Why is Dwight Howard averaging less than 10 shots per game?

[D2Procon]

WTF? This guy is one of the best center in the game and has talent. You can't stop this guy in the post. But 10 shots only???/

[hitmanyr2k]

WTF? This guy is one of the best center in the game and has talent. You can't stop this guy in the post. But 10 shots only???/

I don't think Howard's game is really all that polished yet where he can flat out score in the post. That's sad to say when the guy is in his 6th year but that seems to be the case. He's improving little by little each year but hasn't taken any massive leaps towards a dominating post game. Also from what I've seen Howard also seems to get easily denied when fighting for post position. His lower body strength is lacking.

[HarlemHeat37]

His touches skyrocketed in January..they look to feed him pretty much every time down now, which is the right thing to do..

The reason he doesn't get as many shot attempts is for a couple of reasons..he gets double teamed almost every time he touches the ball..he averages a ton of fouls(a lot of them are bad calls though, just saying) so that affects his aggressiveness and PT..he also averages a lot of turnovers and draws a lot of fouls, so those obviously don't count for his shot attempts..

His post game is heavily improved this year..he's almost at the point where he's guaranteed to score inside when he gets the ball..his left hand is really good..part of the reason Orlando has been playing a lot better is because they look to Dwight a lot more now..

[Bob Lanier]

You can't stop this guy in the post.
Yes, you can, quite easily. He's just a dumb high-jumpin' ###### with a watermelon smile and no feel for the game of basketball.

[Behrooz24]

Also it doesn't count as a FGA when he gets fouled shooting

[JamStone]

Is there a difference between a watermelon smile and a fried chicken smile?

[Cane]

He should definitely get more touches/shots but from what I've seen this season the opposing teams have scouted him well and deny him the ball frequently and successfully. I'm pretty sure he still gets in foul trouble often which doesn't help a player's flow.

Howard's always complained about not getting enough touches and with Vince Carter on-board its more of the same. But I suppose as a big you can get the ball yourself through rebounds and he's pretty damn good at that.

[DAF86]

'Cause he has this guy


http://blogs.bet.com/news/newsyoushouldknow/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vincecarter.jpg

playing with him, instead of this guy


http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2008/10/23-End/turkoglu_magic-baby.jpg

[DAF86]

Man, I just realized how bad Carter has really been this season, he's averaging 16.6 pts on 14.5 fg attempts that's pathetic.

[DAF86]

Also it doesn't count as a FGA when he gets fouled shooting

lol funny sig.

[JamStone]

VC this season: 14.5 FGA per game, 4.2 FTA per game
Hedo last season: 13.3 FGA per game, 5.1 FTA per game

Don't really think it's Vince, at least not to make that much of a difference. I think it's Stan Van Gundy's offense and him pretty much being okay with the Magic shooting three pointers all the time, at any point in the game, in any situation, in transition, on a delayed transition, in the half-court set, off turnovers, on on-of-bounds plays, off of offensive rebounds. He's pretty much cool with three point shots no matter what the situation is and how they get there. It's SVG's job to make sure Dwight Howard gets more touches, gets more involved in the offense, more than just a few token dump downs.

Vince doesn't help, but you can say that about guys like Pietrus and Matt Barnes too, who both have no conscience when to put up long jumpers or bad shots in general.

[Will Hunting]

lol Jamstone always owning the Turk vs. VC argument

[Goran Dragic]

Man, I just realized how bad Carter has really been this season, he's averaging 16.6 pts on 14.5 fg attempts that's pathetic.


Yeah I agree that's so much worse than the 16.8 points on 13.3 FG attempts Turk averaged last year. Obviously the extra .2 points Turk averaged off 1.2 less shot attempts is why Orlando is struggling.

[Goran Dragic]

It's amazing how DAF's bias for foreign players and bias against American born players drives him to say such retarded shit.

[Goran Dragic]

It's all Vince's fault though. It's not the 41.9% Pietrus is shooting, the 43.3% Lewis is shooting, the 43.5% Nelson is shooting, or the 41.8% Ryan Anderson is shooting. Nope, it's all on Vince.

[HarlemHeat37]

JamStone makes a great point, as usual, but again, Orlando has made a huge effort to get Howard way more touches since the beginning of January..that's part of the reason they've started to turn it around after a rough patch(along with Carter's resurgence of late)..

SVG does need to cap their shots though..Ryan Anderson is the worst, he shoots literally every time he touches the ball..

[Cane]

IIRC Hedo got Dwight Howard more involved with the ball and he's a better playmaker for Orlando than Vince Carter. Hedo averaged two more assists per game than what Carter is dishing out now (4.9 versus 2.8). Even with Hedo on board, Superman was still whining about not getting enough touches....and while he does have a point he simply gets denied the ball often and lacks reliable offensive skills. Hedo knew how to "ball" with Orlando and VC is still trying to reach his bar.

After getting to the Finals last year it looks like NBA scouts took notice since these weaknesses have been exposed more than ever - this might explain why Howard's averaging .6 more of a turnover per game than last season.

That said, Howard has been putting up great numbers in the past few games. For a guy like him it should be paradise since the league lacks in quality bigs and he's got the luxury of playing against the weak East. If only the Spurs were over there since they have a 13-5 record against the East.

Its definitely not all (but still a problem nonetheless) on Carter just like its not all on Richard Jefferson that the Spurs are stinking it up. For both teams their chemistry is lower than last season's and are going through growing pains that may very well be permanent.

[HarlemHeat37]

Anybody that says Dwight doesn't have the offensive skills or gets denied often really hasn't watched Orlando this year..no disrespect to anybody, but that's simply a false statement that the national media keeps making for some reason..Orlando's announcers were joking about it a few games ago..

Howard gets the ball denied from him a lot more often from his teammates and coach than he does by opposing defenders..

The Magic have been using Carter more in the way that they used Turkoglu last year, which was penetrating and dishing more often, and it has led to more assists for VC..Carter has been just as good of a playmaker throughout his career, it's all about the system..the Magic have had a much better balance in the last month and a half..

[BRHornet45]

son even last year when he put up 20 points per game he only averaged 12 shot attempts. real stars know how to put up points without having to average 22 shot attempts per game.

[DAF86]

It's amazing how DAF's bias for foreign players and bias against American born players drives him to say such retarded shit.

Yes, I'm clearly a "foreign players" homer as you can see by my constant compliments to Dirk Nowitzki's game.

[Kyle Orton]

Yes, I'm clearly a "foreign players" homer as you can see by my constant compliments to Dirk Nowitzki's game.
That's just cuz you're mad over the whole nazi harboring thing.

[DAF86]

Yeah I agree that's so much worse than the 16.8 points on 13.3 FG attempts Turk averaged last year. Obviously the extra .2 points Turk averaged off 1.2 less shot attempts is why Orlando is struggling.

Yes, that's a siginificant difference but that's not the only reason that Orlando is struggling, another problem is that Carter isn't playing the role of facilitator that Turkoglu played last season.

[DAF86]

VC this season: 14.5 FGA per game, 4.2 FTA per game
Hedo last season: 13.3 FGA per game, 5.1 FTA per game

Don't really think it's Vince, at least not to make that much of a difference. I think it's Stan Van Gundy's offense and him pretty much being okay with the Magic shooting three pointers all the time, at any point in the game, in any situation, in transition, on a delayed transition, in the half-court set, off turnovers, on on-of-bounds plays, off of offensive rebounds. He's pretty much cool with three point shots no matter what the situation is and how they get there. It's SVG's job to make sure Dwight Howard gets more touches, gets more involved in the offense, more than just a few token dump downs.

Vince doesn't help, but you can say that about guys like Pietrus and Matt Barnes too, who both have no conscience when to put up long jumpers or bad shots in general.

It's not only about the FG attempts, Turkoglu last season was practically the Magic's PG and he knew how to move the ball around and get everybody involved, Carter so far hasn't shown that he can do that, I don't know if it is because he can't do it or 'cause Van Gundy doesn't let him but he hasn't done it.

[pauls931]

Come on, Amare for Howard straight up.

[Goran Dragic]

That's just cuz you're mad over the whole nazi harboring thing.


:lmao

[Goran Dragic]

Yes, that's a siginificant difference

1.2 shots and .2 points is a significant difference :lmao

[Goran Dragic]

Carter isn't playing the role of facilitator that Turkoglu played last season.


How much facilitating did Turk do in the finals? All I remember is him getting facilitated by Trevor Ariza.

[JamStone]

It's not only about the FG attempts, Turkoglu last season was practically the Magic's PG and he knew how to move the ball around and get everybody involved, Carter so far hasn't shown that he can do that, I don't know if it is because he can't do it or 'cause Van Gundy doesn't let him but he hasn't done it.

Then your problem shouldn't really be with Vince but with Jameer Nelson and Jason Williams. The Magic didn't trade for Vince so he could be practically the Magic's PG. They traded for him to be the main perimeter scorer. While he hasn't been great, it's not his responsibility to try to do everything that Hedo did. And, with Jameer now healthy, there's no reason for him to do that either.

The difference in shot attempts and free throw attempts from additional touches is not significant enough to merely claim that Vince is the only or even main reason why Dwight's field goal attempts are down.

[Indazone]

WTF? This guy is one of the best center in the game and has talent. You can't stop this guy in the post. But 10 shots only???/

Only way for Dwight to get free with defenses doubling him front and back is to push off which results in an automatic foul. Same BS that Yao was having to deal with. If the refs let the big men play, then they'd be averaging 30 ppg. You ever watch Yao being defended. He's sandwiched between two defenders. Yao gets most of his points off foul shots if you study his stats. Dwight will have to get his points off foul shots too which is ridiculous. I wish the NBA would let the big men play again.

[antgomez2009]

Well if you say it like that, Dwight Howard cant SHOOT in the first place, so 10 Layups sounds more better, and Yea, Vince Carter takes like 50% of the Orlando shots

[Truckules]

Dwight could be the second best player in the league if he learned some type of post moves. Every time I watch him, it seems like all he does is post-up, gets the ball, faces up, fakes going left, goes right, and shoots a jump hook in the lane. He uses nothing but his athleticism and height to score.

[JamStone]

Well if you say it like that, Dwight Howard cant SHOOT in the first place, so 10 Layups sounds more better, and Yea, Vince Carter takes like 50% of the Orlando shots

That is if you think 16% is "like" 50%, right?

[himat]

I was watching the Orlando Boston and I was convinced that VC was done, but he has surprised me this week. Maybe Orlando can get on a roll now.

[DAF86]

Then your problem shouldn't really be with Vince but with Jameer Nelson and Jason Williams. The Magic didn't trade for Vince so he could be practically the Magic's PG. They traded for him to be the main perimeter scorer. While he hasn't been great, it's not his responsibility to try to do everything that Hedo did. And, with Jameer now healthy, there's no reason for him to do that either.

The difference in shot attempts and free throw attempts from additional touches is not significant enough to merely claim that Vince is the only or even main reason why Dwight's field goal attempts are down.

I don't know who fault it is (probably Van Gundys), all I know is that by watching games I can clearly see that one of the main problems the Magic have is the lack of ball movement compared to last year, the Vince/Hedo swap clearly affected this.

Every time Hedo got the ball last year he waited for a pick to create for himself but specially to create for others, this year when Carter gets the ball he ends up taking a lazy jumper or forcing the issue inside.

[DAF86]

How much facilitating did Turk do in the finals? All I remember is him getting facilitated by Trevor Ariza.

At least they got there.