Is Dwight Howard the next Shaquille O'Neal? Pretty interesting article. The writer mentions a formula that shows how certain players have produced wins this season for the Magic. Here are the totals. Pretty interesting to see who have been the most effective players. It's pretty interesting to see Keyon Dooling near the bottom of the list.
I can't say it is surprising that Keyon is so low. He has made a lot of dumb rushed shots, that are way off in a lot of clutch situations.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Speaking of Grant Hill, he is producing at the same level he offered in in 2004-05. That season he played 67 games and had a WP48 of 0.141. This year his WP48 stands at 0.143. This is above average, but not nearly what he did for Detroit. In 435 games with the Pistons he posted a WP48 of 0.284. So Hill is about half the player he was before he got hurt.</div> So b/c Grant Hill's WP48 ratio Orlando last year vs. Detroit years is 1/2, so Hill is half the player. Therefore Dwight is 20 times better than Darko.
I don't think he is a Shaq-like player. I think he's more of a bigger/more athletic and skilled Alonzo Mourning.
I'm not sure if he's going to dominate the offense like Shaq did in his prime. And he moves more, too. Beacuse Shaq has a different body, bigger and larger. Dwight has very wide shoulders and he jumps high and moves. Ofcourse, he's still young and he's still improving his offensive game, but I'm not sure that he'll be such a dominate center as Shaq. Shaq averages 26.3 ppg in his whole career ! He also put up 61 points aginst the Clippers, that's amazing. Dwight averages only 14.4 ppg in his career...
<div class="quote_poster">Flow Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Shaq averages 26.3 ppg in his whole career ! He also put up 61 points aginst the Clippers, that's amazing. Dwight averages only 14.4 ppg in his career...</div> You're forgetting that Shaquille O'Neal attended LSU for three seasons before entering the NBA as a rookie so he had time to develop his game in college. Dwight, on the other hand, is only 21 years old and if he had followed Shaq's path then this would be his first season in the league. That means that Howard has averaged a double double and almost lead the league in rebounding against the best players in the world at an age when Shaq was still attending class and playing against college players. This is pretty impressive if you think about it. Also, it is unfair to use career points per game to compare Dwight and Shaq since O'Neal hit his prime a long time ago and has had a long career while Howard is still extremely young and has yet to reach his ceiling. Maybe in ten years we can use career averages to measure who was better but for now, it's all just predictions. Hopefully these comparisons don't hurt Dwight like Jordan comparisons have hurt other players throughout the league. Anytime these type of expectations are put on a player, your going to have people that are easily disappointed.
<div class="quote_poster">Swish15 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">You're forgetting that Shaquille O'Neal attended LSU for three seasons before entering the NBA as a rookie so he had time to develop his game in college. Dwight, on the other hand, is only 21 years old and if he had followed Shaq's path then this would be his first season in the league. That means that Howard has averaged a double double and almost lead the league in rebounding against the best players in the world at an age when Shaq was still attending class and playing against college players. This is pretty impressive if you think about it. </div> Actually, if Dwight followed Shaq's path, next year would be his first season in the league.
<div class="quote_poster">Chuck Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Actually, if Dwight followed Shaq's path, next year would be his first season in the league.</div> Oops, you're right. My bad. But that just proves my point even more.
