There is a difference between being a great basketball player and being a great athlete. Dwight Howard is a great athlete, especially for his size. Yao Ming, who is not a great athlete, is still very agile for his size AND he is a great basketball player, because he can shoot, post up, pass and play 1-on-1 post defense. Dwight Howard is great at what he does, which is rebound (although his #'s are somewhat inflated here, because there are no other rebounders on the team, where as Yao has great rebounders around him at many positions) block shots, and run the floor. Yao is still a good rebounder and a decent shotblocker, but along with that, he has great footwork, can post up, pass out of a double team, can hit a 20 ft jump shot, is an 86 % free throw shooter and is a very effective post defender. Dwight Howard plays somewhat like David Robinson, but with less offensive skill. Their bodies were both built strong like superhereos, they could run in a straight line faster than some guards, they could both jump out of the gym, and they could both rebound with the best of them. However, neither one of them really had a great post up game. Even David Robinson relied on his jumper, putbacks/dunks/alley hoops around the basket and foul shots for most of his points, but he atleast had a little bit of a raw post up game. He didn't look nearly as good as Dream, Shaq, Barkley, Malone or Ewing in the post, but he was still better than most big men down there. You may say, "Well, he won a scoring title, 2 DPOY awards, and an MVP without a post up game." and you would be right about that, but David Robinson was exposed many times in the playoffs because of his lack of a post up game. Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and Hakeem Olajuwon all dominated Robinson before he got Tim Duncan. I would say that was the main reason why Robinson was always criticized as a leader of a team, because he could be contained pretty easily in a 5 or 7 game series. Dream showed us that, by outplaying him on both sides of the court. In the playoffs, it has already happened to Howard twice to the Pistons. He looked like a beast vs. the Raptors who used soft big men against him like Rasho, Bargnani, and Bosh. But when the played Detroit, Maxiell, McDyess, and Rasheed all had their way with Dwight. They just simply boxed him out, werent intimidated by his size and dared him to try to beat them in a half court game, and he failed miserably. Dwight's offensive game is similar, except that, he has a very minimal post game, which he can really only use on much smaller opponents, and he does not have a jumper he can rely on. If you watched him yesterday, he looked confused on offense. When he faces a bigger player, such as Yao, he will struggle offensively, because he relies so much on his athleticism, size, and strength. If he was still only 18-20 years old, it this would not be an issue, but he is in his 5th year already, and he hasn't made big enough strides offensively, which is why many people worry about Dwight. If he hasn't developed a post game by now, when will he? Now defensively, there is a difference between being a good shot blocker and being a great defender. Most great defensive centers are also great shot blockers (Olajuwon, Mutombo, Mourning, Ben Wallace, Mark Eaton, O'Neal, Robinson, Ewing, Parish, Russell, Wilt). Here are some good shotblockers who were probably average defenders at best: Marcus Camby, Keon Clark, Chris Anderson(Birdman), Ronny Turiaf, Josh Smith, Theo Ratliff...etc. Do you see what I mean?? Those guys I just listed could jump very high, and block 2-3 shots per game as a help defender, but they were horrible man-to-man defenders, especially in the post. Guys like KG, Duncan, and Yao aren't great shotblockers, but they are all good 1-on-1 post defenders. Of course, Yao has some catching up to do if he wants to be at KG and Duncan's level, but Dwight has much more to catch up in that area. He is a great shotblocker like Camby, but he isn't a great 1-on-1 defender. As far as rebounding goes, Howard is a great rebounder, no doubt about that. But, I would still say that his #'s are inflated, because there is simply nobody else on that team is even a decent rebounder and they also play at a much faster pace than the Rockets and shoot many more perimeter shots, which equals more missed shots to be rebounded. Also, Dwight doesn't get the ball in the post nearly as much as Yao, so he can focus on boxing out and going after the ball. Yao has to get position, hope and pray that his guards will get him the ball, and then has to score or pass out of a double or triple team once he gets the ball. Its hard to average 12-15 rebounds when you play like that. But I would still give the edge to Howard, simply because he can jump much higher than Yao and is still tough to box out. If you want to entertainment, dunks, phenomenal stats, and potential, then Dwight Howard is the guy you will want on your team. If you want a player who can draw a double team, give you good, efficient #'s night in and night out, who also uses skills instead of pure athleticism, and can be effective late in the game and in the playoffs, and who is a better 1-on-1 defender, then Yao is the guy you will want on your team. I would say Yao is the better basketball player, while Dwight is a great athlete...
