The Return of the Hack-a-Shaq

Dwight Howard was drafted by Orlando, lead the Magic to an NBA Finals appearance, and then as a free agent left Orlando in lieu of the Lakers all in the same chronological fashion as Shaquille O’Neal. And even more congruent between the two, Howard has a coin flip’s chance at making a free throw attempt the same way O’Neal did.

And now Dwight is getting intentionally fouled and put on the line late in games almost identically as what was seen in the “Hack-a-Shaq” era. Should everyone be so bewildered and dismayed that this game within the game is being employed?

The numbers say, of course not. And like Nick Bakay said…..

Howard is just 87 for 187 (46.5%) from the line so far this season, and while this is undoubtedly a reasonable sample size, it is realistically a far cry from his career numbers he put up in the eight years prior to becoming a Laker (3,366 for 5,727; 58.8%).

You’d be kidding yourself to think that the reason why multiple teams have utilized the “Hack-a-Dwight” strategy isn’t because of this recent discrepancy. Coaches at the highest level scheme according to any advantage they can possibly gain.

To put this pressure in the mind of a star player that is infant to a new franchise, as well as also under immense early pressure, and while only being able to execute this particular skill at a rate of less than one out of every two times, well, I can’t say that I blame them.

However, I am beginning to blame Howard’s nonchalant route of excuses.

When asked about his free throw discrepancies, Dwight remarked, “just got to keep playing. Keep playing. Keep being aggressive. Keep practicing.”

The cliche nonsense about playing and playing and being aggressive is something that is like iceberg lettuce, like “ummm’s” and “uhhhh’s” during speech – absolute filler, a waste of intake and a poor excuse of outtake – blah, blah, blaaaahhhh.

Be that as it may, it does seem he at least is trying to prioritize the idea of practicing.  Practice? We talkin’ ’bout….. practice?

Obviously something isn’t working in practice. I am of the opinion that vanilla free throw practice in a non-intensive environment won’t work with a personality like Howard. You are just spinning your wheels.

I would hope that there is some kind of competitive umbrella being propped over the entire team when the free throw segment is upon them. I believe a player like Dwight needs team pressure and needs to be pushed in a peer environment. His playful disposition could potentially be countered by a dunce-cap of sorts.  He needs to be driven and provoked by superiors like Kobe Bryant.

Whatever happened to the old team drill? Whatever happened to missing the shot and everyone has to run a liner?

People may scoff and think this idea is silly for pros at this level, but sometimes the easiest way to solving a problem is by gaining an answer through the most simplistic remedy.  And if something like this isn’t taking place, I am afraid that he just “ho-hums” through his free throw segment and isn’t being pushed as far as he can to find the true inspiration and motivation to improve.

After the loss to the Magic on Sunday night, he was asked about what he thought about being fouled in the 4th quarter and sent to the line.  He sharply snipped, “I don’t have any thoughts.”

Really? That’s how you are going to play that? Completely leaving the door wide open to criticism? Bad play.

Howard needs to be transparent about his shortcomings and accept reality. He needs to be willing to shamelessly share what is being worked towards to remedy the problem – not shun away from it like a child.

You’re no longer in Orlando, Dwight. Just because you refuse to welcome the media’s relevant probe doesn’t mean its just going to go away and everyone will be all buddy-buddy tomorrow. Accept your inadequacies and vow to correct the hitch candidly from the get-go.

More times than not it seems so many professional athletes don’t realize how much fans invest in dollars and in time to their direct cause. You get paid millions, but we pay those millions in thousands, hundreds and ones. And when you address these facilitators through the media in such cavalier and aloof ways, it is one of the most detrimental public relations mistakes you can possibly make.

Laker fans want to see improvement on the horizon, and players like Dwight Howard treating concerning observations with adages and buzzwords isn’t going to improve the stock anytime soon. It does nothing but perpetuate the problem.

But then again, Laker fans are as frivolous and as paltry as the next fad anyways, right? They don’t really care about things like this, do they? So why does a Laker fan like me even delve into a provlem like this in the first place?

Nevermind.