In his prime, Dwight Howard was one of the most dominant players in the league. He was an elite interior scorer and insane rim protector. There’s no doubt that he’ll be a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee when he retires.
In a recent interview with Zion Olojede of Complex Sports, Dwight Howard claimed that he is a top 10 center of all time. Specifically, he claimed that he is anywhere from 7 to 10 in the rankings.
“All-time centers, I’m top 10. Top 10 all-time. I know everybody what they’re going to say with Shaq, Hakeem, Wilt, Kareem, and then you got Moses Malone.”
“Bill Russell, those are top seven right there. And then, between seven, eight, nine, 10, I’m in that spot. I’m in that spot. And I got almost 15,000 points, 16,000 points. I’m sorry, it might be more than that.”
“Almost 15,000 rebounds. That’s a lot of rebounds and I played in a different era. People be forgetting as far as bigs and stuff like that. For example, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he had the most points in NBA history. He didn’t shoot threes, so imagine how hard it was for him to get those many points.”
It is clear that Dwight Howard has a case to be a top 10 center in NBA history. His accomplishments and production certainly suggest he is right there, and though his prime was relatively short, his dominance cannot be denied.
Throughout his career, Dwight Howard has averaged 15.7 PPG, 11.8 RPG, and 1.3 APG while shooting 58.7% from the field. Those are solid averages, and he should definitely be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he retires.
Dwight Howard Believes His Prime Is Better Than Nikola Jokic’s
Dwight Howard is clearly confident in what he was able to do in the league. In fact, he has repeatedly claimed that he was better in his prime than Nikola Jokic, noting that he played in a “different era”.
“Yeah, of course. Obviously, people going to say Jokic can score. He got all those offensive skills. But at the same time, I was getting 38 and 20, 45-18, 19, 20, and I’m doing all this with twos. No threes, all twos. I’m doing this with lobs. I’m not getting a lot of post-up attempts like Jokic. He’s getting way more opportunities, I would say as far as to show his low post game and all that stuff. And I was just in a different era.”
There’s no question that Dwight Howard was an elite player in his time, and he even led the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009. However, it is fair to say that he was not close offensively to Nikola Jokic, which arguably makes him a slightly worse player.
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