LeBron James or Dwight Howard?

[WD-40]

Agreed, even when Oden comes back he won't be as good as Dwight. D12 is on another level right now and it's scary to think that he is still so raw.

I would only choose Dwight over Oden because of injury concerns. I think Oden can at least match Dwight offensively, and will likely better him, and I think defensively Oden could be the best. He makes a black hole around him that shooters fear and step back from due to massive blocks. And if I'm not mistaken, Oden shot better FT's with his off arm than Dwight does with his good arm. If healthy, I might even pick Oden over Lebron, but I'd have to watch him play in the NBA first.

Lebron, not my style and he bugs me, but he's something special. I can't deny it.

[ponder276]

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too each their own but i dont think Howard has the same leadership skills or killer instinct that a Oden has i think oden is gonna be a the center of the next 10+ years. i mean offensively oden can create for himself way better and on the denfensice side he's better imo opinion more blocks and there rebounds wont be far apart.

howard is still so raw offensively to take his team anywhere in the playoffs.
but anyways i would take lebron over jesus.

I really don't think Howard is that raw this season. From the few games of seen of him this season, he's had some really nice post moves that don't involve dunks. His offense seems pretty polished this year - in my opinion the only reason he isn't scoring 26-28 ppg is his teammates don't get him enough touches. He often gets low post position and his teammates don't even try to pass him the ball.

[PharoaheMonch]

Lebron's a once every 10 years type talent, he's that good.

Give me Lebron.

Lebron's more like once every 15 years, Dwight is once every 10

[Harry Palmer]

BTW, if we assume Oden's knee has no real long term effects, I would say it's close and I might even favor Oden. They are close in terms of physical package, though you probably give the nod to Howard, but instincts for the position, Oden is the best I've seen come into the league in a long, long time.

[Hairy Midget]

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Lunacy on the part of the first two guys. Noone combines on court play with marketability like Lebron. I mean its not even remotely close to being a contest.

At this point, Kaman's play is close to Howard. Clearly Howard has a much higher ceiling, and may very well be the next Shaq. Not the next Hakeem mind you, as they have fairly different skillsets.

Bron tho...if he wants to win a game, hell win a game, its quite as simple as that. Getting to the finals with your 2nd best player being...what, Big Z? Drew Gooden? Varejao? I mean...come on.

Buh?

[WD-40]

^^cross our fingers that his knee is ok. I want to watch Oden play.

[WD-40]

double post

[Kurtz]

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Buh?

Alright, good point.

But Kaman's stats are comparible.

[Cassius]

If we can convince Smitch to let Bron run the pick and roll 50% of the time, Lebron.

If we can't, Dwight.

[Cassius]

You are correct, I just feel that Howard's character is more of a benefit then Lebron's. Let's say they are tied for 1st. This is a really tough call. I mean obviously Lebron is dominant (when he feels like it). I just like what the future holds for Howard, I mean how old is the kid and bigs usually take loads of time to develop.

And plus, he had a full on conversation with my 12 month old boy, and my wife thinks he's hot so that counts for something......

(picture)

1. Lebron must feel like being dominant quite a bit because he's carried the Cavs from day one.

2. You need to check your wife before she runs off with some other big dude. (Just joking, cute kid)

[disoblige]

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So the nature of the game suggests a dominant inside guy will draw more attention away from other players than a dominant perim guy. For example, when both were in their primes, coaches like PJ himself and Riley still said Hakeem got more attention from opposing defenses as a whole than MJ did. It's the nature of the beast.

Only if Dwight can pass just like shaq or hakeem. He only gets 1 assist per game and 3.5 to per game.

[UnRealGM]

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Alright, good point.

But Kaman's stats are comparible.

watch dwight play, watch kaman play, then tell me again how they're even close.

if you're building a team you want to center around your.. center. C and pg are the two most difficult positions to fill. grabbing a young stud C like dwight and making him the face of your franchise for years to come? can't go wrong when you go big right.. right?

[Kurtz]

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watch dwight play, watch kaman play, then tell me again how they're even close.

if you're building a team you want to center around your.. center. C and pg are the two most difficult positions to fill. grabbing a young stud C like dwight and making him the face of your franchise for years to come? can't go wrong when you go big right.. right?

Kaman does have a lot more trouble finishing inside, as he can't explode for a dunk like Howard does. And he ends up putting up some wild shots that Howard wouldn't dream of, so that's really the major disparity in their game.

But Kaman has a softer jumper, and he's a better passer. And rebounding/defense-wise they're pretty close.

C/PG are definately the two most important positions, but Lebron's just a lot more dominant, period.

For instance, as Orlando was trying to mount a comeback last night against the Kings, in the last 6 minutes, Howard never got the ball on offense. He grabbed some boards for putbacks, but they never went to him for a score. Wouldn't you want your dominant player to be THE guy in the last 6 minutes?

[B-Ball Freak]

LBJ

[viceroy]

this depends on the situation. at this point because bosh is on this team i would have to say dwight howard. a frount court with bosh and howard is basically a guaranteed dynasty. those two completement each others game almost perfectly. its the sum of all parts that counts. lebron and bosh might be a good combo, but dwight is the perfect complementary player to bosh on the front court. lebron is one man . bosh + howard would eat everyone alive.

[pspot]

I've always used the situation that your ultimate goal is to win the championship but really it can be any close game and ultimately you want your best player to be that guy.

Last shot, close game you take Lebron over Howard because
a. he can hit any shot, can be that guy
b. can hit a FT in a close game

both are amazing and make this game fun to watch but if I had to choose I'd go with the King

[cb4_89]

You are correct, I just feel that Howard's character is more of a benefit then Lebron's. Let's say they are tied for 1st. This is a really tough call. I mean obviously Lebron is dominant (when he feels like it). I just like what the future holds for Howard, I mean how old is the kid and bigs usually take loads of time to develop.

And plus, he had a full on conversation with my 12 month old boy, and my wife thinks he's hot so that counts for something......

(picture)

You did good my friend. Good looking wife and a nice kid.

[TheDoctor]

Its interesting, because both guys are absolute freaks of nature, both are very competitive, and overall both are good teammates. They're both young, have body types that look injury-resistant, and can change games.

For pretty much all of Harry's reasons, I might prefer to start with Howard.

There's just something about LeBron that bothers me. I think its because he's a crazy ballhandling and passing power 3. He can be an unstoppable force and pretty much get to the line at will, and score in a variety of ways... but it doesn't look elegant. I think he works well with shooter and cutters, but there's a lot of players that we thought might mesh better with him, but don't... at least not yet. And because he's an inconsistent outside shooter, he's less effective when the ball leaves his hands... which means a good scoring big man is less effective when you play with him.

So while some would say "LeBron makes players around him better", I'd agree for shooters, slashers, dunking bigs, offensive rebounding bigs, disagree when it comes to creative swingmen, good passing PGs, and post-scoring bigs. He actually detracts from all of them. Which is why guys like Z, Hughes (though his shot seems more consistent now than it has been through most of his career... at least against us), and like people mentioned, TJ, would not be good fits there.

Whereas Dwight is a beast at the defensive end, and on offense is coming along nicely in the areas he needs to, as well as being a freak on the offensive boards, and catching and dunking on nice passes. He fits exactly how you want a dominant big to at both ends of the court, meaning you can build off him in pretty much any way you want to. And he'd make any type of PG or swingman or PF better.

[ruckus]

^^ I like your analysis of LeBron's game. So basically, he's a PPF - a Power Point Forward. On the floor, he fills the role of 3 players so, the only thing that will work around him are role players -> 3-pt shooters, rebounders and garbagemen. The best championship Bulls teams were constructed similarly.

[I_Like_Dirt]

I dunno, Doc. I think Lebron can play with more players than you give him credit for. If you've already got an allstar backcourt that's dynamite offensively then you have to take Howard, but if you don't have Paul, Wade, Kobe and Bosh on the team already then you have to take Lebron.

I'd rather have Lebron and Kobe, or Lebron and Bosh, or Lebron and Wade than any of those other players with Howard. He's just THAT good. If you start getting two major ballhandling offensive forces on the team then Howard looks better, but at that point he's the third max (or near max) salary on the team. Lebron would mix extremely well with one or two other stars and he's looked pretty darn good backing off a bit with team USA where Howard hasn't looked nearly as comfortable.

Howard is a great player and I don't much care for Lebron's demeanor, but I don't see how anyone would take Howard over Lebron unless they had a very particular set of circumstances. Lebron is also much better defensively than he's given credit for, if only because I think people are looking for anything to criticize him about. The reason the Cavs don't have any stars around him is because they've had terrible management over the years, blew their salary space on Larry Hughes, Z, Marshall, Jones and Eric Snow, and let their only other star (Boozer) escape for nothing in return.