Alonzo Mourning v Dwight Howard

[migya]

Dwight had been considered a top 75 player that I have read and is seen as probably the biggest snub. Mourning hasn't been mentioned much. Comparing the two is interesting and it can be said that Mourning had a better career. Mourning got kidney disease before the 2000-01 season and was never the same level again.


Mourning v Dwight:

Mourning's prime is from his rookie season in 1993 to 2000, eight seasons. Dwight's prime is from 2007 to 2014, also eight seasons.


Mourning- 1993-2000, 534gms, 35.6mins, 52.6fg%, 6.1ftm, 8.6fta, 71.2fg%, 10.1reb, 1.5ast, 0.6stl, 3.1blk, 3.2tos, 21.1pts

7x All Star
2x BLK Champ
2006 NBA Champ
2x All-NBA
1992-93 All-Rookie
2x All-Defensive
2x Def. POY


Dwight - 2007-2014, 604gms, 36.3mins, 59.0fg%, 5.7ftm, 10.1fta, 56.6ft%, 13.3reb, 1.6ast, 1.0stl, 2.3blk, 3.3tos, 19.5pts

8 allstars
5x TRB Champ
2x BLK Champ
2020 NBA Champ
8x All-NBA
2004-05 All-Rookie
5x All-Defensive
3x Def. POY


Mourning was the clear better scorer, shotblocker and FT shooter. Dwight was the better rebounder and higher fg%. Mourning is better according to those stats.

The accolades are clearly better for Dwight but it is obvious that it is because of the level of competition both had in their eras. There were no other Centers to mention that were great and certainly not comparable to the Centers in Mourning's era.


*
Switch both of them in their eras, on each other's teams and what would their careers look like?

Would Mourning have better numbers and better accolades than Dwight?

Would Dwight have numbers and accolades as good as Mourning did?

Would either then be viewed as a top 75 player, even top 50?

[HEAT33]

When they played head to head Mourning was throwing him around like a rag doll. Mourning played him so aggressive I think Dwight was afraid.

But that was old mourning and Dwight coming into his prime but not primed yet

[KingDavid]

This is a Player Comparison Board topic. So that's where it's headed.

[DoItALL9]

If they had added 25 great players since the Top 50 to make the Top 75(6) list... By position, top 5 per, both of them would've made it

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[SickMother]

If I had to pick one or the other I'd probably go with Alonzo.

Dwight was probably more impactful on the defensive end, but I'd say Mourning being a little more skilled on the offensive end & having what I would consider a big advantage in the intangibles department gives the edge to Zo for me.

[migya]

If I had to pick one or the other I'd probably go with Alonzo.

Dwight was probably more impactful on the defensive end, but I'd say Mourning being a little more skilled on the offensive end & having what I would consider a big advantage in the intangibles department gives the edge to Zo for me.

Looking at Dwight's ability, he is one of the most low skilled and limited offensive Centers of all the top ranked Centers alltime. Can't see him scoring anywhere near 20pts a game in the 90s, with all the great bigs and lower scoring rate. Mourning had a good jumpshot and had a variety of hook shots.

They have similarities but Mourning just has a more polished offensive game and is tougher.

[Stalwart]

Dwight had the better career but that was mostly due to the era. Hard to see Dwight being a franchise player in the 90s the way Mourning was. Would be interesting to see how Dwight matched up against those 90s center. Barbeque chicken is my hunch but maybe Im selling Howard a bit short.

[Jaivl]

If I had to pick one or the other I'd probably go with Alonzo.

Dwight was probably more impactful on the defensive end, but I'd say Mourning being a little more skilled on the offensive end & having what I would consider a big advantage in the intangibles department gives the edge to Zo for me.

Looking at Dwight's ability, he is one of the most low skilled and limited offensive Centers of all the top ranked Centers alltime. Can't see him scoring anywhere near 20pts a game in the 90s, with all the great bigs and lower scoring rate. Mourning had a good jumpshot and had a variety of hook shots.

They have similarities but Mourning just has a more polished offensive game and is tougher.

I mean if Vin Baker or Juwan Howard scored 20 a game in the T O U G H N I N E T I E S, so can Dwight.

[AMW27]

Dwight doesn't get all NBA first team five times in the 1990s. But I think he still would hold his own. I see him getting one or two dpoy awards.

[migya]

If I had to pick one or the other I'd probably go with Alonzo.

Dwight was probably more impactful on the defensive end, but I'd say Mourning being a little more skilled on the offensive end & having what I would consider a big advantage in the intangibles department gives the edge to Zo for me.

Looking at Dwight's ability, he is one of the most low skilled and limited offensive Centers of all the top ranked Centers alltime. Can't see him scoring anywhere near 20pts a game in the 90s, with all the great bigs and lower scoring rate. Mourning had a good jumpshot and had a variety of hook shots.

They have similarities but Mourning just has a more polished offensive game and is tougher.

I mean if Vin Baker or Juwan Howard scored 20 a game in the T O U G H N I N E T I E S, so can Dwight.

Those two had offensive game. ie. Jumpshot, hand skills etc.

[KobesScarf]

Zo is much better offensively and defensively. Dwight is a much better rebounder.

Overall Zo is clearly a few tiers above

[KobesScarf]

I mean if Vin Baker or Juwan Howard scored 20 a game in the T O U G H N I N E T I E S, so can Dwight.

Are you kidding Vin Baker is a wayyyyyyyyyyy more skilled scorer than Deight ever dreamed of being

[Jaivl]

I mean if Vin Baker or Juwan Howard scored 20 a game in the T O U G H N I N E T I E S, so can Dwight.

Are you kidding Vin Baker is a wayyyyyyyyyyy more skilled scorer than Deight ever dreamed of being

And Dwight can spam pick and rolls all day against all but a handful of 90s centers. What's your point?

[Owly]

Clarity as ever is of significant importance here.

1990 we're at 108.1 Ortg, 87.2 fga, 28.5 fta (combining for 99.74 TSA). 98.3 pace. 107 ppg. (24 20 point scorers, 6 at or below 35.2mpg (McHale 33.2, King at 32.8). Cambell (Tony), Tisdale, Smith (Charles), McDaniel are all over 21. 20 players are over 22ppg)
1999 (lockout year) 102.2 Ortg. 78.2 fga, 25.8 fta (combining for 89.552 TSA). 88.9 pace. 91.6 ppg. (14 20 point scorers, mostly requiring big minutes, only four 22 point scorers)

Talking generically of the 90s as one thing without specificity (i.e. not "over the entire decade player X couldn't average Y") doesn't make that much sense because it's such a wide span in terms of league situations.

[falcolombardi]

i am realizing that people here are really underating howard or mythifying most non all star centers of the 90's

[penbeast0]

i am realizing that people here are really underating howard or mythifying most non all star centers of the 90's

I don't think they are mythifying non All-Star center of the era, I don't think they are thinking of them at all. I think they are looking only at the top 5 or so centers of the era . . . Shaq, Hakeem, DRob, Ewing, Mourning, and ignoring the rest. That makes the era appear very strong . . . as opposed to looking at the likes of the Wizards starting Charles Jones, Pervis Ellison, Kevin Duckworth, Georghe Muresan, and Terry Davis over the decade.

To be fair, you don't compare the best of an era to the weak sisters. But the only reason Vin Baker came up is because someone mentioned him as scoring 20+ ppg (Juwan was playing SF for us most of the decade, some PF, no center).

Dwight was 1st team All-NBA in 2008 - 2012 so taking the top centers of the 2006 to 2015 era you get:

Shaq (on Heat)
A'mare
Howard
Duncan
Noah
Marc Gasol

Is that comparable?

Duncan is comparable to any although he is more often listed at forward (arguably incorrectly)
Howard is 2nd best over the decade
Amare doesn't play defense
Aging Shaq might be comparable to Zo still but was at the tail end of his prime in 2006
Noah and Marc Gasol only came in at the end of the decade and neither were offensive forces

[SHAQ32]

Not sure I agree with Zo as the better scorer. I don't agree with him having a better postgame. I'm not sure anyone has said that in this thread, but I see it's a common misconception.

Spoiler:

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[sp6r=underrated]

I knew on/off data had been found going back to 1997 but I hadn't looked up Alonzo. I was genuinely floored how strong Mourning looked.

I was a hardcore Knicks fan and watched all those Miami-NY series. I respected him and always felt he was a nice player but I never once felt he was truly an elite superstar. It looks like he was having a genuine superstar impact. Admittedly Riley is a defensive savant who excels at maximizing the defensive impact of bigs but the sheer strength of his impact figures really challenges my old assessment.

[70sFan]

Not sure I agree with Zo as the better scorer. I don't agree with him having a better postgame. I'm not sure anyone has said that in this thread, but I see it's a common misconception.

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

It's not about lack of scoring moves, it's about his horrible vision and lack of passing ability. Dwight didn't have the awareness to play inside-out offense. He also didn't seem to have a good feel of his defender, often using taught move without adjusting to defender or help defender.

That said, I agree about Mourning - his post game was nothing special either. He was also a bad passer and he relied heavily on his physicality and different variants of hookshot. Outside of that, he gave you little else in the post.

The only advantage Mourning has over Howard offensively is his shooting and FT shooting. He wasn't elite midrange shooter, but he could hit them when open and it gave him a dimension Dwight didn't have. Howard was on the other hand much better offensive rebounder. Both were ATG finishers, though I'd probably also give Dwight edge here.

[No-more-rings]

I'm not really sure who's better defensively, it's probably a wash or maybe a slight edge to Mourning, but i definitely think Dwight provides more impact on offense. Zo can shoot better, but Dwight's ability to draw a bunch of fouls and doubles seems more valuable to me. I'm not sure Zo could've taken the 09 Magic to the finals honestly.