Dwight Howard is the best center in the NBA, live with it.

so your rationale is that because yao is not the best player on this team and howard is on his therefore howard is better than yao?

so if howard was on kobe's team, does that mean they are even?

kevin durant is the best player on his team, so therefore he is as good, if not better than tmac, kobe, lebron...is this what youre saying?

 

wow, that's like saying lebron is better than jordan...
I think yao and howard plays very differently from each other
yao is better at the post offense
howard is a better defensive presence inside the paint
we cannot say who is the better man until either of them finishes their careers.

 

Well there's only one way to truly tell who is better. Since they play the same position you have to compare their head to head stats. Dwight PWNS Yao AMIRITE?!

 

On another note, does anyone else lol when they see that McDonald's commercial that says he has "mad skillz"?

Mad skills? I have more pure basketball skills than he does.

 

You are full of it. Yao has a post game with an incredible face up J and unstoppable hook shot. He can hook u with the right and left hand, scores from the left and right block, dunk, rebound, block and hit free throws. Howard is a one dimensional player that just wows people with a big deal its only 2 points dunk

 

4 stars, Dwight is better is not mainly because of the Yao's injury history. Health is one factor, however, it is mainly because Dwight has higher FG% and Rebs.

 

I haven't read any posts in this thread. Question: Can we wait at least 10-15 games before starting this annual debate?

My 2 cents: If he stays healthy, I think Yao is still better than Howard. But also consider that Howard has nobody to protect him and is the only macho player on the Magic. He would love to have a Scola, Landry, Artest, Hayes to roughhouse the other team or to have a playmakers like Tracy and Artest. Instead, Howard has a couple of creampuffs named Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglue next to him and a flaky backcourt led by Jameer Nelson.

Until Yao gets injured again or has his production drop dramatically, there is no reason to move Howard ahead of him.

 

NO, but KG does. KG's stats were subpar by an all star standard last year, let alone MVP. But I thought he was the most valuable player last year.

 

There are tons of argument for and against each guy. There's absolutely no consensus amongst the fans and the experts. Let's just see who can lead their respective teams to the promise land. If the magic go farther in the playoffs this year, I'd have to give the nod to Howard since his team sucks. If Yao can take the Rockets to at least the Western finals, I will give my vote to the center from China.

 

Anyone who knows how to analyze an offense knows that what Yao does for an offense is much more important than what Howard does. He is the first option--a dominant low-post player. Every time he touches the ball, the other team doubles him or he scores. That has a devastating impact on the cohesion of a defense because it contorts the defense so that his teammates have that much more space to get a shot off. Howard is not the number 1 offensive option. He gets his points off the weakside, either off of a rebound or a penetration. Unlike Yao, he does not create his own shots. He's definitely an amazing weakside big man and his rebounding is certainly better than Yao, but what Yao does to a defense is much more than the points he puts up himself by the simple fact that he dominates the strongside. This is like saying that Marbury was a better point guard than Nash because he could score more, ignoring the fact that Nash contorts the hell out of defenses, whereas opposing teams love it when Marbury used to barrel down the lane head down w/o looking for his teammates. Same principle.

 

lol dumbass making a dumbass statement, ignore his ass

 

I think Yao is better than him in everything except for rebounds, and perhaps blocks. Yao has way more skill, experience, and is a better passer. He's just not as athletic as Dwight is.

 

Howard has potential to be much better than Yao because of his freakish athleticism and natural ability.

The truth is that Yao works harder than most players out there. Yao is a 7'6" guy who puts emphasis on practicing FT's, and now we have a center who is not afraid to go to the free throw line with the game on the line. He puts emphasis on his jumpshot, now we have a center who can't be guarded one on one because he can back you down, turn around, face up, take it to you however you want it.

If Howard had half the touch Yao does, it wouldn't even be a debate. But he doesn't. He has no jumper, no range, and is terrible at FTs. Yao seems work on his game harder than Howard works out. It's no disrespect to Howard, it's just the truth. Howard should really start working on his all around game. Then he would be without question the best. He is very young, he has time, but I don't know if the organization is putting a priority on it. We'll see when we play the Magic.

 

bad argument. the same comparison can be made with Yao and Shaq. You think Yao is better than Shaq too?

 

To truely judge this, you'd have to compare the many games Rockets have played against the Magic and compare Yao's performance to Howard's. And if you look, Yao has outscored Howard in all his meetings with him. Also, Howard is like a rebounder who doesn't have a post game, a pivot game, a decent shooting game, or a high skill level game. Howard is a better athletic player, but when it comes down to basketball....Yao Ming is a better Basketball player. And you compare how teams do and how these players carry their teams because the EAST sucks, especially last year, and to carry a team that is even half decent is no sign of the BEST center in the NBA. Plus, drop Howard on the Chinese team and see if he can even carry it to Quarter Finals. Howard is nothing but a Rebounder who can dunk. Just add 6 inches to Hayes and give him more hops and you got your own Dwight Howard on the team. Nonetheless, Hayes would still be crap in front of Yao, just as Howard is....

 

shaq has even less skills than Howard. He can't shoot for lick, he's not as good a rebounder as Howard, he doesn't block as many shots, and he can't steal like Howard. The only positive for Shaq is his explosiveness and powerful body. Shaq is the epitome of a one dimensional player. Yet he's considered by many the most dominant player in NBA history, one of the best centers ever.

 

You know why you gotta be Mr. Pink?

 

...

OK this just means Shaq is much more skilled than Howard.

More skilled at turning that one dimension into 3 championships, 3 Finals MVPs, and into 26-30 ppg and 11-13 rpg for much of his prime.

 

Put any one among T-Mac, Yao and Artest on Magic, they will be top two there along with Howard. Rockets is a much better team than Magic with better supporting players, so you logic won't work.