After reading all of the comparison threads, I was thinking about the Magic and I was just wondering what you guys think about Dwight Howard. I know this is too early in his career to really say, but do you guys think that Dwight Howard could potentially get to the level that Wade and Lebron are at(impact wise-not statistics, because I doubt Dwight ever averages 25 points much less 30). Do you think he will ever be able to be considered a Top 3 player right alongside Wade/Lebron? If not, how about Top 5? Top 10? All I know is if Cleveland, Miami and Orlando keep these players(and Toronto with Bosh) there is going to be a lot of great playoff battles and the East all-star team is going to be absolutely ridiculous.
They are hard to compare becasue we're talking about 2 swingmen compared to a PF/Center. I was for taking Howard over Okafor in 2004 and he has really impressed me. If he develops somewhat of a mid range game I think he could be compared to Tim Duncan. I would Take Wade and Lebron just look at what they've done so far in their careers with Lebron re-writing record books as the youngest to do just about everyhting and Wade dominating throughout the playoffs and winning his first title. Dwight is not far though and he has a great situation in Orlando.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting playmaker15:</div><div class="quote_post">They are hard to compare becasue we're talking about 2 swingmen compared to a PF/Center. I was for taking Howard over Okafor in 2004 and he has really impressed me. If he develops somewhat of a mid range game I think he could be compared to Tim Duncan. I would Take Wade and Lebron just look at what they've done so far in their careers with Lebron re-writing record books as the youngest to do just about everyhting and Wade dominating throughout the playoffs and winning his first title. Dwight is not far though and he has a great situation in Orlando.</div> Well obviously you would take Wade and Lebron at this stage in their careers. I'm talking about in 3-5 years from now, do you think Dwight Howard could compete with them for MVP awards? Do you think he can ever be listed with Wade and Lebron as the best players in the NBA(or potentially higher). Can he make as much of an impact on a game as Wade and Lebron currently do? I'm going to say not quite the level of Wade or Lebron, but I think he could challenge them for MVP awards. He has really bad rebounding technique, he got 12+ rpg last year on pure athleticism alone. He wasn't good at boxing people out, he would just out jump everyone for the rebound or be at the right spot at the right time(good rebounding instincts). A realistic prediction, IMO would be 20 and 15(if he improves his rebounding technique) with 2 blocks. Also he isn't a very good defender, I personally think his defending is overrated. He is a good help defender, but is a very poor one on one defender. I think Darko is a WAAAAAAY better defender man to man defender than Dwight. In the future, I see Darko guarding the other teams best post scorer and bring Dwight over for help, so I can see him getting 2.5-3 blocks a game in his prime(mainly from help defense). Being the homer that I am, I would say that I can legitimately see Dwight averaging 22 ppg 15 rpg and 3 bpg in 3-5 years. That would be an amazing impact to the game and I believe those numbers would put him up among the best in the game(Wade and Lebron) and depending on how well he leads the team he would be in contention for the MVP award. I would say he will be in the Top 5 range, I'm not too sure if he will ever get into the Top 3 at any given point, but I can see him "stealing" an MVP away from Wade/Lebron at some point in his career. Alright I'm taking my homer goggles off now. btw, Dwight is writing the record books for bigmen. He has played in all 164 games in his career and started 163 of them. No other player straight from high school can say they started in all 82 games of their rookie season. No other HS player(I think besides Moses Malone) can say they got a double double as a rookie. He was the quickest player to get to 1000 rebounds in his career. Of course his accolades aren't as good as Lebron's, but then again he wasn't asked to lead a team right away, but he is still piling up accolades as well.
I honestly think that in 10 years you will look back their were only 3 MVP winners, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Dwight Howard. I have confidence in Dwight and I believe he can succeed.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GatorsowntheNCAA:</div><div class="quote_post">Well obviously you would take Wade and Lebron at this stage in their careers. I'm talking about in 3-5 years from now, do you think Dwight Howard could compete with them for MVP awards? Do you think he can ever be listed with Wade and Lebron as the best players in the NBA(or potentially higher). Can he make as much of an impact on a game as Wade and Lebron currently do? I'm going to say not quite the level of Wade or Lebron, but I think he could challenge them for MVP awards. He has really bad rebounding technique, he got 12+ rpg last year on pure athleticism alone. He wasn't good at boxing people out, he would just out jump everyone for the rebound or be at the right spot at the right time(good rebounding instincts). A realistic prediction, IMO would be 20 and 15(if he improves his rebounding technique) with 2 blocks. Also he isn't a very good defender, I personally think his defending is overrated. He is a good help defender, but is a very poor one on one defender. I think Darko is a WAAAAAAY better defender man to man defender than Dwight. In the future, I see Darko guarding the other teams best post scorer and bring Dwight over for help, so I can see him getting 2.5-3 blocks a game in his prime(mainly from help defense). Being the homer that I am, I would say that I can legitimately see Dwight averaging 22 ppg 15 rpg and 3 bpg in 3-5 years. That would be an amazing impact to the game and I believe those numbers would put him up among the best in the game(Wade and Lebron) and depending on how well he leads the team he would be in contention for the MVP award. I would say he will be in the Top 5 range, I'm not too sure if he will ever get into the Top 3 at any given point, but I can see him "stealing" an MVP away from Wade/Lebron at some point in his career. Alright I'm taking my homer goggles off now. btw, Dwight is writing the record books for bigmen. He has played in all 164 games in his career and started 163 of them. No other player straight from high school can say they started in all 82 games of their rookie season. No other HS player(I think besides Moses Malone) can say they got a double double as a rookie. He was the quickest player to get to 1000 rebounds in his career. Of course his accolades aren't as good as Lebron's, but then again he wasn't asked to lead a team right away, but he is still piling up accolades as well.</div> Totally agree with everything u said here, he is still very raw and his fundamental skills need work(boxing out etc.) I see all of them winning multiple MVP's in a 10 year spand and each will be in the HOF by the end of their careers I believe. Dwight didn't have Lebron's hype or the pressure mounted on him but he has made the best of his situation in Orlando.
dwight is looking good. kg was close to getting the double double his rookie year, a few more starts and maybe. the problem i have with dwight is that he has the physical tools to be just a defensive powerhouse, but i havent seen many signs of that. he is becoming a very good rebounder, due to his freakish athleticism for a 7'0"er. also his offensive game is shaky. it would be great if he started to become an amare type of player, but i just dont see him becoming a top 5 player in this league. bosh i think will stay ahead of him forever, and the you have gilbert, wade, and bron. that leaves only one spot for a tmac, or yao, or kobe, or chris paul could very well pop up there.
IMO Dwight is already an Allstar. He had a magnificent season, including first half of season when allstar voting occurs. Rasheed Wallace was selected over Dwight Howard. Personally i think it was a bigger snub then Carmelo. Dwight was leading the league in rebounds at the time, had higher ppg, and defensive monster. (plus he's younger) I think the only way that Dwight Howard will finally start getting repect in this league, is if the Magic start winning like they did towards the very end of the season. They need to start winning and a lot, I'm talkin playoff material so people actually start to remember hey...he was a first overall pick.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Remedy:</div><div class="quote_post">IMO Dwight is already an Allstar. He had a magnificent season, including first half of season when allstar voting occurs. Rasheed Wallace was selected over Dwight Howard. Personally i think it was a bigger snub then Carmelo. Dwight was leading the league in rebounds at the time, had higher ppg, and defensive monster. (plus he's younger) I think the only way that Dwight Howard will finally start getting repect in this league, is if the Magic start winning like they did towards the very end of the season. They need to start winning and a lot, I'm talkin playoff material so people actually start to remember hey...he was a first overall pick.</div> Olowakandi was a first overall pick. and carmelo got snubbed a hindred times more than dwight. dwight i good, but nothing amazing yet.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">dwight is looking good. kg was close to getting the double double his rookie year, a few more starts and maybe. the problem i have with dwight is that he has the physical tools to be just a defensive powerhouse, but i havent seen many signs of that. he is becoming a very good rebounder, due to his freakish athleticism for a 7'0"er. also his offensive game is shaky. it would be great if he started to become an amare type of player, but i just dont see him becoming a top 5 player in this league. bosh i think will stay ahead of him forever, and the you have gilbert, wade, and bron. that leaves only one spot for a tmac, or yao, or kobe, or chris paul could very well pop up there.</div> You could argue that Dwight had a better year this year than Bosh(I don't argue that, I think Bosh had a better year-but I can see a good argument for Dwight). KG wasn't really that close to getting a double double in his rookie year, he only had 6 rpg. The kid is 20 years old, should have been a college sophmore last year. He's still extremely extremely raw, which is why it's so amazing what he's doing. He's not even close to reaching his potential, yet without very good fundamentals he still avgs 16 ppg and 12.5 rpg to go with 1.4 bpg while shooting 53.1% from the floor. That includes a 28 pts and 26 reb game this year.(he'll get to the point where that type of game won't surprise anyone) Just imagine what he can do when he gets better with his fundamentals and gets some moves on offense and learns how to box out and knows where he is supposed to be on defense. The best part of him is he has the Kobe attitude in working as hard as possible to improve. He's never satisfied in what he's accomplished and always sees flaws in his game. He's also got Wade's humbleness and smile. It's very rare not seeing Dwight not smile, you can tell that he just enjoys playing the game and isn't cocky at all. I don't think he will get the hype as others do because he likely won't be a threat to put up 30 on any given night. It will get to the point though that he gets 65-70+ double doubles a year and just takes care of business and does the dirty work, while putting up good scoring numbers. I think he will top off on about 22-23 ppg. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">Olowakandi was a first overall pick. and carmelo got snubbed a hindred times more than dwight. dwight i good, but nothing amazing yet.</div> If Garnett played the last couple of games, Dwight could have very easily won the rebounding title(he was #2 in total offensive rebounds and #2 in total defensive rebounds and #2 in rebounds per game and #1 in total rebounds). I think that's pretty amazing for a 20 year old. Like Remedy said, he should have been an all-star last year, he put up better numbers than Sheed, but since the Magic sucked at the all-star break and the Pistons looked like they were going to run away with the title, Sheed made it over Dwight.
I think dwight will be good but i can't say he'll score 25 ppg or be a great defender, only judging by his play now. His offence is very limited, unless your shaq you do need a jumpshot which he lacks, also for someone so athletic and big you'd expect him to block at least 2 shots a game or play better post up d.
he is very raw still, but i just dont see him being that amazing. maybe a consistent all star. sure it is great to see a guy this young doing so great. and 28 26 games arent going to be expected from him ever. these are very special games that players get. thats like saying lebron will be expected to get triple doubles every few games. and the raptors were horrible at the break, but bosh made it. he just inst a great scorer
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">he is very raw still, but i just dont see him being that amazing. maybe a consistent all star. sure it is great to see a guy this young doing so great. and 28 26 games arent going to be expected from him ever. these are very special games that players get. thats like saying lebron will be expected to get triple doubles every few games. and the raptors were horrible at the break, but bosh made it. he just inst a great scorer</div> Bosh is also 2 years older than Dwight. This year for Dwight was the same age that Bosh was as a rookie. Scoring isn't everything. Dwight is already WAY better rebounder and despite how little D I think Dwight plays, he is still ahead of Bosh in defense. Not only that Dwight shoots a much higher percentage then Bosh. Check out Dwight's shooting numbers his last 22 games(after Francis was dealt it was around 55-57%) Sure Bosh is better offensively, but Dwight with basically 1 or 2 moves downlow AND with Francis and Jameer at PG-both are shoot 1st PG's. He still got nearly 16 ppg in his 2nd year. That should tell you how good he is and can become. Just imagine if he opens his arsenal to 5 or 6 downlow moves with confidence in his midrange game(not saying he will be good in the midrange, but he will have confidence and will shoot a lot more) next year. He should easily have 20 ppg. I didn't say they would be expected from him every couple of games, I was just saying it wouldn't be a surprise that he got it. I think he'll get a couple of 28 and 26 games a year in his prime. Next year expect him to up his scoring to about 20 points. At the end of the year he finally figured out how to beat double teams. He cut his turnovers down a lot and even had a 5 assist game. I think next year if Darko can hit that 15-20 footer then Dwight is going to look pretty good downlow. About the All-Star thing, Bosh was scoring, while Dwight was just rebounding. Don't forget we had Steve Francis starting at PG and he took a lot of shots away from Dwight and didn't really pass to him much and he was getting adjusted to double teams. That's the reason why he didn't make the all-star team, although he still was leading the league in rebounding(which he should have still made it over Sheed). Dwight was the biggest East snub and was just a little less of a snub then Melo. I mean he was leading the entire NBA in rebounding.
Big men are usually 3-4 year projects before they really become fully developed. A high school big man might even be longer. But keep in mind for the majority of Dwight's career Francis has been the number one option for Orlando. Now that he's dealt to NY, Dwight will now become the focal point of this team. I really think this is Dwight's break out year. If he is training hard this summer to work on some low-post moves, this guy will be the next KG.
I think Dwight Howard is going to turn into a Kevin Garnett type of player. He will be great and always mentioned as one of the best players in the league. If you take a look at the numbers, Dwight is doing better than Garnett was at this age. Since they both came straight out of high school, we can compare them season by season. Rookie Season Kevin Garnett: 10.4 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.64 BPG, .491 FG% Dwight Howard: 12 PPG, 10 RPG, 1.66 BPG, .520 FG% As you can see, Howard was better in his first year stat wise. Now let's look at their second seasons. Sophmore Season Kevin Garnett: 17 PPG, 8 RPG, 2.12 BPG, .499 FG% Dwight Howard: 15.8 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 1.4 BPG, .531 FG% Garnett averaged more points than Howard but you also must take into account that KG was the main option in Minnesota and until the second half of last season, Steve Francis was our main offensive threat. Dwight clearly had the advantage on the board averaging 4.5 more RPG than KG. Garnett improved consistently each year until he became a 20 and 10 player (in his fourth season). This will be the same player Dwight will turn out to be if not better. I think he will compete for MVP awards down the road with the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire and maybe Chris Paul. These are all the top young players in the league and in a couple of years they will be the superstar veterens. I think Dwight has a good chance to win some awards because he has averaged a double double since entering the league and he continues to get better and better. Dwight may not get the credit he deserves now, but in a few years no one will question his dominance.
I definitely think Howard has a lot more ahead of him, somtimes it takes a few years for a big man to develop an all around game.....just look at Hakeem (not saying howard will be the next dream, but he has a lot of potential)
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Swish15:</div><div class="quote_post">I think Dwight Howard is going to turn into a Kevin Garnett type of player. He will be great and always mentioned as one of the best players in the league. If you take a look at the numbers, Dwight is doing better than Garnett was at this age. Since they both came straight out of high school, we can compare them season by season. Rookie Season Kevin Garnett: 10.4 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.64 BPG, .491 FG% Dwight Howard: 12 PPG, 10 RPG, 1.66 BPG, .520 FG% As you can see, Howard was better in his first year stat wise. Now let's look at their second seasons. Sophmore Season Kevin Garnett: 17 PPG, 8 RPG, 2.12 BPG, .499 FG% Dwight Howard: 15.8 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 1.4 BPG, .531 FG% Garnett averaged more points than Howard but you also must take into account that KG was the main option in Minnesota and until the second half of last season, Steve Francis was our main offensive threat. Dwight clearly had the advantage on the board averaging 4.5 more RPG than KG. Garnett improved consistently each year until he became a 20 and 10 player (in his fourth season). This will be the same player Dwight will turn out to be if not better. I think he will compete for MVP awards down the road with the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire and maybe Chris Paul. These are all the top young players in the league and in a couple of years they will be the superstar veterens. I think Dwight has a good chance to win some awards because he has averaged a double double since entering the league and he continues to get better and better. Dwight may not get the credit he deserves now, but in a few years no one will question his dominance.</div> dont come here and say that Dwight WILL be as good is not better than kg. KG is arguable the greatest pf ever. how can you say, that the MAYBE top 10 pf in the league, will be better than him. you dont know the future. this is like saying, chris paul (who was wayyyyyyyyyy better than dwight as a rookie) will be as good, if not better than john stockton. this statement is three times better than yours because chris paul had an amazing rookie year, while dwight was slightly better than kg's. And KG was the first high schooler in like 30 years, his rookie season was an amazing feat. no one helped him deal with the pressure of being a franchises savior. kg stepped up and did it. dwight could turn like 30 people for help. so in that way, i say kg was better his first two years. seriously, i like dwight, and ncaa, you were dead on except for the fg% thing. bosh shot a lot more outside shots, and is a better shooter, so you cant really compare it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">dont come here and say that Dwight WILL be as good is not better than kg. KG is arguable the greatest pf ever. how can you say, that the MAYBE top 10 pf in the league, will be better than him. you dont know the future. this is like saying, chris paul (who was wayyyyyyyyyy better than dwight as a rookie) will be as good, if not better than john stockton. this statement is three times better than yours because chris paul had an amazing rookie year, while dwight was slightly better than kg's. And KG was the first high schooler in like 30 years, his rookie season was an amazing feat. no one helped him deal with the pressure of being a franchises savior. kg stepped up and did it. dwight could turn like 30 people for help. so in that way, i say kg was better his first two years. seriously, i like dwight, and ncaa, you were dead on except for the fg% thing. bosh shot a lot more outside shots, and is a better shooter, so you cant really compare it.</div> I'm tired and going to sleep but in the morning I will rip apart your post and debate you.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">dont come here and say that Dwight WILL be as good is not better than kg. KG is arguable the greatest pf ever. how can you say, that the MAYBE top 10 pf in the league, will be better than him. you dont know the future. this is like saying, chris paul (who was wayyyyyyyyyy better than dwight as a rookie) will be as good, if not better than john stockton. this statement is three times better than yours because chris paul had an amazing rookie year, while dwight was slightly better than kg's. And KG was the first high schooler in like 30 years, his rookie season was an amazing feat. no one helped him deal with the pressure of being a franchises savior. kg stepped up and did it. dwight could turn like 30 people for help. so in that way, i say kg was better his first two years.</div> First of all, I can come here saying that Dwight is better than KG because this is the Magic forum and this thread is about whether or not he will be one of the best players in the league (similar to KG today). I simply compared their stats and it showed that Dwight had the edge at this point in his career. Kevin Garnett is not the greatest PF of all time. Tim Duncan (he has the rings and MVP awards to back it up), Karl Malone (one of the best big men ever), and Bob Petit are all better than Kevin Garnett. While KG is an amazing player, he isn't the best. I respect him and his game but I think Dwight will be as good as him in the future because he has shown great upside both offensively and on the glass. He is a very mature player for his age and his upside is extremely high. I'm not sure why you are talking about Chris Paul or John Stockton but this thread is about whether or not Dwight will be on top of the league with the likes of Wade and LeBron in a few years. Sure, Chris Paul is good and will be a superstar but this thread isn't about him. Dwight was significantly better than Garnett in both seasons and I think this is a sign that his career will follow the same path as Kevin's. Your point about Garnett having less people to look up too is crazy. Just because Dwight can talk to a few guys doesn't affect how hard he struggles for a rebound or any of his other stats. Also, you mentioned that Garnett was supposed to be the franchise savior and the main player on the Wolves. If he was the main player in Minnesota and Dwight wasn't, how come Howard still averaged more PPG than KG? Dwight had to get his points as the third option on offense behind Francis and Hill. Often times, there were no plays drawn up for him and he had to score off of rebounds. Garnett was the main offensive threat for the Wolves and Dwight was the third offensive option, yet Dwight still managed to score more. Interesting, huh? Kevin Garnett is a great player. Dwight is going to be a great player. While I can't see into the future, what I have seen of Dwight is enough to assure me that pending injuries, Dwight will be one of the best players in the NBA and on the same level as Kevin Garnett.
the chris paul thing was a comparison to your statement. and kg is one of the greatest pf's of all time, ill debate this with anyone somewhere else. the savior thing was about pressure. garnett wasnt the main option either, not even close. gugliotta and doug west and sam mitchell.were clearly higher options. same with dwight being picked with more help, pressure wise. kg had an enormous amount of pressure, similar to dwight, but kg had no one to help him with it that knew his situation, dwight had many. i just found your statement insulting. dwight, may become a perenial all-star. hasnt proven anything yet. he is a great rebounder, and that is it. i love his game, and hope he becomes something special, but lets not crown him better than one of the best ever. and kg made the 60 greatest players list, so he is one of the best ever, that isnt a debate.
