The east has more depth at the 5 than the west. It's the back courts, where the great differentials kick in.
Short answer - No Long answer - Hell to the no! Stupid question! The dude is only 27! He still has about 5 years of elite basketball in him!
Howard is not past his prime, the joker is only 28. He only played 54 games his last season in Orlando due to injuries. He played 79 games last season injured. So again no sir.
Its hard to tell. from what it seems howard was in his prime when he was with orlando. he's still young though. we'll see what he does this upcoming season.
Howard is in his prime now, will rebound a little bit and sustain it for another couple seasons (if he doesnt get any other injuries) His last season in ORL was the strike shortened 66 game season. He'da missed the equivalent of 15 regular season games if it was a full season. Significant amount but not hefty, thats about a typical Shaquille O'Neal season. And on Shaq, he was still every bit "Shaq" until age 31. While Shaq was a mobile freak for his size, he didnt have near overall fitness of Howard. And its not like Shaq developed any great finesse touch. Only thing can maybe hold against Howard is saying maybe he's in TOO great a physical shape, so he has nowhere TO go but down a little
For the "HE 'BRINGS IT' in the PLAYOFFS" thing, rising to the occasion a compliment about a player - Howard's postseason stats generally IMPROVE some from his regular season stats. His numbers this past playoffs too improved over his regular season numbers. I don't like Howard much as a person. And it doesnt matter how he compares to the all time greats or the different "era of big men" arguments, I know he's a premiere player and its better that he's a premiere player on YOUR team rather than with your conference competitor.
I think him and Amare are very comparable, but Dwight still has his knees. His shoulder will probably be ok, but I'm sure it wasn't at all near 100 percent this year at all. Dwight has played hurt, but did he quit on his team his last year with the Magic, or did that save his career? That there was a big big thing that might have SAVED his career. His back seemed to hold up pretty well this year. He didn't have near the confidence with Kobe riding him so hard, IMO. Past his prime? I'd say no, but if his back starts going out then he's going to def. have to adjust, or he will have past his prime. His defense when he's been hurt has been light years beyond David Lee so that's good news...if we got him in a Rockets uni of course!
I think Dwight is still in his prime now but a little bit on the downhill side already due to injuries. The key is rehabilitating properly. If he can somehow regain his former health, he'll be effective at for at least 3-4 years more. If not, it will just go worse since his game's primary requisite is athleticism. Without it, he'll just be another big almost static body in the paint.
