Is Dwight Howard the most overrated Center in NBA history?

You mention his lack of scoring ability, but you know who is the most efficient scorer out of those centers you mentioned? It's Dwight Howard. Career TS% .601.

He is also the best rebounder. He's got highest TRB%, Moses was better offensive rebounder, Walton was slighty better defensive rebounder.

And he is arguably the best defender. So no he is not overrated.

Freethrows are a liability, but smart teams won't foul even a 47% FT shooter. You have to be Ben Wallace bad. Fouling is smart only when you need to stop the clock(if you are down 15 with 5 mins to go), but when you account the possibility of offensive rebounds(12%) and the fact that you have to play against set halfcourt defense, it's not worth it.

 

It's not Dwight's fault that dominant Centers are becoming extinct. He plays in today's NBA, where some Centers either think they're Shooting Guards, most have no resemblance of a post game, and a good handful are too brittle to ever stay on the court.

 

Dwight isn't overrated at all - he's the considered the best center in the NBA today but isn't considered up to the standards of past centers such as Olajuwon, and this is true. He's more than just 'solid' defensively - he's the best defensive center in the league, and could rival most past centers in defense, as he's longer, stronger, and FAR more athletic than centers like Olajuwon. He's a BEAST rebounder, the best in the league today and again is up there all time.

Offensively is where many don't understand how good he is. Sure he lacks post moves and he can't shoot at all, but he gets the job done based on athleticism and power. Over his career he's averaged 18.4 points on 58% shooting, which is extremely efficient. Compare this to Olajuwon who averaged 21.7 points on 51% shooting over his career in similar minutes. That's not really much more impressive Howard's. The difference is that Olajuwon had pretty postmoves, while Howard just bullies his way to the basket, but the truth of the matter is that Howard's way of scoring is efficient, even if it is ugly. Note that I don't say that Howard is better than Olajuwon, but its actually probably pretty close.

 

This isn't true at all if you only use the 1st eight years of the other greats. You can't cherry-pick a player's 1st eight years, and measure against the other greats over their entire career. People go past their primes and their career stats go down.

People do this with baseball stats all the time, too. You have to measure Howard against the first eight years of everyone else.

 

/popcorn

 

Better put on your flame-suit, bud.

 

He's the best center in the NBA, but he lacks a polished offensive game to be an all-time great center. In the '90s (arguably the golden age of the Big Man) Dwight would probably play power forward.

 

Dwight is hands down the best inside defensive presence of the last 5 years in the nba.
His offensive skills are nowhere near those of the truly great centers. But he is not overrated.

 

I know, I chose an Olajuwon comparison for a reason. :grin:

And also Howard measured 6'10.25 in shoes at age 18, and he's likely grown since then, and he also has an absurd 7'5 wingspan which is one of the the longest in the league.

 

Kevin Love is the best big man.

 

It seems questionable whether Howard is really any better than Kevin Willis much less one of the great centers in history.

 

I agree, and think that he is partially overrated mainly because the lack of supply of great big men.

Yao was leap years beyond Dwight in the IQ side of the game. We are lucky we got to see Yao while we did, albeit as short as it was.

-I agree too that Marc Gasol, and Bynum (when he is healthy is better) are just as elite as Dwight, and probably less of a liability at the FT line late in games.

--Dwight does have the power, and just extreme size that also adds to his value among the big men. All time speaking I don't know until his career is over. He is a product of what the "Center position" has become, which is, if you are big, can run, and can throw down some dunks then you get all the highlights you want on Sportscenter.
Dwight has the "Shaq Dunk", but he can't use it much because he isn't a great post player.

Looking back now at the trade we thought would happen. I'm glad it didn't work out, and Orl. just really wanted Afflalo. (spelling?) Harden is that piece that we really wanted. Look at Asik this year, and all the double doubles he is putting up. I'd argue that Harden, and Asik are doing more than Dwight would/could have done with us. Asik & Harden wanted to be here. Dwight though did not want to sign an extension here. So I am happy, and looking back ya we probably did overrate him. However, he is a dominant big any team would love to have.

-If he ever does put on the Rockets Red then great, but until then ya he's overrated. Like I said though not sure if he's all time most overrated C until after his career.
-Maybe at this point the way he is hyped up. I think he created, and brought that upon himself though.

 

No disrespect but this is the problem with stats to compare players. Moses and Bill Walton played amongst men. On a normal night Dwight has somene 6'9" guarding him.
Dwight in that era would have been Otis Thorpe with more hops

 

He was overrated by Magic fans. Now I think Lakers fans realize that he is basically a rich man's Tyson chandler.

 

Your 7'5 'absurd' comment made me look up some Thunder players that Presti has drafted/traded for (Dwight's wingspan was listed as only 7'4.5)

KD 7'4.75
Cole 7'4.75
Serge 7'4
Perkins 7'4
Thabo 7'2.
Jones 7'1.75
Reggie Jackson 7'0.
Lamb 6'11
Harden 6'10.75

Presti apparently only likes players with 'absurd' wingspans.

If you want to know a truly absurd wingspan, look up Gobert!

 

Dude played like Shaq,

only problem is he is useless when he cant move his man out of the way

a poor mans Shaq... with less offensive moves

the fear in his eyes when he went goes up against centers he could not move out of the way...like Yao

was hilarious

 

Dwight has always been overrated simply because of his highlight reels. Yes he's a great rebounder and is a great defensive player but he has peaked in his game. His unwillingness to work harder on his game to improve on simple things like Free throws or a consistent post move is one of the reasons why he hasn't really improve since the last few years.

Yao is a great center and he is one of the most hard working players in the league when he was active. Yao improved his game each and every year but sadly his injuries caught up to him. Dwight Howard on the other hand is incredibly lucky to never really had a big injury hit him. Dwight may be one of the most gifted athletes ever but he does not have the same motivation and drives like the great players do. He just settles at where he is and believes that he is good enough and doesn't have to improve anything.

Even though Shaq is a selfish jerk sometimes, he is right about Howard. He said that Howard jokes around a lot out of games and still joke around during games, that he doesn't take it seriously enough. Also, Shaq mentioned that Howard is physically gifted and he should be averaging around 25+ points which he should be able to with his size and athletic ability. But he doesn't because he is so limited offensively.

Howard is only effective when he is near the rim. If a stronger player pushes him out away from the rim, he wouldn't be as effective or if you just foul him. An undrafted center in Greg Smith dominated Howard the other night. Smith was able to finish around the rim but also knocking down his FTs at around 80%.

 

Howard is efficient because all of his points come from dunking or anywhere near the rim. Of course when all of your shots are right next to the rim, you would most likely make all of them too. Howard is a great defensive player because of the weak side blocks but also because of his physical ability.

But if you really look into it, Mutombo was a better defensive player than Howard. With the skills and physical ability that Howard possesses, he should be much more dominant because there are no other centers in the NBA that could compete against Howard physically.

The reason why Howard is a bit overrated is because people are putting him in the same category with some of the greatest centers in NBA history. Howard may be the best center in today's game but he is not in the same category as the greats. I don't know if you notice, but some people that are close to Howard questioned his work ethic. Its really obvious because a player with his caliber can easily dominate night in and night out.

This is Dwight's 9th NBA season and his best season in stats wise is back in 10-11 season. Since then, he has not really improve in any category. In the 9 seasons, Dwight has never really added a consistent post game to his arsenal. His jump shots are still non-existent and his FTs aren't getting any better. He is still a great rebounder because of his wide shoulders and athleticism and no doubt one of the best in the league. But when you look at great players in the NBA, they improve every year and adds new aspect to their game. Sure Dwight has worked on his game and has come from a long way since his rookie year. But ever since he reached his peak, he hasn't really improve anything since then. Its almost like he just settles and just leave it at that.