Dwight Howard hires Ed Palubinskas to be his shooting coach

In his quest to become a better free-throw shooter, Dwight Howard has turned to a man who bills himself as the "Shooting Surgeon General" and the "Free-Throw Master."

Howard is working with shooting coach Ed Palubinskas, an Australian sharpshooter who played in the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics and is the career free-throw percentage leader at LSU. Palubinskas has worked with Orlando Magic power forward Brandon Bass and also briefly worked with Shaquille O'Neal.

A photograph of Palubinskas working with Howard on Thursday was posted on Facebook by Bright House Sports Network's David Baumann. Palubinskas had attempted to work with Howard for at least a year.

In May 2010, Palubinskas sent an e-mail message to the Orlando Sentinel in which he said that he had written and called Howard to offer his services but had received no response.

"I will completely change his numbers in less than one week and you won't recognize him," Palubinskas wrote then.