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During the Eastern Conference Finals, I found myself struggling to finish a piece I'd started writing about Dwight and Lebron. The basic premise was to compare the two of them to two other great players from the past, specifically to Moses Malone and Dr. J respectively. I never finished it partly due to laziness, but also partly due to my deciding that I didn't like the comparison.
I've since changed my mind again.
There have been more than enough attempts by people far smarter than me to explain the cultural impact the ABA/NBA merger had on the way basketball is played. I feel no need to write another. But I think a comparison between the impact of those two specific ABA players, and the potential impact of the two superstars who met up in the Eastern conference finals is, I think, one worth examining. Think about it:
One superstar is/was an explosive player who rebounds/rebounded phenomenally well from the small forward position, can/could penetrate against seemingly any defense, is/was a capable passer, and is/was marred by criticism of his range.
The other superstar is/was an explosive rebounder with a raw offensive game who can/could still put up a consistent 20-25 on any given night while providing solid defense and energy.
Clearly, words were chosen in those paragraphs to be deliberately make the comparison more obvious, but the obviousness of the comparison seems evident.
It's perhaps unfortunate that Dr. J and Moses Malone's time as teammates came near the end for Dr. J. The '82-83 Sixers, featuring the two of them and Andrew Toney, were the kind of stylistic wrecking ball that everyone kept hoping the Seven Seconds Or Less Phoenix team would become: a style-as-substance team that racked up wins at alarming rates, and had the titles to back it all up.
In the end, the 80s Sixers only managed to win one title, in what turned out to be Moses Malone's last MVP year. Seemingly every other year that decade, they couldn't get over/past Larry Bird and the Celtics and/or Magic Johnson and the Lakers.
It is somewhat remarkable to me that Lebron and Dwight now both face their biggest obstacles in reaching towards a title from those same two teams, only now Magic and Bird have been replaced by Kobe and KG. And once again it's seemingly a clash of conventional LA and Boston vs the radicals. After all, Lebron's Cavs may as well be called "Lebron and his merry band of defensive role players" and Orlando is a gross amalgamation of the SSOL Suns small-ball philosophy with a rebounding center who's good enough on the glass and on defense to cover up the constant mistakes and shortcomings of his teammates enough for it to somehow work. Much like Moses and Erving's Sixers, both teams are more than a little atypical, and if I'm being honest, the prospect of Lebron and Dwight on the same team makes me a little dizzy.
Where that will eventually lead the league, I haven't the slightest idea. Much better writers than me have written thousands of words to say that they don't know either. But I'm excited just the same.
It only seems fitting that I should write Dwight's player grade here as well.
Player: Howard, Dwight
Stats: 20.6pts, 13.8rebs, 1.4asts, 2.9blks in 35.7mpg
Best Game: It'd be easy to say the early Nov. game against OKC where Dwight put up his first and to date only triple double here, but his FT shooting that game was lousy, even by his standards. So instead, I'll go with 2/17 against Charlotte, where Dwight put up a career high 45pts, 19rebs, 8 blocks and a steal while shooting 13/18 from the line in an overtime win.
Worst Game: Also against Charlotte, back in November. Dwight puts up the following line: 4pts on 0-3 shooting, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks and 6 fouls in 26 minutes. And really, it was worse than that. Ugh.
Most Memorable Moment: Dwight winning DPOY was pretty great, but I'm going to go with his pantsing of Big Z and the Cavs in the clinching Game 6 of that series.
Offense: Dwight's post game is often criticized because it still lacks refinement, and while that is true, it continues to be greatly exaggerated. Dwight showed flashes of great improvements this year, adding an up and under move he didn't use enough, a faceup jumpshot he abandoned halfway through the season, and the old "Ewing Move" that he became too reliant on in the Celtics series. One major problem Dwight had all season was becoming reliant on one or two moves for 7-10 game stretches, before switching to a different move 10 games later. If Dwight starts mixing up in games, it could get scary.
Improvement happened. What he needs now is consistency and variation. I'm optimistic.
Defense: Dwight was the defensive player of the year, and lead a team featuring Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson/Rafer Alston in the starting lineup to the best defensive efficiency in the NBA. I shouldn't need to even talk about this.
Fans Perspective: Fans love Dwight, and for the most part it's understood that the team goes where Dwight takes them.
Expectations for 2010: With this being Dwight's first real, full offseason since becoming a center, it's put-up time for Dwight. There needs to be clear improvement going into next year. His improvement on the defensive end has been fantastic the last 3 years, but it's time that he became more refined offensively, started passing the ball better, and hitting free throws at a better rate. I think he can make steps towards those goals, and I think we start to see them next season.
Grade: A
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I think with time, Lebron will develop a consistent jumper (especially when he starts to lose a little athleticism). The talent is there. His mid-range game is already solid, he just hurls up way to many threes. With Julius, he never really needed a jumper, because like you said, he got to the rim and finished with ease. His shooting percentages were consistently insanely good. I just think Lebron is very good at everything except for three point shooting, which he doesn't need.
With Dwight, it's his league for years if he ever fills out his offensive game. If he can develop a repertoire of 3-4 consistent moves with maybe a 10 foot face up jumper (which he's capable of), he's practically unguardable. Even with his rawness now, he's still almost impossible to guard one on one, with the exception of a few very strong defenders who can push him away from the block. Oh yeah, and if he gets his FT % up to around 70-75%, I don't know what option teams have defensively anymore. He's already proven he can pass out of double teams, so opposing coaches will have fun with that.
Defensively, the guy is a monster. I find it truly amazing that our defensive strategy basically consisted of "you guys suck, funnel everything into Dwight". Without him covering everyone's mistakes, we'd easily be in the bottom five in defensive efficiency.
The comparisons with the championship teams of the 80s and the teams in the hunt now are also interesting, but I'm too lazy to continue typing.
I just went off on a tangent, but yeah, nice write-up.