[Y! Sports] M.Guokas claims Dwight Howard is a better defensive player Russell (HOF)

Ah, the great Matt Guokas.....wait, who?

 

LMFAO YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING. He is a VERY good rebounder, but is on a team that has few quality rebounders and is perimeter orientated. He blocks a lot of shots, usually out of bounds, and, many times leaves his man going for a block and gets burned. He is not a very good one on one defender, and surprisingly can be pushed out of the paint.

He is a good defender in the way that Camby is. He is not even close to being as good a defender as Duncan , Olajuwon, David Robinson, Dikembe Mutombo, Kevin Garnett and others. In fact I would argue that Andrew Bogut for the last 3 months has been a better over all defender....

WOW.... put Howard in the era of Olajuwon, Ewing, Robinson and Shaq and he wouldn't even make the all star team.... unreal

 

the NBA likes to hype things up, same old song

 

Howard has the size advantage on Russell, which obviously helps him on defense. It's not clear that he has the athleticism or quickness advantage on Russell however, Russell was a world class track athlete. Both bring the intimidation factor. Howard can possibly match Russell in rebounding, but I don't think Howard can match the intelligence with which Russell played defense; tip-blocking shots rather than swatting them out of bounds, being able to cover his own man while also helping on penetration, knowing when to go up to block a shot rather than biting on a fake, etc. Howard used to be awful in those areas, he's gotten a lot better, but he's not up to Russell's level. I think Russell is the superior defender.

 

Russel was a top 10 or top 5 player depending on whom you asked, so yeah, LMFAO.

 

On this topic, Matt Goukas has more credibility than 99% of the people who'll be criticizing him over this.

 

Saw this comment. :grin:

 

ಠ_ಠ

I dunno...

 

Dwight Howard against the whities of the 1960s?


Fuggetaboutit.

 

stupid P.O.M.'s prisoners of the moment

these so called experts are so stupid its laughable

 

Comparing players from different eras, make that completely different eras will never work. I have a feeling that Howard would have shown Chamberlain-type domination in those days. The man's a beast, and Durvasa is right, Goukas knows what he's talking about. Though he wasn't a great head coach, he has enough credibility to have been there and has been a player. Sure players aren't always the smartest ones, but give the guy a break, he seems like a pretty bright guy when he speaks.

 

So GuokAs would also have to agree that this would mean that Yao would dominate Russell in the head to head matchups?

I think not.


It's too difficult to compare players from different generations.

 

So he's played against both players?

 

i have no idea who this Guokas is. nor i have witnessed Russell played.
but Dwight isn't even the best defensive center i've seen these past 10 years. gtfo.

 

No, but he played against Russell, he's coached NBA basketball, and he's watched Dwight Howard's defensive impact first hand. Who am I to challenge his opinion?

 

Every time Russell is brought up to be compared to someone, you can bet that people will bring up how many rings he has, and no one will mention about all his HOFer teammates.

I don't know if Howard is a better defender than Russell. It's almost impossible to compare players across eras. (That's why the notion of GOAT is very suspect to say the least.) But I agree with durvasa that not many people (pretty sure none on this board) are more qualified than Guokas to judge on this matter.

 

Can we all agree that Olajuwon was a better defensive player than Russell?
:grin:

 

how stupid

Dwight is a great rebounder and shot blocker, but not a very good one-on-one defender. Its hard to be the best post defender ever when you usually get abused by the best centers in the league.

 

Why does he have more credibility? Because he's a sports writer? If anything, his cred takes a hit because writers make headlines by creating controversy. He wants to draw attention to himself and his column, and did so by making an outlandish, unfounded, statement. Otherwise no one would seek out his column. As far as I can tell, Matt Nobody has no more credibility than the next guy. What an insult for Russell. 11 rings, but Dwight Howard (ZERO rings) is better? I think not.

Whoever said this said it best, "Russell has a ring for each finger and one for his dick"