Wow, this is such a tough one. Dwight Howard is a more powerful offensive player, he's more athletic, he's a great rebounder, he's a very good shot blocker, he's a good low-post defender. He has so many terrific qualities, and he gets better every year. Sometimes he seems passive offensively, but he's getting there. Emeka is a rejuvinated force as well. He was held back with injuries, but he's lost weight and he looks great. He may not be the freak athlete with a verticle jump like Dwight, but he's a complete monster in the paint. He's the better defender, IMO, even though Dwight is a good one. He's stronger, just as good a rebounder as Dwight if not a little better, arguably the best shot blocker in the NBA, and his offensive game is a little more polished than Howard's at the moment. But both of these guys are incredible young bigs, and I'm happy the NBA has a pair of young superstar big men to add to the great future of talented players in the league. But my question is, as hard as it is, who do you take between these two studs? Now and the future.
Right now? Emeka easily. He is much more dependable offensively to give you 15-20PPG a night. Like Dwight ht ewill get a ton of rebounds, and is a better defender. Right now, Dwight is still raw skill-wise, and still not a reliable first option as a scorer.Future?: Dwight, only because of his size and freakish athletic ability. For the record, despite his injury, I feel Amare will be better than both.
Right now I'm going with Emeka Okafor. He looks like he's lost about 15 pounds, he looks a lot better. Dwight Howard doesn't have an offensive post game and struggles in double teams which lead to too many turnovers. He can't hide behind his athletic ability forever....Okafor looks just as good on defense and is much more developed on offense. Howard is a few years younger and I think he has a higher cieling so I'll go with him...but like I've been saying during the off-season...people are sleeping on Okafor's ability.
Everyone is saying how much better offensivley Emeka is than Dwight, but it is because of the shot attempts per game...Notice how Dwight averages 4 PPG less, yet shoots 59 percent while Emeka shoots 54. Orlando is winning and that is what counts, and Dwight might not be taking as many shots because what Orlando is doing right now is working...The team has shown that they dont need him to go out and score 20 a night for them to win ball games. Once he starts taking more shots, his PPG will go up and his offensive game wont be questioned. Both are good defenders but I would give the edge to Okafor, Dwight is a better rebounder even though it isnt by a whole lot. Overall, I would just go with Dwight because he is younger, and has SO much room to grow. I will say though, I love how Emeka is playing right now.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Nov 16 2006, 08:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Everyone is saying how much better offensivley Emeka is than Dwight, but it is because of the shot attempts per game...Notice how Dwight averages 4 PPG less, yet shoots 59 percent while Emeka shoots 54. Orlando is winning and that is what counts, and Dwight might not be taking as many shots because what Orlando is doing right now is working...The team has shown that they dont need him to go out and score 20 a night for them to win ball games. Once he starts taking more shots, his PPG will go up and his offensive game wont be questioned. Both are good defenders but I would give the edge to Okafor, Dwight is a better rebounder even though it isnt by a whole lot. Overall, I would just go with Dwight because he is younger, and has SO much room to grow. I will say though, I love how Emeka is playing right now.</div>Getting __ # of shots has a lot to do with positioning, confidence to take the shot, and agressiveness. Right now Dwight still isn't a polished interior scorer. He has added a nice spin move, but Okafor is much more polished and has a bigger repeitore. Once Dwight can consistently score 15-20PPG, then he will start to be doubled, and then you will see just how good of a scorer he really is.
Right now I would have to say Emeka Okafor. He has been doing amazing lately compared to Dwight, although he has been solid. But because Dwight Howard is so freakishly athletic, I think he will end up being the better player; he has more potential.
Dwight is the better player now and always will be. He puts up better numbers and is more consistant. Emeka is a good player but Orlando saw something different when they drafted Dwight in the first pick and I think it was the right decision after seeing what he can do to help the Magic win games. Bobcats haven't done much with Emeka on the team so I think Dwight Howard is better than Emeka Okafor
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (magicfan14 @ Nov 16 2006, 10:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Dwight is the better player now and always will be. He puts up better numbers and is more consistant. Emeka is a good player but Orlando saw something different when they drafted Dwight in the first pick and I think it was the right decision after seeing what he can do to help the Magic win games. Bobcats haven't done much with Emeka on the team so I think Dwight Howard is better than Emeka Okafor</div> LOL. For one, Emeka is putting up better numbers so far. Two, can you do me the honors of telling me why Dwight scores 20 one night then takes only 5 shots the next? Mr. Consistant? Dwight's Scoring totals so far this season 27 14 11 7 8 17 21 17 9 That's so up and down I thought it was a roller coaster. He's not consistant offensively at all. Emeka's 19 8 12 28 20 22 25 19 Emeka is clearly more consistant thus far offensively, and he's also leading the league in blocks and he had 4 straight 20/15 games (20 point, 15 rebound). Charlotte hasn't done much with Emeka, yeah good point. Have you seen the team? Not to mention Emeka and Sean May have battled injuries, and Gerald Wallace did last year as well. It's a brand new franchise. Give Emeka a supporting cast of Grant Hill, Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, etc. he would be in the playoffs too. And last time I checked, Orlando hasn't made the playoffs with Dwight either, so don't count that against Emeka (especially considering he was only available for about 20 games last year).
I'd take Howard.Here's why:-Dwight is faster than Okafor-Dwight is more athletic than Okafor-Dwight is taller than Okafor-Dwight has the potentail to average over 15 rpg in the near future, Okafor will probably never get over 11 per-Dwight doesn't have as many moves as Okafor on offense, but is just as effective-If Dwight gets the right coaching, he will be just as good as Okafor in blocking shots-Dwight hustles after every loose ball-Dwight hasn't suffered even a 10 game injury yet-Dwight buys into the team concept easily (as evident at the FIBA championships)-Dwight is better conditioned than Okafor-Dwight just seems to be the more likely to suceed in the direction the NBA is heading.
[quote name='Pacers fan forever' post='200585' date='Nov 17 2006, 04:24 PM'] -Dwight has the potentail to average over 15 rpg in the near future, Okafor will probably never get over 11 per[/quote] Um... Emeka is averaging about 12.5 right now, and averaged over 10 his rookie year. How do you figure? Emeka is much more polished down low than Dwight, and more consistant. So does Emeka. Yeah, and Emeka is sooo damn selfish. Howard also hasn't had to suffer injuries like Emeka which kept him out of activity. Not to mention, Okafor really trimmed down this past summer. :wtf1: is that supposed to mean? Are you telling me Emeka's size, strength, and defensive dominance isn't "right for the NBA's new direction"??? LMAO give me a break. A big man like Okafor is what the NBA needs.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticBalla32 @ Nov 18 2006, 12:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Um... Emeka is averaging about 12.5 right now, and averaged over 10 his rookie year.How do you figure? Emeka is much more polished down low than Dwight, and more consistant.So does Emeka.Yeah, and Emeka is sooo damn selfish. Howard also hasn't had to suffer injuries like Emeka which kept him out of activity. Not to mention, Okafor really trimmed down this past summer. :wtf1: is that supposed to mean? Are you telling me Emeka's size, strength, and defensive dominance isn't "right for the NBA's new direction"??? LMAO give me a break. A big man like Okafor is what the NBA needs.</div>owned!great points celticballa
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticBalla32 @ Nov 18 2006, 01:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Um... Emeka is averaging about 12.5 right now, and averaged over 10 his rookie year.How do you figure? Emeka is much more polished down low than Dwight, and more consistant.So does Emeka.Yeah, and Emeka is sooo damn selfish. Howard also hasn't had to suffer injuries like Emeka which kept him out of activity. Not to mention, Okafor really trimmed down this past summer. :wtf1: is that supposed to mean? Are you telling me Emeka's size, strength, and defensive dominance isn't "right for the NBA's new direction"??? LMAO give me a break. A big man like Okafor is what the NBA needs.</div>Um, we've only played 8 games this season, okafors rebounds wil go downDwighat averages 15 on the same moveDwight made the FIBA team. Did Okafor? NO.Hasn't had to suffer injuries? :wtf1: Howard is more athletic, stronger, and more of a do what you want me to do player.
CB32, you really cant use injuries as part of your argument. In fact, that is a bonus for Dwight when you are comparing the two. Emeka has had injuries early on in his career already, which unfortunatley ALWAYS leads to injuries throughout the players career. Dwight is in perfect shape and unless he gets a freak injury like Amare out of nowhere, he isnt slowing down. I will agree with you in the sense that Emeka is playing better right now, but I am going to stick with my opinion and say that if Dwight wanted to have the numbers offensivley that Emeka has, then he could. You can say all you want about "not having enough confidence", but I honestly dont think that is the case what so ever. Looking at it from a stereotypical view, do you honestly think a player like Dwight Howard would have problems with confidence? He is one of the most gifted athletes in the game, he knows he can rise up over anybody in the league and throw it down, he isnt even 20 years old and he is 2nd in the league in rebounding, and he started for the USA team in the FIBA tournament. I have a hard time believing he has "confidence" issues. The Magic are winning therefor he doesn't need to put up 20 a game for his team to win. On the other hand, Charlotte has more talent than the Magic yet they are one of the worst teams in the league. Need I say more?
Dwight, Okafor is good but is too injury prone and can't shoot free throws. Dwight may not either but he IMO will get much better inall aspects of the game. And is a beast.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pacers fan forever @ Nov 18 2006, 01:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Um, we've only played 8 games this season, okafors rebounds wil go down Dwighat averages 15 on the same move Dwight made the FIBA team. Did Okafor? NO. Hasn't had to suffer injuries? :wtf1: Howard is more athletic, stronger, and more of a do what you want me to do player.</div> - Dwight does not average 15. He averages 12.3 - It would be stupid for Emeka to play FIBA due to him getting healthy. Emeka played for Team USA his rookie year, did Dwight? NO. And he won rookie of the year. - Howard is not stronger. And Okafor isn't a "do what you want me to" player? HA ballerman, I will edit this post replying to your no-paragraphed response haha. Celtics are on.
Don't let the stat line fool you, Dwight Howard had a better night rebounding, but Emeka Okafor offensively showed a nice aresnal tonight. He had his mid range shot working, had nice moves in the post, and busted Howard up on offense. Both played each other extremly well offensively. Emeka finsished with 26 points and 9 rebounds in 29 minutes. If you didn't get to watch this matchup, you completely missed out, unfortunately the rest of Okafor's team does not match up with the Magic.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticBalla32 @ Nov 18 2006, 08:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>- Dwight does not average 15. He averages 12.3- It would be stupid for Emeka to play FIBA due to him getting healthy. Emeka played for Team USA his rookie year, did Dwight? NO. And he won rookie of the year.- Howard is not stronger. And Okafor isn't a "do what you want me to" player? HA</div>If you read my post you would see that I said Dwight will average 15 in the near future. That means 1-2 years from now.Dwight took longer to get used to the NBA. Okafor came off winning a college title. Dwight came off winning a high school title. Naturally, it was going to take Dwight longer to get adjusted to the NBA. But now he's caught up and surpassed Okafor.Are you kidding me? Dwight dunks on someone every night. Okafor dunks on someone when he's being guarded by a 6 foot nothing player. Okafor is not as strong as Dwight. Some of this is due to injury and excess wheight. Howard doesn't complain about scoring only 10 in a game if he wins. Okafor demands the ball and hasn't won over 30 games in a season yet.
With all due respect Dwight Howard will be a better player but Emeka Okafor is playing better this season. Emeka has played better than Dwight the first couple of weeks into the regular season but Emeka is injury prone and hasn't proved he can stay healthy for a full season.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pacers fan forever @ Nov 18 2006, 10:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>If you read my post you would see that I said Dwight will average 15 in the near future. That means 1-2 years from now. Dwight took longer to get used to the NBA. Okafor came off winning a college title. Dwight came off winning a high school title. Naturally, it was going to take Dwight longer to get adjusted to the NBA. But now he's caught up and surpassed Okafor. Are you kidding me? Dwight dunks on someone every night. Okafor dunks on someone when he's being guarded by a 6 foot nothing player. Okafor is not as strong as Dwight. Some of this is due to injury and excess wheight. Howard doesn't complain about scoring only 10 in a game if he wins. Okafor demands the ball and hasn't won over 30 games in a season yet.</div> 1. Yeah, I read your post, you said this exactly: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Dwighat averages 15 on the same move</div> 2. Dwight needed time to get used to everything, of course man he can out of HS. But right now, he has not "surpassed" Okafor. 3. LMFAO!!!!!! You think that just because Dwight dunks on someone more often that has to do with their overall strength? HAHAHA! Gerald Green last year, was PUSHING 200 lbs. (tall, lanky kid) and he dunks on people. Is he stronger than Emeka too? Give me f*cking break. You have to be kidding me. 4. Okafor doesn't demand the ball at all! Again, you have to be kidding me. He gets more touches in the post, sure, but he is a better post player than Dwight right now, hands down. 5. OK, Okafor hasn't won 30 games yet. OK, cool. But also note that he came into a brand new franchise. The first game Emeka played in the NBA was the first game the Charlotte Bobcats played too.
