Dwight Howard working out with Hakeem the Dream

[Indazone]

Damn, if Howard learns 1/4" of what Hakeem knows, dude could be dangerous in today's game of half talent Centers.

By John Denton
June 14, 2010

ORLANDO – Dwight Howard’s summer plans will take him twice to China, once to Africa and also to Los Angeles for a week. Plans are that he’ll shoot a movie and do several promotional stops in China, visit the disadvantaged in Senegal and also sing kid’s songs, appear in a Disney TV show, make nice with one-time rival Shaquille O’Neal and shoot a commercial for Adidas while in Los Angeles.

But it’s his shortest trip of all – one to Houston – that should have the most lasting effect on Howard’s offseason.

The Magic’s consensus All-NBA center spent five days in Houston last week working out with legendary Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon. The two worked for three hours a day, drilling on a variety of post moves, face-up jump shots and baby hooks off pump fakes. The idea was to help Howard add more weapons to his offensive arsenal when foes look to choke him off with sagging defenses.

Howard left Houston not only impressed with the 47-year-old center’s breadth of knowledge, but also his stamina and willingness to work.

``Hakeem did not care at all that I had just finished a long season. He was ready to work and it was really good for me,’’ Howard said. ``I’m just trying to stay fit and getting in that time with Hakeem was great. I’m looking forward to spending more time with him. We had a lot of time working out. (Magic GM) Otis (Smith) might need to go see Hakeem because I really think he could still give us 10 to 15 minutes a night.’’

Howard said dealing with the pain of coming of short of his goal of winning a le has been particularly hard to deal with. Orlando won 59 games in the regular season and then rolled through the first two rounds of the playoffs at 8-0. But the Magic fell into a 0-3 hole in the Eastern Conference Finals before eventually falling 4-2 to the Boston Celtics.

Howard said he hasn’t watched one game of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers because the pain is too much. L.A. beat Orlando in the NBA Finals last June, and the Celtics eliminated them this spring. Howard even scheduled a flight from Orlando to Atlanta on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. so that he would purposely miss Game 5 between the Celtics and Lakers.

``I just started to get back into bowling this summer because I want to keep my mind off The Finals,’’ said Howard, who appeared on Sunday at a Special Olympics bowling event. ``You don’t really ever get over (losing). I can’t really watch the games now. Every time I turn on the TV and I see a Celtic or a Laker I kind of get (ticked) off. It’s been hard for me.’’

Howard, 24, said the drills with Olajuwon were an outlet for him to release his frustration on the basketball court. He battered the Celtics for 21.8 points on 56.8 percent shooting and added 10.8 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in six games, but the mission is to come back better offensively next season.

And that’s why Howard turned to Olajuwon, a two-time NBA champion, a 12-time All-NBA performer and a center who was widely regarded as having the best footwork ever for a big man. Howard and Olajuwon became friends last summer when the Magic center made a trip to Africa as a part of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program. He and Howard talked at various points in the season with Olajuwon offering up tips and words of encouragement.

Howard credited Olajuwon with helping him fight through the frustration of the Magic being down 3-0 to the Celtics. Following their pep talk, Howard went out and scored 32 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked four shots in Orlando’s overtime win. The Magic won Games 4 and 5 to put a scare into the Celtics, but fell short in Game 6 despite 28 points and 12 rebounds from Howard.

Howard said that Olajuwon taught him several footwork drills and combination moves that he can work on throughout the summer as he travels the globe. He said he hopes to work out with Olajuwon again in August when he’s in Senegal and he might visit Olajuwon again prior to training camp for one more refresher course.

``I’m not going to do the Dream Shake; I’m going to do the Milk Shake,’’ Howard said with a laugh, referring to Olajuwon’s famed fakes. ``Hakeem taught me a lot of things. A lot of the things that we went over were stuff that we do every day in practice. So now it’s time to take the next step and carry it over to the games.’’

As for the rest of his summer, Howard will be in Los Angeles later this month for a variety of events. He’ll appear on an episode of ``The Suite Life of Zack and Cody’’ and he’ll also record his first album – of kid’s songs.

Most surprising, however, is that the producers of the ABC Show ``Shaq Versus’’ invited Howard to race with O’Neal against Olympic sprinter Tyson Gay. O’Neal has been critical of Howard for similarly using a ``Superman’’ nickname.

Howard will be in China in July to do promotional stops for Adidas, Amway and the Jr. NBA. And then he’ll return in August to shoot a movie. He had a primary role in ``Just Wright’’ that came out this summer and shot scenes for ``Valentine’s Day’’ that appeared in the DVD release.

Other than some short stays in Atlanta and Orlando to see family, Howard said there won’t be much downtime for him this summer. Despite all of the globe-hopping, Howard said his primary goal is to get his game better so that he’s not left watching the NBA Finals next June.

``We’ll get there next year,’’ Howard said boldly. ``I don’t do guarantees, but I do go out there and play as hard as I can and I think that will be enough.’’
http://www.nba.com/magic/news/dento...re2_061410.html

[TDMVPDPOY]

fail, not with that smiley face he always has

[Kamala]

Ooh I'm ascared