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raven
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Insider Special: Dwight Howard.
By Chad Ford
ESPN Insider
# Ford's NEW mock draft: Standard version | Slideshow version
CHICAGO -- In a draft most GMs believe will be the most unpredictable in NBA history, Dwight Howard is a rare commodity. He's a true believer.
Howard could become the second consecutive high schooler taken No. 1 overall.
"I know I'll be the No. 1 pick," Howard told Insider on Friday morning. "Teams want the next KG. You're looking at him."
Are we?
For the past six months, NBA scouts have claimed this year's draft is a two horse race between Howard and Emeka Okafor.
By now you know what Okafor can do. The burly, 6-foot-10 power player carried UConn to a national championship on a weary back in front of millions of college basketball fans.
Okafor represents everything the NBA draft used to be. He's mature, physically strong, and he's not afraid of a little contact. He's a tireless worker with intense focus. He's a warrior. And, most importantly, he's a winner.
Who is Howard? Insider spent Friday morning in Hoops the Gym and got an exclusive look at Howard working out with trainer Tim Grover.
Howard represents everything the NBA draft has become -- for better and for worse.
The Kid
The off-court Dwight Howard we have a pretty good handle on.
Howard has made his faith his signature, openly talking about how he wants the NBA to have a cross on its logo someday. By all accounts, he's a good kid from a good home, with an attentive father shepherding him through an otherwise treacherous process.
Howard wears braces that glimmer every time he flashes his wide smile. He blushes when his family teases him about taking Candace Parker to his high school prom. His eyes get wide when he talks about how his life has changed since being anointed the best high school player and NBA draft prospect in the country.
"Everywhere I go, people recognize me now," Howard said with a sheepish grin. "I guess I'm kind of popular or something. It's kind of cool."
Photo shoots. Shoe deals. Interviews. Workouts. Sleeping. This is the life of an 18-year-old blessed with a basketball gift.
He still gets up at 5 a.m. each day to work out at his high school. He runs the track. At night he's back in the gym shooting, he says, 1,000 shots a night.
On the weekends, he tries to find time to travel to Chicago to work out with Grover. When I saw him Friday, it was just his fourth session with Grover in the past six weeks.
Howard is a confident young man who believes he's ready for the NBA.
"[Okafor] may have more experience at a higher level," Howard said. "He may be more ready physically. But give me three years of the same weight training he's had, and I'll be just as big. I've been playing just as long as he has. I've been playing since I was two. Mentally and spiritually, I'm ahead of everyone."
The Player
On the court, Howard is more of an enigma. He was anointed the heir to LeBron's throne sometime last summer. He dominated the Adidas ABCD camp and won top honors at the Player's Association Top 100 Camp in Richmond, Va. His AAU team, the Atlanta Celtics, was the most talented in years, with three legitimate NBA prospects (Howard, Josh Smith and Randolph Morris).
Howard's draft stock has been rising fast since last summer.
During the season, Howard averaged 25.5 points, 18.7 rebounds and 8 blocks -- impressive numbers.
He's 6-foot-10 in shoes, can play both inside and outside, has a decent handle for a big man and he's a big-time athlete with explosive jumping skills. On the court, scouts have struggled to find any real weaknesses in his game.
Weeks into the season, scouts were laying it on thick. He's the next Kevin Garnett. No, he's the next Tim Duncan. Wait, maybe he's a mixture of both, they gushed. He was everything to everyone.
Scouts turned their heads when he struggled in a few big games. He was outplayed by AAU teammate Randolph Morris in a high school game on ESPN. At a big tournament at UCLA, Sebastian Telfair's team dismantled Howard's.
Still, most scouts agree Howard has the most upside of anyone in the draft and is worthy of being a No. 1 pick.
After the season, he was co-MVP of the McDonald's All-American game and MVP at the Jordan Capital Classic. Then he disappeared from public view until Thursday afternoon, when he showed up to work out with Grover.
Right now, he still doesn't have a workout scheduled with an NBA team. His agent, Aaron Goodwin, balked at having him come in on Friday to work out with the Magic. The Magic wanted Okafor to come in that morning. Howard was supposed to come in that evening. The team knew neither agent would agree to a head-to-head matchup. Having them come in on the same day, at different times, was as close as they were going to get.
Goodwin balked. "That won't happen. Okafor needs to have his day, and Dwight needs to have his."
Howard will work out for the Magic -- probably early next week. But like Okafor and Shaun Livingston, he'll do it alone.
Training Day
My day with Howard started at 8 a.m. Friday. It was supposed to be Thursday, but Howard had a stiff back (somewhere, Okafor is smiling) after the plane ride and shut down his workout after about 15 minutes of shooting. He spent the evening getting a massage and was raring to go Friday morning.
Over the course of the last two months, I've watched almost every top draft prospect go through one of these workouts. Workouts like these do little to measure basketball IQ, decision-making under pressure, physical toughness or defensive ability, but they do reveal a player's ability to perform athletically when fatigued. These workouts typically last an hour and ratchet up in intensity as they go on. The shots Howard will make at the beginning aren't nearly as important as the one's he'll attempt at the end, when he's tired.
Howard's workout confirmed his explosiveness but also his inconsistent shot.
Howard begins by running from elbow to elbow, catching and shooting for about five minutes. He has the rep as a good, but not great, perimeter shooter, and that basically held true throughout the workout. He didn't shoot the ball as well as Shaun Livingston, Devin Harris, Luol Deng or Andre Iguodala -- the other lottery picks I saw in Grover's gym -- but he shot it well enough for a 6-10 kid.
One interesting thing about Howard's shot -- and something that would plague him throughout the workout -- was his inconsistency. He never seemed to shoot it exactly the same way twice. Sometimes his shot would have a great arc to it. Other times it was totally flat. The release point on his jumper from the mid-range area is about at his chin -- a no-no in the NBA. Coaches like players to release the ball above their heads to prevent the shot from being blocked. Howard's shot release got higher the farther he moved from the basket, and his form looked pretty good as he got out around the college 3-point line. He gets great elevation on his shot, no matter where he shoots it.
Despite his daily 5 a.m. workouts, Howard is in just so-so shape compared to the other guys in the gym. He takes frequent breaks for water and seems tired early.
After a few shooting drills, Grover begins working on Howard's post moves. Again, Howard's inconsistency is apparent. At times he gets great position, widening his base and making explosive moves to the basket. Other times he stands straight up, looks a little stiff, and can't finish the same way.
Howard takes two dribbles into the paint and finishes with his left hand. When he gets close to the basket, he takes off like a rocket and rattles the rim. He goes through the drill 10 times and rocks the gym each time. This is Howard's biggest appeal. His explosiveness in the paint is outstanding for someone his size. But will he have the physical strength to get that type of position in the pros? If he does, watch out. At times Howard tends to get a bit robotic in his moves, prompting Grover to yell, "No robots allowed."
Howard's ball-handling is pretty good for a kid his size, as well. I've seen 6-10 Euros who can handle the ball better, but as far as American big guys go, he's near the top of the heap. He goes through several drills where he handles two balls and sprints up and down the floor. He fumbles several times, but again, for a guy his size, he did pretty well.
As the workout goes on, Howard, despite being exhausted, shows some real resilience. With Grover egging him on, he keeps pushing and pushing. For someone who's been accused of not having the toughness to make it in the league, the way he fought through the workout was pretty impressive.
He finishes shooting from the college 3-point line. Grover wants him to make five 3s from five different spots on the floor. He finishes 25 of 54 from behind the college arc -- not bad for a big man.
Tough Enough?
After the workout, Howard lifts weights for about 30 minutes, then answers the biggest questions about his game.
For the past few months, several scouts and a few GMs have questioned Howard's heart. He's a nice kid with a great background who can, on occasion, coast through games. Is he just not being challenged? Does he not care? Is his work ethic a problem? Is he tough enough to make it in the league?
For all the KG and TD comparisons, another one comes to mind too -- Kwame Brown. Like Howard, Brown had great stats at a small, southern high school, had wonderful athletic ability for his size, was an accomplished ball-handler and perimeter player and dominated the high school all-star games.
“ Just because I'm nice, doesn't mean I'm not competitive. Nothing has come easy to me. ... I can be a killer when the time calls for it. I hate to lose. ”
— Howard
What Brown lacked (and still is missing) was a killer instinct -- the drive that pushes him both on and off the court to be his very best. It's almost impossible for a player to succeed in the NBA without it. Talent will get you into the league. Heart and a raging fire in your belly determine whether you'll be a star. Howard takes offense at the questions.
"Just because I'm nice, doesn't mean I'm not competitive," Howard told Insider. "Nothing has come easy to me. They triple-teamed me every game in high school. I can be a killer when the time calls for it. I hate to lose."
That's nice to hear, but saying it is different than displaying it. Okafor has done that for three years. LeBron James did it for two years in high school, never letting up on an opponent.
Brown once told Michael Jordan he'd never regret taking him No. 1. The decision to draft Brown cost MJ his job. Howard clearly has the potential to be in the same category as a Duncan, but will he realize that potential? And if so, when?
“ Anyone who is trying to make those comparisons now is fooling themselves. He could be the next KG in five years. He could be the next Kwame. I don't care what people say. No one knows. It's up to him. ”
— NBA team executive
"We put way too much pressure on these young kids," one NBA executive said. "The comparisons to guys like that -- MVPs -- is ridiculous. Dwight Howard is who he is. He's a good prospect, but he's done nothing to prove that he can be great. Garnett hadn't either when he came into the league. Garnett had to prove a million skeptics wrong. Nothing should be handed to Howard because he happens to be a great high school player. Anyone who is trying to make those comparisons now is fooling themselves. He could be the next KG in five years. He could be the next Kwame. I don't care what people say. No one knows. It's up to him."
Another GM was even more to the point.
"There's a lot of ifs to his game right now," the GM told Insider. "A lot of ifs. If he gets stronger. If he works hard. If he develops a clear position. If he gets a killer instinct. If he lands on the right team. If. If. If. LeBron didn't have any of those ifs. Neither did Duncan. Still you've got to consider him for the No. 1 pick, because all of those ifs, if they pan out, add up to one helluva player. But this is what we've come to -- trying to project what a good, but not great, high school player will become in the NBA."
Is he No. 1?
If it sounds like some aren't totally sold on Howard, it's because they're not. Likewise, there are some who feel Okafor is just an average NBA power forward, and who see Luol Deng as a Shane Battier-type role player.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So how did Okafor and Howard end up as the "consensus" No. 1 players in the draft?
“ Once the buzz is out there and everyone claims a guy is a star, we're often too quick to get in line. It's burned us before, and it could end up doing it again. ”
— NBA team executive
"We're really bad about that," one NBA executive told Insider. "We're a little like lemmings. Once the buzz is out there and everyone claims a guy is a star, we're often too quick to get in line. It's burned us before, and it could end up doing it again. With this draft, the guys we're talking about at six or seven may deserve the No. 1 pick more than Howard. He's up there because he's big, but I'm not sure he's the best player on the board."
He may be right. Livingston, another high school question mark, at least has proven he has the head to be a star. If his body ever develops (something NBA teams have much more control over), he could be the best player in the draft class.
Andre Iguodala, Ben Gordon, Devin Harris, Josh Childress, Luol Deng and Luke Jackson all have done it on the college level and could give the teams that draft them an immediate return. All five have a chance to be All-Stars.
But with the exception of Livingston, none has a realistic shot at superstardom. Howard does. It's why teams are willing to take the risk.
At the end of the day, a GM tries to hit a home run with the No. 1 pick. A solid double rarely does it these days.
Howard has faith he some day can lead a team to the promised land. All it takes is one GM to agree.
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6/15/2004 9:47 AM
