Rockets' Dwight Howard on post players: 'We will not be extinct'
Houston center Dwight Howard wonders what it would be like if Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in today's NBA.
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3 min read
Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard has seen the NBA evolve. The league has figured out that basic post-up plays are not particularly efficient. Teams still use the post, but not as frequently or in the same way as they did before. While television analysts yell at Howard to "demand the ball," the Rockets would rather he simply set good screens, roll to the basket hard, defend and rebound.
In an interview with USA Today's Sam Amick, Howard sounds like he wishes things were they way they used to be, even as he's pledging to do what Houston wants:
“The way the (NBA) game is played (now), it’s all outside-in, it’s threes, it’s super-fast,” Howard told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s really like we’re dinosaurs, and they’re trying to extinct us. But the Ice Age will not come, and we will not be extinct.
“You watch a guy like Shaq (O’Neal) or Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) and all these guys, and I don’t know if they would want to just play with guys shooting threes and stuff like that. They want to be fed, but it’s the evolution of the game. And the way you stay relevant is trying to find ways to play without focusing on not getting the ball … I think it’s all just a mindset. Some teams are better at it than others.”
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“Since I’ve been in the NBA, especially when we (were) in Orlando and (then-coach) Stan (Van Gundy) got there, he made a big emphasis on playing inside-out, and really just playing a bully-type style of basketball,” said Howard, who plans on declining his $23.2 million player option for next season. “And we did pick and rolls too, so it was kind of like a mixture. That’s what threw teams off. It wasn’t (just) me getting post-ups so I can always score, but it was doing that to free up our shooters, to give them more space (and) to really shoot the ball.
“I feel like that’s a very successful way of playing. I know (the Rockets) have their opinions or whatever. (But) for the rest of the season, I’m going to make it an effort just to do what they need me to do offensively and defensively, and not focus on what happened back in Orlando (and) what happened in LA (with the Lakers) and just put my mind to finishing this season on a real high note.”
Part of the problem is that Howard is just not as dominant as he used to be in the post. Back in his Magic days, he would routinely hit defenders with a quick drop step and then dunk on them. He doesn't have the athleticism to do that consistently anymore, so he's not going to draw double-teams at the same frequency as he did in Orlando. For all the talk about Houston being analytics-driven, the team recently signed Michael Beasley and it allows him to shoot midrange jumpers. If throwing the ball down to Howard was efficient, the Rockets would do it more often.
In fairness to Howard, though, it is a weird time to be a big man. Centers used to have a privileged position in basketball, and that's just not the case anymore when it comes to offense. Even if you have an advanced arsenal of post moves like Philadelphia 76ers rookie Jahlil Okafor, your game will be picked apart wihout the ability to anchor a defense or switch onto smaller players. The reality is that, with only a few exceptions, the job description has changed. In that respect, perhaps the Ice Age has indeed come.
