Is Dwight Howard a Superstar?

[Forest]

-= original quote snipped =-



Dwight is probably a superstar, but being the the 2nd best center isn't saying much. There are only two centers in the league that are anything more than role-players.

Dwight is the best center in the league or at least it is a very debatable subject. Espn polls, realgm polls, and even rocket sites have choosen Dwight the majority of the time. I'd say he is the best center in the league until proven otherwise. Yao has only played half a season the past 3 year and has hardly been dominant in the playoffs. Howard at only 22 has more success than yao in playoffs.

[NO-KG-AI]

Hey TooNice00, how bout those Hornets losing in the first round, and the Magic pwning all??^^

hahahaha

[J-Mezzy]

Forest does make some valid points though. Put Dwight on the Hornets with Chris Paul and he probably averages 25ppg on a much higher FG%.

[High 5]

And Shaq would have been better playing with Paul as well.

[J-Mezzy]

And Shaq would have been better playing with Paul as well.

Well, one could argue, that Penny, Kobe, and Wade in their primes were as good if not better than Paul.

I have no interest in saying Howard was anywhere close to being the offensive player Shaq was, but Forest does have a point when talking about the flow of today's game and also Shaq's gifted guard teammates. Again, Howard would average around 25ppg with a player of the caliber of Paul, Wade, Kobe ETC. Still not as good as Shaq's numbers

[NO-KG-AI]

That's not a given, you are accounting for all the times he would get an easy bucket, but not the times that they are taking shots from him, as the focal point.

Shaq was a far better offensive threat at the same age, you could literally throw him the ball and expect a basket or a foul.

The Magic now are a lot more talented than they were when Shaq was a rookie, so I'm not sure how the star wing argument holds up, because even Shaq's rookie year was better than Dwight's this year.

[CBS7]

Penny is overrated, or at least his impact on Shaq is.

When Shaq was putting up 29/13 in his second year Penny was a rookie that put up 16/6.6/5.4. Very good player, yes, but not significantly better or even better at all then what Dwight had around him this year.

And Penny never had a season close to what Paul did this year, so I would say that you can't argue that Penny is as good as if not better then Paul.

Anyways, rookie Shaq, who didn't have Penny, put up 23/14/2/3.5 on 56% shooting.

Something thats going underrated here is passing ability. Shaq was a better passer and not as turnover prone at the same age. Dwight definitely needs to improve his passing if he wants to expand his game.

After all that, I don't think he's a superstar, but few players are superstars according to my definition. I think he's very close, and will get there in the near future.

[J-Mezzy]

That's not a given, you are accounting for all the times he would get an easy bucket, but not the times that they are taking shots from him, as the focal point.

Shaq was a far better offensive threat at the same age, you could literally throw him the ball and expect a basket or a foul.

The Magic now are a lot more talented than they were when Shaq was a rookie, so I'm not sure how the star wing argument holds up, because even Shaq's rookie year was better than Dwight's this year.

Well, Dwight is not the focal point, mainly because he is still not great at positioning and the Magic guards are bad at dumping the ball to him. Dwight doesn't take that many shots so I don't see how someone like Paul, Kobe would take shots away from him.


As far as Shaq goes
Shaq was the better
scorer
passer
less turn over prone

Dwight is similar rebounder or a bit better, and a bit better defender. The one thing Dwight will always have on Shaq is work ethic, but that won't be enough to make him as good as Shaq.

I expect Dwight to be a 25-13-3 -3 at his peak. I don't think he'll be able to maintain his rebounding while scoring more. Dwight will never be as good as Shaq, so why are we arguing here? My point is that if you don't think having guys like Kobe or Wade wouldn't make Dwight a more efficient player, you are out of your damn mind

[bballmaniac27]

Hey TooNice00, how bout those Hornets losing in the first round, and the Magic pwning all??^^

hahahaha

No wonder his posts looked so familiar.

[Curtis Lemansky]

Dwight Howard is not a superstar.

but Yao is.

So a team with a superstar center and one player who is close to Kobe in playoffs in your mind coupled with one of the best damn role players in NBA cannot still carry a team past Utah.

[Baller 24]

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So a team with a superstar center and one player who is close to Kobe in playoffs in your mind coupled with one of the best damn role players in NBA cannot still carry a team past Utah.

This year Yao wasn't there. Last year, Yao wasn't 100%...let's not start this now.

[Wade2k6]

I expect Dwight to be a 25-13-3 -3 at his peak. I don't think he'll be able to maintain his rebounding while scoring more. Dwight will never be as good as Shaq, so why are we arguing here? My point is that if you don't think having guys like Kobe or Wade wouldn't make Dwight a more efficient player, you are out of your damn mind

Honestly, I don't see Wade or Kobe making Dwight any more efficient. He is a very efficient player as it is, how much more could he improve on his already 60% field goal percentage? Having Wade or Kobe on the Magic would improve Dwights overall game though, no doubt.

No doubt having a Wade or Kobe would help Dwight out a hell of a lot, but I would think his stats wouldn't be as high either, because both will take shots away from him.

[Lakers_4_Life]

I really found all those threads on realgm earlier in the year proclaiming Howard > better than Yao or to be the "best center in the NBA" really amusing.

I've said all along the fact that so many people really believe Howard is better than Yao just shows how completely lacking most fans here are in basketball knowledge. But they sure can regale you in endless stats and they sure can point out who the most hyped players are to you, and tell you that is also how they should be ranked. Even on the international forum here people do this.

Anyway, Yao has injury issues lately but when Howard and Yao are both healthy it isn't even close. Yao is EASILY better. Howard has a long way to go before he's considered a "superstar". He's just as overrated as Wade was a couple years ago. When are basketball fans going to realize how to properly judge players?

[PopAGat]

Superstar? No.

The Superstars are the Kobe's, LeBron, Chris Paul esque players. Dwights an All-star not a SUPERSTAR.

[CBS7]

Dwight is still more raw offensively than Shaq's rookie year, but then he is also the same age as Shaq's rookie year. And Shaq didn't rebound, block shots, or defend as well.

This post is just wrong.

Rookie Shaq vs 07-08 Dwight

13.9 rpg vs 14.2 rpg
13.2 rpg36 vs 13.5 rp36
20.6 rb% vs 21.7 rb%

Dwight was better, but the difference was small.

3.4 bpg vs 2.1 bpg

No contest.

What about passing? Turnovers? Shaq even had a better FT% (by .2%).

[CBS7]

I expect Dwight to be a 25-13-3 -3 at his peak. I don't think he'll be able to maintain his rebounding while scoring more. Dwight will never be as good as Shaq, so why are we arguing here? My point is that if you don't think having guys like Kobe or Wade wouldn't make Dwight a more efficient player, you are out of your damn mind

I can see the 25/13 or at least close to it... but he has to go very far to get to 3 apg, I just don't see that type of passing out of him. And the 3 blocks he's definitely capable of right now but he doesn't get it, so I don't know if he'll get it in the future.