Yao is the better player now but I see Howard surpassing him in the near future. The guy is posting up MONSTER numbers. Yao will always be the better offensive player but Dwight will be better overall.
Amare, Yao, and Dwight are the clear elite centers. As far as value to their team or overall impact, I think you could make a case for all three as the best center. Yao is the best offensively. Amare is the most athletic. Dwight is the strongest. At 7 feet, these three skills/attributes are a deadly asset to any team, as is visible by all three of their respective teams being consensus top tier NBA squads. Overall, I'd say Dwight is the biggest big guy. He overcomes his weakness, or at least makes up for it more than the other two. Dwight lacks a scorers touch, but has the tenacity to still dominate the game. More importantly he has the brains to slam it home most of the time rather than lay it up. Yao probably won't get any faster, and Amare won't get any smarter. Based on how the season has started and how the centers have played thus far, if I was forced to make a subjective listing of young centers, I'd go: 1) Dwight Howard 2) Amare Stoudamire 3) Yao Ming Yao needs to prove me wrong, he has the highest ceiling of all of them (no pun intended).
Dwight is better, no question. Defensively he's a monster, and on offense he can get dunks at well cause he's so strong. Yao plays finesse but is far too inconsistent because his offense makes up so much of his game, while Dwight plays both ends and always impacts the game grabbing rebounds and blocking shots. Dwight is also better suited to face these new teams like the Warriors that Yao cannot hang with. Also, Yao's turnovers just piss me off, lol.
Watching Howard against the Suns. I'm just about ready to admit he's better. Currently he's at 30/22 with a couple of minutes left. After starting out 1/5 and looking a little flustered, he's gone 12/14 from the floor. Instead of shutting down like an Andrew Bynum, that's called maturity. I still think we need at least 1/2 the season to make a final judgment.
That was a GREAT game. Very sorry the Magic came up short but they impressed. It will be tough for them if Rashard continues to underperform. What a choker for someone who is supposed to be at the "peak" of his career (his own words). Turkey-Glue is a better player. I compare Rashard getting that ridiculous contract to when Juwan Howard got the $105MM from the Wizards. Career-wise, that's where Rashard is headed to IMO. BTW, anybody who still thinks Amare is better than Howard needs to have their head examined. Who was it that said Howard doesn't do well against Amare?
Dwight used to struggle against Amare (check out Dwight's games last season against Phoenix as proof) but is clearly a very different player now. Howard is just a freak right now. He used to struggle to put up 30 points consistently, and now he's doing it like it's nothing.
Yeah that was a monster performance vs the Suns.. 30 and 23 is absurd. I think the top centers are 1. Duncan(He is actually a center IMO) 2. Howard 3. Yao 4. Amare
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2007113021 PHOENIX (AP) -- Raja Bell had a season-high 20 points to pace the Suns to a 110-106 victory on Friday night over the Orlando Magic, the NBA's winningest team. The Magic are 14-4, with two of their losses against the Suns, who also beat them 106-96 at Orlando Nov. 10. Orlando had been 9-1 since then. Amare Stoudemire had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Shawn Marion had 18 points and nine rebounds, Grant Hill scored 15 points, Leandro Barbosa 17, and Steve Nash added 15 points and 14 assists for the Suns (12-4), who snapped a two-game skid. Dwight Howard, who had a career-high 39 points and 16 rebounds against Seattle on Wednesday night, followed that with 30 points and 23 rebounds against the Suns. Howard had eight dunks. Hedo Turkoglu added 25 points for the Magic and Rashard Lewis had 18. The Magic, who trailed by 10 points starting the fourth quarter, pulled to 107-106 with 11.4 seconds remaining on two free throws by Lewis. Marion then hit one of two free throws, Lewis missed a 3-pointer, and Nash sealed the victory with two foul shots with 3.8 seconds left. ADVERTISEMENT Bell, whose previous high this season was 16, already had 18 in the first half, on 7-of-10 shots, including all four of his 3-point attempts. Hampered by back and ankle injuries this season and considered doubtful to start Friday, Bell appeared to have more spring in his step than in recent games, showing no ill effects of his physical ailments. With the help of Bell's pinpoint shooting, the Suns established a 60-50 halftime lead. They were aided by 12 Orlando turnovers, leading to 12 points. Howard started slowly, missing four of his first five shots. He heated up, however, and the league leader in double-doubles already had his 15th by halftime, with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Twice the Suns led by 15 points in the first half, including 31-16 after one period. Nash made his first nine free-throw attempts, extending his streak without a miss this season to 53, the most in the NBA since Philadelphia's Kyle Korver hit 47 in a row last season. But he missed his 10th, with 15.8 seconds left. Notes: Howard had 73 dunks coming into the game, more than 25 NBA teams, and more than twice as many as any other player. The Lakers' Andrew Bynum was second with 33. ... The Suns now embark on a season-high five-game road trip in seven days, visiting New York, Indiana, Toronto, Washington and Minnesota. ... The Magic complete their five-game road swing at the Lakers on Sunday and at Golden State on Monday. ... The Suns' Sean Marks, who was born in Auckland, New Zealand, became a U.S. citizen Friday. ... Orlando's 16 first-quarter points were a season low for a Suns' opponent. Howard and Bynum will rule the NBA in the next 2-3 years! To conclude this discussion Yao maybe better player right now but the end of both Yao and Howard's career, Howard will definitely has better career in both stats and achievement like Championships rings and a few MVP awards!
39 and 16, 30 and 23 in the last two games. I know Yao has had some great series of games in the past, but this is beyond ridiculous for a guy who still has no "offensive game" (if you don't consider dunks/layups alas Shaq earlier in his career with Orlando to constitute an "offensive game"). I am officially scared of this guy. If he keeps this up for the remainder of the season, I might just have to look at him with the same healthy dose of fear/respect I had for playing a young Shaq back in the day, even with the knowledge that Dream was still a Rocket.
Dwight Howard could very well be the MVP this year if the Magic keeps up their current winning percentage. And he's not even 22 yet. This is SCARY. The Magic made the right decision picking Howard over Okafor although it was not the popular decision back then. Let's give the hockey guy some credit.
Put them against each other in head to head play about 5 times and see who comes out on top. Only way to tell. Mano-E-Mano
Power and athleticism get consideration as skills. If outjumping everyone by 9 inches ends up with a converted shot 65% of the time, it counts the same as a spin move. Right now I say Yao by 2% cuz Howard's only been statistically better than Yao a 1/4 of a season. Will have no problem giving Howard his credit by year's end. *my own long winded thoughts on Yao* Thinking of this gave me a better appreciation of Yao. As clumsy and "soft" as he is, I think he has much more natural skill than Howard. Yao's body just TOO huge which made him more awkward while developing into that body, and holds him back a little on the defensive end. If Yao had for example Dirk Nowitki's body, he'd be one of the more well-rounded centers ever on both sides of the ball. He be wouldnt as good offensively cuz the height advantage in the low block wouldnt be there. On the other end of the floor the awareness is there on rebounding. The willingness is there on defense. But bless his heart he's simply too slow and stiff to react...
He is very slow. I have a friend of mine who works at Rice U. He says that Yao comes out with two bodyguards and Falsone. Yao will run up and down the football field with big galloping steps while Falsone and the bodyguards runs circles around him. Yao is sucking wind big time doing "windsprints" which for the normal size athlete would be a fast jog. He said you can see Yao with both hands on his knees sucking air. So you are right, for Yao's huge size, it's amazing he's doing as well as he can on the basketball court in the NBA. He uses his size to the best of his abilities. I only wish he were stronger and played like Shaq to make opposition players pay for trying to go against him. If he gets the ball in the low post, I wouldn't mind a Shaqlike move to dunk the ball leaving behind defenders sprawled out all over the floor.
i won't pass the verdict till the end of season. but it doesn't look like yao's going to turn it around. i think stats wise howard won't leave people with any doubt who's better by the end of this season. what's left going for yao is some intagibles like ft shooting and post moves.
I don't consider Dwight Howard or Tim Duncan a center, sorry to you nuthuggers. And in the long run, Yao is better cause of more skills and finesse. Once Dwight Howard gets a bit older, he'll lose those hops and strength, and he'll be nothing. I don't ever see him develop a J, not even Amare's J is consistent.
