who struggle to rebound. Young Eddie Curry (7-1) in New York, Zydrunas Ilgauskas ( 7-3) in Cleveland and Jerome James (7-1) in New York just don't have the knack or desire to be good rebounders. Rebounders like Rodman and Wallace, like Garnett and Howard today, carve a wide circle of space as their rebounding territory. Howard's athleticism allows him to go over and around others without being called for a foul. His strength allows him to hold his own space against the power players. It's why he already has three games of 20 rebounds, why he has done it nine times already in his career. In each of the three this season, he also scored 20 points or more. Malone, now an assistant coach in Philadelphia, had 31games in which he managed 20 points and 20 rebounds, doing it in the 1978-79 season. "You want to know my secret to rebounding? You can look it up on the Internet," Malone said earlier this month when the Sixers played in Orlando. "If there were 100 shots in a game," Malone said years ago. "Then I'd go after all of them." |
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