20. Dwight Howard
50 WORDS ON DWIGHT HOWARD
Dwight Howard looked like basketball had built a center in a laboratory, then accidentally given him the personality of a camp counselor. The shoulders, smile, cape and dunks made him easy to caricature. At his peak, though, offenses bent around his presence. History remembers the jokes. The paint remembers dominance.
CAMPFIRE ERA STATS
Main line: 15.7 PPG / 11.8 RPG / 1.3 APG / 0.9 SPG / 1.8 BPG
Longevity: 1,242 regular season games / 125 postseason games
Era Ranks: 1st in total rebounds / 2nd in total blocks / 4th in defensive win shares
CAMPFIRE ERA ACCOLADES
2020 NBA Champion, 3-time Defensive Player of the Year (2009, 2010, 2011), 8-time All-Star, 8-time All-NBA, 5-time All-Defense, 4 top-five finishes in MVP Vote
THE PEAK
2010-11 - Dwight averaged a career-high 22.9 points, along with 14.1 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.4 steals, won his third consecutive Defensive Player of the Year, made First Team All-NBA and finished second in MVP voting.
The 2008–09 version reached the Finals, but 2010–11 was the moment when Dwight’s offensive development and defensive dominance were closest to meeting at their absolute ceilings.
WTF STAT
Only player in league history to lead the NBA in rebounds (1,082), blocks (228) and field goal percentage (.612) in the same season.
NON-BASKETBALL COMPARISON
A Wrecking Ball With a Smiley Face Painted On It - Picture an enormous industrial wrecking ball, designed to destroy structures with ease. Now paint a giant happy face on it, and suddenly, everyone is going to be a little confused by what's going on. The same thing happened with Dwight Howard. Everyone kept debating whether the childlike expression on his face would hold him back, completely ignoring that there were buildings collapsing all around him.
THE RIPPLE
Dwight helped prove the viability of building an elite offense around vertical spacing rather than post scoring.
Orlando surrounded him with shooting, opened the middle of the floor, and let Dwight create pressure through rim runs, offensive rebounding, lobs and sheer gravity around the basket. At the other end, his ability to erase mistakes at the rim gave those lineups permission to play smaller and more aggressively around him.
He wasn’t the first rim-running defensive center, but the late-2000s Magic were an important bridge toward the modern one elite interior anchor + four perimeter threats construction. Dwight’s combination of rim protection and vertical gravity made the geometry work.
WHAT HIS PEERS SAY
"That kid is a freak of nature, man. I don't know what they put in the milk these days for these young kids, but that kid is a freak of nature. I was nowhere near that physically talented. I wasn't that gifted, as far as body and physical presence." - (Kevin Garnett, 2006)
IN HIS OWN WORDS
"I'll joke all day, but once I get in the gym, I'm going to work hard. That's one thing I pride myself on is working hard in the weight room, working hard in practice, trying to become a better player." - (Dwight Howard, 2016)
ROLL THE TAPE
THE BEGINNING
THE SKILL
THE PERFORMANCE
THE ARTIFACT
