In addition to traveling to Europe and Asia on adidas promotional tours and to Africa to donate a school, Howard said he plans to hire a shooting coach to help him improve his midrange game and his notoriously poor free-throw shooting.
Last year, Howard spent a few days in Texas working on his footwork and low-post moves with former Houston Rockets all-star Hakeem Olajuwon. Howard wants to work with Olajuwon more extensively this summer.
“I just want to become better,” Howard said. “I want to win a championship. I just felt bad losing in the first round and I just want to make sure that our team has a chance to win a championship next year.”
Howard’s free-throw shooting is an obvious Achilles’ heel, and improving it would make him much more effective: if Howard had shot 75% from the free throw line this season, he would have averaged nearly two more points per game. And while Howard’s post game turned into a legitimate strength last season, it’s still something of a work in progress, and adding a few more counter-moves never hurts.
A shooting coach isn’t a panacea: Rajon Rondo has worked with Mark Price in the past, to little effect, and Shaq had countless free-throw coaches throughout the years. Still, it’s good to see that Howard is going to attempt to do everything he can to shore up his biggest weaknesses and improve as a player.
