The question is what one means by "elite"? At his best in Orlando, Howard was arguably as good as Lebron James and is one of the top two guys in the entire NBA. Now? He is still likely a top 10 player, but closer to 10 than he is to 1. Lebron and KD are the "head and shoulders" above everyone else guys. Is top 10 "elite"? It's a semantics question really.
hmm what is your criteria that he was the best player that year? He was 25th!! in scoring or ppg. He did lead the league in rebounding and blk shots though. Granted scoring isnt everything but it's not often you would say the 25th leading scorer in the league was the best player. Wade, Lebron, Kobe were all in their prime. I would say the best player that season was the guy that led his team to a championship over Dwight. The magic team was no scrub team. Check out the talent and depth on that team. Dwight/Gortat/Foyle Rashard Lewis/Tony Battie Hedo Turkoglu/Pietrus Courtney Lee/JJ Reddick Jameer Nelson/Rafer Alston (lol .. tear drop!) Also im not hating on Dwight. he's the best center currently in the NBA but I just never thought he was a super star elite player that can carry a team on his back to a championship. He's not on the same level as your Shaqs, Olajuwons, Lebrons, Kobes, etc.
I didn't read the article, but i will say i was rather underwhelmed by him in the beginning of the season. His post game looked really janky and robotic. He looked good but not great. Recently however, he appears to be back close to pre LA Dwight. He's starting to make everything look easy. He looks more comfortable in the post and is not just effective, but once again dominant. So to answer the question, he's been elite in 2014. If he can keep it up we're in for a great second half of the season.
still cant believe you missed anthony davis.. looking at just stats the two are actually already pretty close. I think he will definitely surpass Dwight as best center in the next year or two. Dwight and Davis should be top 1 and 2. With the Gasols, Hibberts and Noahs of the world a tiny notch below. PPG: Dwight 18.8 Davis 20.5 REB: Dwight 12.5 Davis 10.1 APG: Dwight 1.7 Davis 1.4 SPG: Dwight .9 Davis 1.6 BLK: Dwight 1.8 Davis 3.1 FG% Dwight 58% Davis 52% FT% Dwight 54% Davis 76% TO Dwight 3.3 Davis 1.8
someone missed the 09 finals when dwight went to the finals. He was better in almost every statistical category than he is right now. He scored more points, shot a higher FG%, Grabbed more rebounds, shot a lot better at the FT line, and blocked more shots.
The team is on record to win 11-12 games more than last season with no major roster changes other than adding Howard. Who knows how many more wins they would have minus the twin towers experiment and all the injuries. I'd say Dwight is elite but I respect the article. I just think "elite" is awfully nebulous.
If Howard continues to shoot free throws this well and if he continues to developing that little move he does around the paint, then yes. If he goes back to being the crappy free throw shooter who can only dunk, then no...he's just the modern day Mutumbo.
While I would agree that it has a lot of good information and analysis, I don't think it's a well written article simply because it was worded to generate controversy and get hit. If you read the start of the article, it even seems to insinuate that DH might not be worth the max contract he's making ("What guy did the Rox get for their 88M?"). Why does he even ask this question when he admits that no center in the league possesses his explosive mix of offense and d? To me, the only reason you can even say DH isn't elite was when you compare him to himself, compared to the other big men in the league he's obviously one of the best. Just this game he had 20 and 13 in just 29 mins of play. I struggle to think of 10 guys that's better than Dwight Howard. Using just PER or WARP underscores his impact on D, if we had decent perimeter defenders like Battier on the squad instead of defensive sieves like Harden/Lin we'd be the number 1 team in the league.
tl;dr version. Dwight's no longer top-3. He's more like top-10. Also, I still believe Dwight's DPOY material. If the Rockets can only get a stud perimeter defender, all our defensive metrics would jump up to Orlando type levels. Heck, even if Asik plays like a stud for 15mpg, I believe our defense will jump high enough where Dwight's defense would look better to the public. Right now, he really does have to play with some below average defensive players across the board. Anyway, the Dwight signing has gone as well as I could've expected. But then I was never assuming the Dwight from 2009 Orlando still exist.
I have no doubt Dwight is fully capable of playing like his Orlando days...when he WANTS to. He proved that when he promised a 30-rebound game on his debut as a Rocket, and how he went after every single lose ball within sight. Why isn't he then? I suspect he is coasting in the regular season games, and I fully support this notion. I like the idea that he can prolong his career by coasting. Dwight is one of the most injury-free players in the league. Rockets fans don't need another injury prone superstar, nor a superstar with a shortened career. Even when coasting at 80%, he is still the best center in the league. Just about every vet superstars in the league coasts in regular season. The ones who don't are with teams who are struggling making the playoffs (Melo). Look at Duncan, LeBron, Wade, Spurs, and Heat. They all save their best for last. Those players (and coaches) know how to 'turn it on' when the games become meaningful. That's where their legacy lies--in the rings they wear on their fingers. The regular season wins are meaningless to them. The real season begins at playoffs for all superstars. This is where Dwight should be judged. As long as his plays are good enough to get by in the regular season and stay HEALTHY for the post season, we all should take this article with a grain of salt.
This Dwight really controls the game for us. Defensively he controls the paint and offensively he opens the game up by scoring inside, which then gives better looks to our 3pt shooters. There is only a maybe 2 or 3 players who affect the game on both ends better than Dwight. How is NOT elite? Because he doesn't go out and score 40pts a night? Yea, good article
