if dwight wins 4-5 more DPOYs, it's hard to argue against dwight's case for being one of the best defensive players to ever grace the basketball court. hakeem only won 2 DPOYs. however, offensively, he still has a long way to go if he wants to go down in history. the greatest centers back then could average 25+ points pretty easily. this was dwight's best year yet and he put up 23 points (not historic #s by any mean offensively). i think his chances of becoming a top 5 center of all time (which is slim) depends on his offensive development. he's great now, but he has to be better
How does he dominate on both ends? he doesn't dominate on offense, this is his best season and he averages 23 ppg.
Correct. Defensive 3 seconds has no effect whatsoever. 90's rules required man-to-man defense. You could be in the paint if you were within arm's reach of the player you were covering. Allowing zone changed this. In theory, zone allows defensive players to camp the paint as much as they want. That's why they instilled the defensive 3 second rule. In regards to the paint, it brought things back to the status quo. In other words, Howard isn't subject to any restrictions that 90's centers weren't subject to. Of course there's a need to call out your idiocy. You think I defend players simply b/c they're from my generation when the truth is, if the mid 90's versions of Shaq, Olajuwon, Robinson, Ewing, and Mourning were playing today, Dwight Howard would be at best the 5th center in the league. It's easy to put up good numbers against inferior competition. How well do you think Wilt Chamberlain would fare in today's game?
To me thats domination..regardless of the other center's skill-level...If he gets 30 and 15 and the other center only gets 15 because they're in constant foul trouble...How is he not dominant??.....This is his best season offensively as far as points yes....But thats because SVG didnt make him option 1 in the offense until now.......Time will tell if he can continue making progress offensively... But at least he now has the offense run through him
Thats all Im sayin ...Theres a chance he could become an all-timer......True its ridiculously hard to get that kind of recognition today because of the perception/bias of the NBA...But I dont think you could argue against him if he 1)wins a couple rings 2)keeps stowing away DPOY trophies 3)keeep putrin up 24/13/3.....
Here is a problem, the top 5 centers of all time do a lot more than just 23 points per game. And do you know who they do it against? Other hall of fame centers. Is Dwight Howard going up against any centers right now in their prime with HOF potential? Look at the history of all NBA teams, Dwight goes up against Yao, Amare Stoudamire and an over the hill Shaq. An over the hill Shaq gets into the all nba team...... Dwight could become an all timer defense center, sure. But like I said, he will never be the top 5 centers of all time, nor will he be better than Hakeem defensively, period.
The offense isn't ran through him because despite his improvements, he is still not a consistent low post one on one player. A lot of his points still come from put backs and lobs. Until he becomes like Shaq, Hakeem, even Yao, where the team can dump him the ball in the post in crunch time and expect him to make a consistent good move, he will never average more than 23 24 ppg a game, and will never "dominate" the game offesively.
It is not about perception bias. Sure he can become a great center, but top 5 will be very difficult. Of course if he stays the best player on his team and wins 6 straight championships get some MVP awards and Final MVP awards along the way he will be one of the best of all time. But he hasn't shown that so far. And I doubt that will happen. Based on what we have seen so far he can become one of the top 10 centers of all time. But top 5 will be very difficult. He really needs to keep developing and growing as a player. He is still quite young, so maybe he will keep improving a lot. this is the first year he has been dominant on the offensive end (and even now he scores mostly by put backs and dunks). The all-time great didn't take so long to become dominant, he has some catching up to do. And I doubt he will be able to do that.
Okay...What part of biased are you not comprehending???.....If thats "All" he has to do then da hell with it.......Those kind of guidelines wouldnt allow Yao Ming to be the best of all-time in China.... So after reading that I would assume you think Bill Russell is the greatest center of all time right???
No that is not all he has to do. If he does that he will definitely be mentioned with the all-time greats. You were saying that he would win a couple of rings and keep stowing away defensive player of the year awards). But if he want to be mentioned with the 5 best of al time he does need a couple of championships (with him as best player on the team) win at least 2 Final MVP awards, at least 1 MVP (Dream only got one, but we all know he deserved at least another), and his stats should be a bit better, because also statistically he is not as impressive as the all-time greats. He doesn't have any of those. so how can you mention him with the all-time greats. Now he is basically a Patrick Ewing type of center, very good but not one of the all-time greats (of course he is much better than the Rik Smits). At which part of Howards game do you believe he is better than the all-time greats? I cannot think of any. Furthermore he doesn't have the championships or the personal awards or better stats, so what makes you think he will be better than those players.
Seriously....Howards emphasis on the defensive side of the ball is better than any of em except Dream.....His rebounding is great and steady to say the least.....His offensive game is better than Russells...Like your previous post said .......Dream deserved more ...but he didnt get the recognition he deserved until after his 2nd title.......even after the MVP awards....People realized how dominant he was when they put his stats up against the other greats..
Why do you think Howard's defense is better than Kareem, Wilt, or Russell's? He only has a clear defensive advantage over Shaq.
Because he is an athletic 7 footer who guards pick and rolls decently, alters shots more than anyone since Hakeem, and is the 1st person to have 3 consecutive DPOY awards (going on 6)
His offensive game is better than Russells'? That's ironic that you said that because Russell was never the focal point of the Celtic's offense. Instead, they took advantage of him as a playmaker. Russell, in place of taking shots, deferred to his teammates. You can tell that just by looking at his assist numbers. Dwight on the other hand, even when he was not demanding the ball, was not a playmaking threat. Bill Russell is also considered one of greatest defensive players of all time. Shaq is not bad at all either, he averaged over 2 blocks in his prime but he never received much defensive recognition. Dwight is a good defender, and maybe despite the fact that he has lesser competition, he could be one of the better defensive centers of all time. But every other aspect of his game is just not near as good as any of the top 5 centers of all time.
The DPOY is way too relative on competition. Do you honestly think Dwight would win 3 DPOYs in a row if he was playing against the likes of Hakeem, Robinson, Mourning and Mutombo?
So? If he's forced to switch and guard a pg, he'd get burned. It's not hard for a big to guard a pick and roll "decently". It doesn't hurt that this is the weakest crop of centers the league has seen in 30 years.
I think he can guard a pg on pick and rolls ....Now you may be right about Mutombo.....Weakest crop of centers is correct but it aint his fault.....
