Count NBA Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon among those perplexed by the riddle that is Dwight Howard.
Hired as a Houston Rockets assistant coach during the off season to primarily work with Howard, Olajuwon told NBA.com "Dwight has always been athletic and aggressive and he still is. But when I watch him, what I see are opportunities that he is missing. When he gets the ball, he seems to be taking his time to decide what move to make, where he should go."
Howard hasn't played poorly in his first 13 games as a Rocket, averaging 17 points on 54 percent shooting and 14 rebounds. In fact, as it seems has always been the case, that seems to be the problem. Coaches and fans alike often see so many flashes from Howard they're left wanting and expecting more.
"There should not be a delay for Dwight," added Olajuwon, now in his native Nigeria working on an NBA-sponsored youth development program."He must be able to make a faster recognition of the situations and react immediately with a go-to move. You must move right away before the defense has a chance to set up. You must be the one making the first move so that you can force the defender to always be the one reacting.
An exasperated Olajuwon later told the website "I thought we were doing a good job with this when we were working together over the summer and at the start of training camp. But what I see now is that when Dwight gets in competition, he has a tendency to go back to all of his old habits. He's just doing all of the things that he did before. He needs a reminder."
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