Dwight Howard and his greatness

[moe94]

Zo was an above average player in his prime? I've heard it all.

[Magic Vinsanity]

All these clowns who shit on Howard are the same mouth breathing, short bus riding spastics who would be giving him a virtual ******* if he joined their team.

F-A-C-T

Dont be jealous because you're center is Brad Miller, Big Z, old Diesel or cripple Yao

[Quizno]

He's slightly above average when compared to Karl Malone, John Stockton, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, ect.

no, he's below average when he's compared to those players, but when he's compared to the average NBA player in the 90s, he was waaaaaaaay above average

[moe94]

Give me Zo over Pippen every single time. Make no mistake, Pippen had the greater career, but Zo was a better player on the better position.

[Alonzo Magic]

Child Please, Zo would have blocked Jesus' shot. This means nothing.

[necya]

Give me Zo over Pippen every single time. Make no mistake, Pippen had the greater career, but Zo was a better player on the better position.

stop comparing chips with cacahuetes.

Dwight Howard is considered as the est center cause there is no center anymore...
he is obviously bad with a basketball in his hands.
and he would have no chance in the 90's, behind olajuwon, robinson, shaq, ewing, mutombo, morning.

[moe94]

I'm sorry but when someone says Pippen makes Zo look average then I'm going to have to say something.

[SinJackal]

Mourning was just a slightly above average player in the Jordan Days.

That video just goes to show how superior the NBA was in the 80's and 90's compared to now.

Mourning was extremely underrated because of Robinson, Hakeem, Ewing, Shaq, and Mutumbo (also underrated). If Mourning (prime) played now, he'd be smashing people and be hailed as a top 10-15 player every year. Howard is better than Mourning, despite the vid though. He just obviously had far better post moves than Howard. Still Howard's big weakness, that and FTs.

[ShaqAttack3234]

stop comparing chips with cacahuetes.

Dwight Howard is considered as the est center cause there is no center anymore...
he is obviously bad with a basketball in his hands.
and he would have no chance in the 90's, behind olajuwon, robinson, shaq, ewing, mutombo, morning.

Howard is comparable to a prime Alonzo Mourning(who I was a fan of) and a much better player than Mutombo. Mutombo wasn't a franchise player like Howard is now regardless of eras.

[triangleoffense]

Howard is comparable to a prime Alonzo Mourning(who I was a fan of) and a much better player than Mutombo. Mutombo wasn't a franchise player like Howard is now regardless of eras.

eh pretty much, but alonzo mourning came into the league with a 20/10 season. Also it has yet to be seen whether Dwight's post moves will continue to grow or if he's near his offensive peak. Defensively he can only go up, which is scary considering the level that he's at already at defensively. His inability, at times, to catch the ball, especially in the post, is disconcerting...

[necya]

the nba just sucks today, howard is the best center whereas he does not know playing basketball. Prime mourning is easily better than Howard. he has no moves, no shot, doesn't know to shot a FT. mourning had a mid range shot, hook shot, was good at FT line, post up moves and play his guy in penetration.
how can you compare what is uncomparable?

maybe i should send you some hornets games from 93-95.

[ShaqAttack3234]

eh pretty much, but alonzo mourning came into the league with a 20/10 season. Also it has yet to be seen whether Dwight's post moves will continue to grow or if he's near his offensive peak. Defensively he can only go up, which is scary considering the level that he's at already at defensively. His inability, at times, to catch the ball, especially in the post, is disconcerting...

Actually, Dwight was noticeably better offensively in 2009 than he was in 2010. He was using his quickness a little more and not trying to back down guys(which he's not really good at except against undersized players) he was a little more patient and he seemed more confident. Granted, Orlando was better at getting him the ball, but he averaged almost 1 more offensive rebound per game which also created more scoring opportunities for him.

I talked about this in another thread, but I think Mourning and Dwight have a lot of similarities. Both are about 6'10", 260-270, have long wingspans, like to face up and drive to the basket and get to the foul line or use the running hook. The difference was that Mourning did have a turnaround jumper and a mid-range jumper and he could hit free throws, but despite being a good athlete, he freakishly athletic like Dwight.

Both end up being comparable as far as effectiveness offensively. Actually both are/were turnover prone and because they tried to block almost everything close, they were/are both foul prone.

As much as people try to compare his game to Shaq, the similarities aren't in their game. Shaq is atleast 3-4 inches taller, had much more talent as far as footwork, passing and touch around the basket and even in his Orlando days was 40 pounds heavier, now prime Shaq circa 2000 was a good 70 pounds heavier. And Shaq never really consistently committed himself to defense like Dwight did, he was a shot blocking/rebounding force, but outside of 2000, we rarely saw his defensive potential despite the fact that he still had a big impact on that end. The similarities are that they both played center for the Magic, have a lot of highlight reel dunks, are freak athletes and poor free throw shooters and like to joke.

But if you look at Shaq's career he improved each year in the league for his first 3 years or so and then got lazier and his production fell off. I do think that 1998 Shaq was better than Orlando Shaq, but because of a lack of focus, Shaq didn't really take that next step after 1995 for 4 years, when Phil Jackson took over as coach.

This reminds me of Dwight because he fell off this year despite improving every other year. Like Shaq, he filmed a movie and a lot of commercials, but hopefully it won't take 3-4 more years for Dwight to take his game to the next level.

I really credit Phil Jackson for making Shaq commit to defense in that 2000 season, improve his passing, play 40 mpg and become a leader(atleast during the 3peat). Phil said prior to the 1999-2000 season that he told Shaq he had to play the entire game(not literally of course) because they had no real backup center and Shaq said Phil told him he was going to make everyone else better and if he didn't buy into the system he wouldn't play and Shaq said that was the first time a coach said anything like that to him.

Of course Shaq also claimed that David Robinson winning in 1999 motivated him, though he denied Duncan winning motivated him I don't believe it, remember that in 1999 people were calling Duncan the best in the league and talking about him as the future of the league(and he was to some degree).

The question is, if Dwight needs to look for motivation like Shaq, where will he find it?

Dwight definitely hasn't reached his potential though. He had his best season in 2009 while playing just 35.7 mpg and as durable as he is, he should be playing 40 mpg. And he could, if he's more patient and avoids the dumb fouls and just by doing that, running the court constantly for better post position, crashing the offensive glass like he did in 2009 and being more patient(which goes along with avoiding dumb fouls), he could be a 23/15/4/60 FG% player. All of that could come with experience.

Dwight did work with Olajuwon at some point this year, who knows? Maybe that will help him take his game to the next level.

In general though, I think Mourning is a good comparison. Both are elite because of their defense, but both are number 1 options offensively because of their ability to average 20 on good efficiency and draw fouls even if neither are/were Shaq or Hakeem offensively.

the nba just sucks today, howard is the best center whereas he does not know playing basketball. Prime mourning is easily better than Howard. he has no moves, no shot, doesn't know to shot a FT. mourning had a mid range shot, hook shot, was good at FT line, post up moves and play his guy in penetration.
how can you compare what is uncomparable?

maybe i should send you some hornets games from 93-95.

I watched a lot of Zo from 1996-2000 with Miami and some of his time with the Hornets as well and he's not on another level than Howard.

[alexandreben]

to sum up, Howard is a "non-shooting" type of Zo

[ShaqAttack3234]

to sum up, Howard is a "non-shooting" type of Zo

Sort of, except a better rebounder and more athletic, but Zo seemed much more competitive even though that's tough to measure.

[alexandreben]

Sort of, except a better rebounder and more athletic, but Zo seemed much more competitive even though that's tough to measure.

sort of??!! Zo's shooting is so much better than Howard! the defensive skills, not to mention a heart of a champ, i really don't like Howard's sily smilling, what's he smiling for all the time?? it looks like he lacks of heart