<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">NY Daily News - Don't be surprised if Charlotte's Emeka Okafor is done for the season, due to ankle woes. He was originally thought to be out through February, but whispers inside the Bobcats' offices indicate that Okafor won't be back until 2006-07.</div> http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives...for_the_season/ Howard has been playing great this year while Okafor has only played in 26 games due to ankle injuries. Dwight and Emeka were both on the same level last season but I think Dwight is the better player now. The fact that he is leading the league in rebounds per game is extremely impressive and he is also putting up better then stats than Okafor across the board. Okafor has been plagued with injuries in his first two seasons while Dwight has yet to miss an NBA game.
Dwight was always supposed to be better the Emeka people just thought it would take him longer. He is proving all of the draft experts that said he would take 4-5 yrs to fully develop wrong. He should become the youngest player in the leauge to lead the NBA in rebounding at barely 20yrs old.
If you ask me, Okafor didn't really have that great of a year last year either compared to Howard. Howard got off to a slow start, but showed a lot toward the end of the season when he started to become a presence on both ends of the court. Out of everyone in that draft, Ben Gordon easily had the best year, but no one talks about him. I remember people in the crowd at the draft booing the Magic when they selected Dwight, but I hope that the naysayers are taking back what they said. Dwight Howard is something special and he's only 20. He's gives the Magic everything you can ask and needs to continue to improve his post-up game and mid-range jumper. If he does that, he'll be a star in this league for a very long time. He has all the natural ability in the world. Okafor on the other hand is undersized, injury-prone and not nearly as athletic. He's a good roleplayer, nothing more.
It's so funny how everyone wanted Dwight over Emeka now. I remember there was a poll on here and it was like 3/4ths in Okafor's favor(maybe only 2/3rds, I don't really remember) and I was one of the few that was saying go with Dwight.
With all this said Dwight will be the best player out of the two (was always supposed to be) but I still think Emeka will be better than alot of people think especially being a Bobcat he will be the focal point on offence and is a great defender/rebounder. IMO he showed alot last year considering he is undersized and was not supposed to have a developed offensive game. It will be great watching these two battle for years to come.
I admitt, I thought the Magic should've chosen Emeka Okafor on draft day, but now I relize that Dwight Howard wasn't only the better pick for the future, but for the present also. He will be one of the top tier players in this league someday. That back injury on Okafor caused the Magic to pass on him and it looked like a good decision.
Was there actually any doubt he would? I would say last season he played just as well as Emeka did, and he was a highschool rookie compared to a college player. I didn't feel the Magic should've taken Emeka. I always felt Howard would be the better player, but I didn't expect him to do so well as a rookie. I was expecting more like 11 points and 7 rebounds from him as a rookie. But in my opinion, Emeka was not going to trump his rookie numbers, so why take the guy with less potential when immediately he won't make you great or anything, and it's not like the Magic were truly on a path to success at that time.
