Howard vs. Wallace for Title

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Dwight Howard emerged from the Orlando Magic locker room at RDV Sportsplex Tuesday wearing a big grin and an authentic World Wrestling Entertainment title belt.

The word "authentic" next to "wrestling" no doubt forms an oxymoron. In keeping with the sport's notorious credibility, Howard was trying to persuade Assistant General Manager Otis Smith that he had "won the title wrestling" Monday night at TD Waterhouse Centre.

Smith's expression was priceless as he walked away, shaking his head at the 20-year-old's latest bit of silliness.

Howard said he attended the wrestling matches. How he wound up with the gold-plated championship belt that had the name "John Cena" inscribed on it.

According to the WWE Web site, Cena was the WWE champ, but lost to Edge by disqualification.

The point of all this, of course, not to mention the cheap segue, is that Howard is chasing a more legitimate title: NBA rebounding champ.

Heading into Tuesday's games, he was tied with Detroit center Ben Wallace for the lead at 12.5 boards per game.

Howard easily would be the youngest player in NBA history to lead the league in that category.

Dolph Schayes led the NBA in rebounding as a 22-year-old in the 1950-51 season -- the first season the NBA started compiling rebounds as statistics.

Wilt Chamberlain was 23 and Bob Petit 24, for instance, when they won the title. Players could not leave college early to be drafted by the NBA back in the day, let alone leave high school as Howard did.

Moses Malone was plucked out of high school by the American Basketball Association in 1974. But he didn't lead the NBA in rebounding until he was a 24-year-old Houston Rocket.

"It would be awesome if the team made the playoffs and I won the [rebounding] title," Howard said.

Chamberlain and Bill Russell both had 50 and 40 rebounds in a single night. Howard likely won't ever corral that many, but he became the youngest player last season to collect 20 rebounds in a game and had a career-high of 21 this season.

Despite having Shaq on the team for four seasons, the Magic have never had a player lead the league in rebounding.

Howard doesn't have Shaq's raw power, but Grant Hill says he has "springs" for legs -- tremendous leaping ability from even a standing position.

The 6 foot-11 Howard says he can't describe his rebounding technique, other than, "It's whomever wants the ball more, go get it. I think it's all in the mind."

Not that he hasn't learned some tricks. He credits assistant coach Mark Bryant with giving him some tips about leaning different parts of his body to grab a board. He has 527 total rebounds, 375 offensive and 152 defensive. Along with the wrestling belt, Howard also wore a shirt that had a picture of Michael Jordan dunking. Fancying himself at times as a very tall guard, Howard wanted to be in this year's all-star slam-dunk contest. He learned Tuesday he hadn't been invited and looked disappointed.

"They discriminate against big guys," he joked.</div>

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