Big influence: new-age Magic power forward Dwight Howard is taking his cues from old-school mentor Clifford Ray

Sporting News, The, Jan 28, 2005 by Sean Deveney

It's late afternoon in Miami, and 19-year-old Dwight Howard is 10 feet from the basket, leaning back, sweating, feeling the ever-present forearm of 56-year-old coach Clifford Ray buried in his back. Ray is mumbling in Howard's ear, talking, talking, talking, much as he used to do during his 10-year NBA career, when Ray's animated on-court conversations with himself led opponents to think he was bonkers. Howard, a rookie power forward for the Magic, takes a bounce pass from assistant coach Paul Westhead, spins to his left and tosses up a soft, short jumper, He does not look to see if it goes in. (It does.)

Howard turns his back to the basket, in the same spot he had just left. "Again," Ray says. Westhead duplicates the bounce pass, Howard wheels into another spin and takes yet another shot that may or may not go in. Howard doesn't look.

Two hours later, the Magic is playing the Heat, and the game is less than a minute old. Howard spins into the lane, repeating the same move he'd just been practicing, but seems surprised when he sees Shaquille O'Neal's paw slap his shot away. A minute later, Howard gets the ball again and spins to the baseline for a hook shot. On this shot, Howard grimaces as he watches the ball in the air. He misses everything. Airball.

Howard remains in the game for the entire first quarter and 2 minutes into the second. After the embarrassment of his first two tries, he attempts only one shot. When he goes to the bench, Ray goes to him. "Don't you get gun-shy like that," Ray tells him.

This is the education of Howard, done on the fly, with mind-numbing repetition and harsh on-court lessons. He was the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft, a preps-to-pros forward who has been in the Magic's starting lineup all season. He is, as Ray says, "a blank slate," just a kid who, despite prodigious talent and confidence, has limited exposure to big-time basketball. He is athletic and already an excellent rebounder, averaging 9.8 (12th in the league).

As much as Howard's education is about his talent and work ethic, though, it is also about Ray, the hardscrabble coach with the graying beard and a limp in his step. He has dedicated his post-playing life to shattering the notion that big men can't coach. In fact, in Ray's eyes, other big men are the only coaches who can properly teach big men. "Down in the paint, it's a different world," Ray says. "I've seen everything down there. Wilt Chamberlain. Elvin Hayes. Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar). I know how to tell a young guy what to do, what to expect. I don't claim that I can teach guards. So why are all these guards coaching big men?"

There's no disputing Ray's success. He has molded a long list of players: P.J. Brown, Adonal Foyle, Roy Tarpley, Erick Dampier, Nazr Mohammed. In his first year as a part-time coach in Dallas, in 1987-88, the Mavericks led the league in rebounding. When Ray was an assistant in New Jersey in 1995-96, the Nets led the league in rebounding. In Ray's two years at Golden State (2000-01 and '01-02), the Warriors ranked first and second in rebounding. In Cleveland two years ago, Ray had the Cavs up to second in the league. And this season, the Magic, which ranked 23rd in rebounding last season, now ranks second, a big reason for the team's surprising turnaround.

But Ray is accustomed to dealing with players who have limited talent or have underachieved. He works with all Magic big men but was hired last summer specifically to work with Howard. Ray got to know Howard last summer when Ray worked with Dampier and Howard in Atlanta and when Howard attended the Big Man Camp run by Ray and former Celtics center Robert Parish in Florida. The same repetitive post moves Ray and Howard work on before every game consumed much of their summer.

"Clifford practically lived with Dwight this summer," says Magic coach Johnny Davis. "Dwight is an eager student, and Cliff loves that. So, right from the beginning, Cliff was coaching him about everything--playing in the post, conditioning, how to be a professional, nutrition, your attitude toward your teammates, right on down the line."

Ray acknowledges that his coaching style is unorthodox and does not suit all players. But he is widely recognized as the best big-man coach in the league. Howard says Ray's approach encourages players to trust him. He creates a bond with his pupils, to show he supports them when they're failing just as much as when they're having success. Dampier, who has had a rocky transition with the Mavericks this season, says he talks to Ray after every game, sometimes to get pointers and sometimes just to lift his spirits.

"Dwight Howard is going to be a great, great player in this league," Dampier says. "And he is going to be great because of Clifford Ray. He is going to be great because he has the best coach working with him."

Howard was raised in Georgia, and his speech is Southern, sotto voce. He carries a book of goals with him, a practice that dates back to high school, and tops on the list is, "Play hard every night." He went to a small Christian school, sang in the choir and was raised in a household where religion is strong--Howard says he would like to use his time in the NBA to spread the word of God. As a kid, he was a talented point guard until he experienced a 5-inch growth spurt in 10th grade and became the kind of versatile big man who inspires exclamation points in scouting reports. At 6-11,240, Howard has an NBA-ready body. That paved the way to his top-pick status and the $4 million-plus annual salary that comes with it.