Where do you rank Dwight Howard defensively all-time?

[dhsilv2]

Tim Duncan is arguably one of the best defender of all-time, 15x All-Defensive most in NBA history but never won a single Defensive Player of the Year award.

Cmon man, Timmy was great but he was not one of the best defenders of all time. He ws so good, even when they had Bruce Bowen, Kobe took a **** on them in the playoffs?

Yes, Duncan is the second best career defender. Though KG is debatable. Better than this list. And LOL at this weird kobe thing....

[NZB2323]

I think most if not all of these guys were better, but Dwight was still very good.

Maybe he was as good or better than Zo or Eaton?

[Harry Garris]

Tim Duncan is arguably one of the best defender of all-time, 15x All-Defensive most in NBA history but never won a single Defensive Player of the Year award.

Cmon man, Timmy was great but he was not one of the best defenders of all time. He ws so good, even when they had Bruce Bowen, Kobe took a **** on them in the playoffs?

That never happened. The only series Kobe ever had in his entire career when he actually elevated and was better than expected was 2001, when the Spurs did not have Bruce Bowen. They didn't really have anybody that year, it was Timmy and an old David Robinson on his last legs and their 3rd best player was Antonio Daniels who was basically a decent backup point guard talent wise.

Every other time the Lakers matched up against the Spurs during Kobe's career he was the same or worse player as he was during the regular season. Claiming that he destroyed the Spurs or something is just hyperbole.

[cam24thomas]

Based on the poll it looks like Dwight Howard was equal to/better than all of them except for Ben Wallace, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson.

[Kent]

Dwight smiles a lot. He’s not going to injure. Or be all that competitive. He is going to get his feelings hurts if a competitor doesn’t help him up because they won a gold medal on TeamUSA together.

Dwight is a great rebounder and has great motor. I would rather take Anthony Davis over Dwight defensively. I like a defensive leader that scowls. That has a different approach to the game.

Props to Dwight. I liked him more than most in LA. He really was great with his approach the second time he was here. And he really was the 4th best player on that championship team behind Rondo, LeBron and Davis.

Dwight brand of defense is better than Gobert’s. Dwight’s offense makes him better than some in the list. Great dunker. So much energy expelled is really what makes Dwight special. He puts out energy on both sides of the floor. But the part of his game that isn’t complete is certain strategies, tactics, and skills.

The awards are just the awards. JJJ is a far more imposing presence than Dwight. Just in size and potential injury from force. Dwight is going to hit you with a bow. JJJ could break someone before a new contract. That changes the approach of the offensive player

I respect everyone's opinion, but I'm inclined to believe you didn't watch enough of Dwight to know how good he was defensively. I saw it in person seven of his eight years in Orlando and his impact can't be understated.

With respect to AD, it shouldn't be a question of who was better defensively. This isn't a case of me being triggered, I just find it slanderous to say otherwise.

JJJ is really good defensively, but not enough to impact a game as much as Dwight did. Dwight was rougher than I think you give him credit for, but in comparison, he was scarier to the offense despite not being an enforcer.

If you like a guy to scowl, that's cool. But to say that quality gives someone an edge in ranking their ability, that's not accurate. It's theatrics which, I admit, can make some guys think twice. That said, it's not a necessary quality but rather a subjective one when it comes to ranking.

I get that you're not a hater and I realize not everyone will have the same opinion, but Dwight is one of the best defenders in NBA history, and that's not an exaggeration — case in point, the basis of this thread is to determine how good he was comparatively to other top defenders.

[ken6199]

The one little knock on Dwight is he didn't match up well with Yao. It was obvious that he had some trouble with guys with a superior size AND skill over his athleticism. Other than that his defense prime is perfect.

[kobe_vs_jordan]

The one little knock on Dwight is he didn't match up well with Yao. It was obvious that he had some trouble with guys with a superior size AND skill over his athleticism. Other than that his defense prime is perfect.

Is it really a knock to not match up well somebody 6 inches taller than you? Nobody matched up well with Yao.

[kobe_vs_jordan]

To me he the best big man defender of all time. The way he elevated a defense was unseen. Prime Dwight shut down pick and roll by himself. A complete game changer every game.

[ken6199]

The one little knock on Dwight is he didn't match up well with Yao. It was obvious that he had some trouble with guys with a superior size AND skill over his athleticism. Other than that his defense prime is perfect.

Is it really a knock to not match up well somebody 6 inches taller than you? Nobody matched up well with Yao.

Weirdly, Boozer and Okur did... but yeah probably knock isn't the right word. Yao's combination of size and finesse was built perfectly to bully Dwight who happened to have too much pride to ask for a help defense.

[cam24thomas]

225 votes in less than a day! this is the most successful poll in realgm history probably

[JT3000]

225 votes in less than a day! this is the most successful poll in realgm history probably

I'm surprised anyone voted considering it makes zero sense. You can't rank anyone using a poll. You can only vote for the best defender out of this group (not even including Dwight himself), which isn't what you asked.

[uberhikari]

Tim Duncan is arguably one of the best defender of all-time, 15x All-Defensive most in NBA history but never won a single Defensive Player of the Year award.

Cmon man, Timmy was great but he was not one of the best defenders of all time. He ws so good, even when they had Bruce Bowen, Kobe took a **** on them in the playoffs?

Yes, Duncan is the second best career defender. Though KG is debatable. Better than this list. And LOL at this weird kobe thing....

In order for this to be true, Duncan would have to be a better defender than Russell and Hakeem. This is not the case.

[cam24thomas]

225 votes in less than a day! this is the most successful poll in realgm history probably

I'm surprised anyone voted considering it makes zero sense. You can't rank anyone using a poll. You can only vote for the best defender out of this group (not even including Dwight himself), which isn't what you asked.

Yep, I guess I'm ahead of my time.
See there are only 10 options allowed, and you can't put 10 of the best defenders (because there are too many to cut down to 10), so you have to put the 10 DPOY bigs (minus Chandler, Noah, Gasol, and obviously minus Jackson because he's too new).

[dhsilv2]

Cmon man, Timmy was great but he was not one of the best defenders of all time. He ws so good, even when they had Bruce Bowen, Kobe took a **** on them in the playoffs?

Yes, Duncan is the second best career defender. Though KG is debatable. Better than this list. And LOL at this weird kobe thing....

In order for this to be true, Duncan would have to be a better defender than Russell and Hakeem. This is not the case.

Well Russell had the best career. As for Hakeem, while Hakeem peaked higher, he didn't have the better defensive career as he dropped off while Duncan remained dominate longer.

[JB2]

Dwight was as good as anybody

[uberhikari]

Yes, Duncan is the second best career defender. Though KG is debatable. Better than this list. And LOL at this weird kobe thing....

In order for this to be true, Duncan would have to be a better defender than Russell and Hakeem. This is not the case.

Well Russell had the best career. As for Hakeem, while Hakeem peaked higher, he didn't have the better defensive career as he dropped off while Duncan remained dominate longer.

Hakeem didn't just peak higher (quite a bit higher actually), his average prime year was better than Duncan's. And Hakeem was fighting for All-D teams against Eaton, Ewing, and Robinson.

Even as late as '99 when Hakeem was 36 his PI DRAPM was just a tier below Robinson and Mourning. And on par with a young KG and Duncan.

So, unless you're under the mistaken belief that Hakeem didn't remain an elite defensive player into his mid-30's I'm not really seeing how you justify the idea that Duncan > Hakeem.

[dhsilv2]

In order for this to be true, Duncan would have to be a better defender than Russell and Hakeem. This is not the case.

Well Russell had the best career. As for Hakeem, while Hakeem peaked higher, he didn't have the better defensive career as he dropped off while Duncan remained dominate longer.

Hakeem didn't just peak higher (quite a bit higher actually), his average prime year was better than Duncan's. And Hakeem was fighting for All-D teams against Eaton, Ewing, and Robinson.

Even as late as '99 when Hakeem was 36 his PI DRAPM was just a tier below Robinson and Mourning. And on par with a young KG and Duncan.

So, unless you're under the mistaken belief that Hakeem didn't remain an elite defensive player into his mid-30's I'm not really seeing how you justify the idea that Duncan > Hakeem.

Duncan remained elite till virtually 40, Hakeem maybe mid 30's.

[VFX]

There was a moment in time where Dwight was unstoppable defensively.

He was absolutely more powerful than a majority of the guys on this list. Offensively, if he was under the basket you weren’t stopping him from 2007-2012.

[kuclas]

Dwight was so good defensively. Peak Dwight 2007-late 2011 was a top 5 NBA player. The back injury really hampered his elite jumping and switching ability. The Orlando Magic won 50 plus games with peak Dwight. Since he left, they suck. That's over 10 year ago. I think Howard is more like an Alonzo Mourning type of center (6 10 with broad shoulders) mobile. People forget how good of a defender Alonzo was before his kidney problems.

[WillyJakkz]

I'll just say this.

Prime Dwight Howard is the only Center/ Defensive Player on that poll that made a young bouncy attack the rim to dunk every time LeBron James second guess himself and pump fake or hang in the air and hope he got fouled because he knew he damn sure wasn't going to jump over him.

No one else on that Poll could do that.

His strength & leaping ability was something to behold in his prime. Should've had 4 DPoY Awards in a row.

If you didn't see Orlando Dwight 2008-2012 before back surgery you didn't really really see him.

HOU Dwight was the closest he could get to his Orlando days but the injury had slowed him down.