Is that why Howard absolutely killed Amare when they played this season? Dwight's a different player this season than in years past.
Dwight Howard is definatly more dominant than Yao. He's the closest to Shaq in his prime. Dwight has been a monster this season, the big man is just unstoppable He can't shoot though, and Yao can. Yaos' a better player talentwise. But Dwight is just the most dominant center in the league.
For those who care, the box for DH vs Amare: Code: Player mins, FGM/A FTM/A PTS REB AST BLK TO PF Amare 25 6/11 1/2 13 6 1 1 3 5 DH 25 13/24 7/16 33 18 3 1 4 2 Yeah, Howard sure chokes against Amare.
I'm the one who posted that Howard was going to be the next Shaq and a lot of posters thought I was crazy. Howard is the real deal and he is better than Yao. Yes, Yao can shoot from outside but he can't get position or the ball when the game is on the line. Howard on the other hand can only dunk and play around the rim but he can get that shot regardless of what the defense does to him. You can not defend Howard and he is only going to get better. Howard is the perfect person to learn from Dream and Shaq because he has speed, power and most importantly tenacity to be one of the all time greats.
I haven't been able to watch any Magic games this season (haven't tuned in to the West Coast ones, and the East Coast ones are done before I get home) but Dwight Howard's numbers are insane. The Magic are also playing very well. The reason I said I don't watch Magic games is that... Does anyone know if D. Howard is defended like Yao? I don't mean fronting, I mean doubled as soon as he gets the ball or puts it on the floor? Or is he too fast for that this season? He has no jumpshot that I know of so the numbers he's putting up is scary considering it's all athleticism.
He gets fronted a lot and has similar problems to Yao just getting the ball. The difference is he can jump and is mobile. Sort of like with Shaq, whenever there is a void, his teammates kind of toss the ball in there and be assume he will gets two hands on it. He does get doubled or else he will back his guy down or spin around him for a jam. Again, this is sort of like Shaq. When Howard gets doubled he has trouble making the right decision unless it really obvious where the open man is. When he gets the ball too far from the basket, it usually takes him too long to beat his man to make anything happen. Bottom line: He has to receive the pass fairly close in, but when he does it's a trip to the FT line or a jam. It's possible to deny him the ball but it takes a lot of energy to do this over a full game because Howard is so much more active and demanding this season. He doesn't take a lot of plays off. If his defender is really athletic, fronting works OK but it also gives up several guaranteed baskets.
Saying Howard is better than Yao right now is straight up idiotic. Yao humiliated him last season and not too much is going to change. Maybe in a couple years things will change but until then, shut up. Just wait till the rockets play the magic. There really isnt a question.
Saying Howard is better than Yao right now isn't that "idiotic." And it certainly isn't gonna take "years" for it to change. I would say Yao is slightly better than Howard right now but that can certainly change as the season rolls along. Look at Howard's numbers for chrissakes. When was the last time Yao grabbed 18 rebounds? Last season is just that, last season.
howard is way better rebounder, a better shotblocker and a better athlete than yao. you can play him almost as much minutes as you want and he's not out of power at the end of the game. he's just more effective compared to yao. that's my opinion.
Nice double standard. Yao dominates in 05-06 after he returns from his injury. People cry fluke, he isn't the best. Again in 06-07 before the knee, people still said he hadn't done it long enough. Now Howard plays great for 12 games and already people proclaim him the greatest in the world. Disgusting.
It depends on what facet of the game you are asking about. I think you can run your offense through Yao (as far as him getting shots for others). I'm not so sure that you can do that for Howard yet. However, it seems like Howard has the advantage in making an impact when he isn't scoring (on the boards, etc).
Is not about FT %. Is about getting the defenders to foul you. Dwight can foul out opponents' center easily an force them to adjust whereas yao cant! One problem is yao can get fair call though!
So are Dwight and Amare OFFICIALLY centers for the NBA now? Cus I remember them coming in the league as PF's.
There's a difference. Howard's weakness is that he doesn't have any offensive moves and is still pretty raw. Yao's weakness is his lack of mobility and his timid demeanor (though I think at times signs of the former are unfairly attributed to the latter). While he isn't going to develop a full fledged offensive arsenal like Hakeem Olajuwon, Howard can easily improve on his problem whereas Yao cannot. While Howard is a beast, I'm not completely buying into the hype of him exploding into the next all-time center. The unwarranted assumption right now is that he WILL develop offensive moves. I just don't see any substantial evidence historically to support this. He'll be turning 22 in December. Obviously you had Hakeem as an example but he came in with the footwork from the soccer background. O'neal, Ewing, Robinson, Duncan all came in with some refined post moves (the latter two much moreso than the former). I just don't see any indication that he will develop into the 30ppg hall of famer that some are now starting to project. Not that it matters, both he and Yao have proved themselves as great centers in the game, so those doubts are erased. They will both average 25ppg. My only question now is where they will rank/project historically. Howard will be better than Ewing, no doubt, but I don't think you can definitely project him into that top tier (Hakeem/Shaq) just based on the fact that he is averaging 23ppg on dunks. It's not a guarantee that the rest of the arsenal will develop.
It's definitely his lack of mobility / athleticism....which in turns comes across as timid. If Yao had Dwight's athleticism, you can be sure he'd seem more "dominant". What's more, given the rules in today's NBA, you really just can't back anyone down anymore. For one thing, you have a 5 second penalty that says you can't. But more than that, pushing and shoving down low are allowed to a much greater extent than in the past while at the same time "athletic" moves on the court, both down low or anywhere else on the court, are highly respected by the refs. Some of this is good - I certainly wasn't a fan of backcourt hand-checking and prevention of guard penetration. But I don't think the league has gone far enough. They need to reduce all the pushing and shoving considerably. For years, commentators have been wary of this because they think fouls will be called constantly. True, at first, but after a few weeks of your starters fouling out, I think defenses will adjust. To the topic at hand...Yao is effective in the only way he can be, and more props to him for that. But you have to be impressed with Dwight's continued improvements. Shaq was not much more than a dunk machine at first, either, but when you combine that much athleticism with that much size, it doesn't really matter. And Dwight doesn't even have Hakeem, D. Rob, Ewing, etc. to go up against. He'll be fun to watch.
I'll take yao over howard any day.... He has 250 million plus people on his back overseas.... If you disagree he will strip your hard earn living away from you... Oh yeah all you nerds posting on here, go back to watching heroes and grab your bottle of lotion as well.....
woah... hold on man... the dwight howard fans have good points here. your points... are lame. 250 million people? that makes yao a better player? and calling us nerds? hell if we are what you call nerds.... then you are... a nerd too. as of the season gone so far... dwight is better than yao. we can't judge them now though because yao could be hidden goal, yet to be discovered or dwight could be a fool's goal, like the houston rockets were this season.
