Has Hakeem Olajuwon's Tutelage Started to Help Dwight Howard Yet?

The Houston Rockets’ free agency pitch to Dwight Howard had a lot to do with the franchise’s big man legacy. The subtext to their rhetoric wasn’t exactly hidden—it screamed "Hakeem Olajuwon."

The two-time MVP and NBA champion was advertised as Howard’s chief new teacher, as he now works as a mentor with the team. But have his lessons borne fruit on the court? Can we see The Dream’s wisdom and know-how in Dwight’s play?

So far, only slightly. The Nigerian great was a terrific player for many reasons. He could overpower many opponents and had a golden touch to his shot, but it was his grace, his agility, his singular footwork and his use of space that made him transcendent and set him apart.

Howard has never been known for such slyness, and Olajuwon’s teaching it to him isn’t coming fast. Hakeem blurted a gaffe in August when he said that Howard’s offensive game is “very raw,” and almost everything we’ve seen this season backs that claim up.

Howard is averaging a healthy 17.6 points per game on 56 percent field goal shooting, but most of that action is coming out of his time-tested comfort zones. He’s out-muscling and out-jumping his man, compiling points on putbacks and pick and rolls.

None of which is to say that Howard is exactly bad in the post—he is, on the contrary, elite. But he gets to that level more with power than skill, and a maturation of his skill set would benefit the Rockets greatly. The more Howard can create offense without another man or a play run for him, the more Houston can spread defenses and pepper the arc with their bevy of three-point shooters.

A dimension of Dwight’s game which has sometimes looked more honed is his spin move. On occasion, Howard is able to operate in small post spaces without flexing his man out of his area and make a somewhat graceful hook shot. But it’s not consistent yet.

“Adding finesse to the power” was one way Olajuwon described his workouts with Howard. It’s a step that will be mandatory for D12’s continued relevance in the league as he ages and his natural physical advantages soften further.

Howard’s skills in the post will have to continue improving if the Rockets want to make noise in the playoffs.

This seems especially true given his poor faring in two games against the Los Angeles Clippers, in which the younger DeAndre Jordan demonstrated that Howard’s physicality is simply no longer enough to take care of his opponents. Dwight is averaging just 8.5 rebounds per game versus Jordan’s 13.5 in their showdowns—this is well below Howard’s season average of 14.9 boards per game.

Taking into consideration that Jordan is the only formidable defensive big man Howard has had to square off against this season, it’s clear that he needs to learn the tenets of Olajuwon’s dexterity in the restricted zone quite quickly if Houston wants to excel this season. Tim Duncan, Serge Ibaka and Andrew Bogut will all be there in the playoffs, and none will fold to anything but Dwight’s very best.

Olajuwon made postseason fools of Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O'Neal and David Robinson in his prime, and it wasn't because he had a distinct physical edge over any of them; he didn't. Hakeem was fleet of foot, but not to an extent that could explain the girth of Shaq. Rather, he was able to dupe O'Neal and the rest of his adversaries repeatedly, placing the dunce hat over their heads in his school of the paint. Can Dwight ever get to such a place with this game?

As Hakeem puts it, Howard “has all the tools.” D12 has always been gifted with a force of a body—no one’s questioned this. But will he ever match it with a top-notch basketball brain? Consider the learning arc with Olajuwon’s big man poetics yet another saga of Dwight’s will-he-or-won’t-he challenge to mature.