I was thinking today, I’ve seen talks about people entering their prime at really old ages, like Karl Malone for example. But that made wonder, who hit the peak of their career at the younger ages? For example, micheal carter Williams practically peaked in his rookie year.
Kinda stunned no one’s said Dwight Howard. By 26, he had racked up 8xAll Star, 8xAll NBA including 5 straight first teams, 3x DPOY, 5x Rebounding champ, 2x block champ, and a finals appearance. By 28, he was essentially a washed-up big body to throw at other centers, bouncing around team to team barely clinging to the league.
It largely had to do with him hurting his back and being pressured to come back (*cough* Kobe) way too soon
He could’ve retired at 26 and would’ve been a HOF
Bullshit. He was still really good in Houston, just not posting as gaudy of stat lines. He wasn’t just straight up bad until his last year in Houston when he developed pretty serious back problems
He got a ring in those 12 years. And he‘ll still be a first ballot Hall of Famer
should have been top 75 tho
Yeah his and other omissions from the list hurts the legacy of the list rather than Dwight Howard. People will clown the list and Adam silver for years for the atrocity that list is.
I have not seen that list talked about as an honor, most discussions I see are around Dwight, Jokic and others not being on the list and how bad it is.
Still pisses me off. It’s so clear that I’m convinced he made the wrong people mad behind the scenes. I just don’t get it
how dame got over him still bugs me :(
And AD like wtf?? Dwight is unbelievably clear accolades wise
AD had absolutely no business getting in over Dwight. That was ridiculous.
Why is AD the frame of reference? Dwight was a no brains top 75 but AD clearly belongs too.
AD still deserved it over Dame, Melo, and some of those guys from the 70s (Lenny Wilkens, Earl Monroe, Dave Bing, Pete Maravich, and probably Dave DeBusschere)
Insane take.
I was on your side until you said pistol pete … you take that back!!!
AD’s the better player tho 👀
He really is. The fact that ppl are downvoting you and tryna deny that is ridiculous. Ppl just blinded by hate and didn’t even watch Dwight, he barely had an offensive game lmao
I have a Dame jersey and idk how he made it
HUUUHH DAME OUTTA EVERYONE?
I understand the respect factor but rankings like this change over time. They really should have done it properly and removed some of the top 50 guys from 1996 who objectively wouldn’t be top 75 in 2022. So instead of Dame or AD it should have been one of the old timers who aren’t objective good enough.
Since they just kept the top 50 from 1996 out of respect and added 25 new players.
*76
He got hurt and game changed after 2015. He still had some run after his 26 tho, it wasn’t that obvious that he was useless, his firsts Houston seasons he still had dominant playoffs runs for example
At 28 he was an all star. 29 he was a 16 and and 10 a night. 30 and 31 he still had like 13-14 pts and 12-13 rebounds a night. At 32 he was back to 16.5 and 10. He fell off in his age 33 season (which was 15 years in). He wasn’t a superstar after 26 but he didn’t suck.
Agree with everything except the last part. He wasn’t barely clinging. He was still a walking double double and high end rim protector. He went from top ten to role player, but his attitude was more an issue than anything. He fixed that though and contributed majorly to getting his ring.
Yeah that comment is crazy. Dwight went from the best big in the league to maybe the 2nd or 3rd best big in the league when he was in Houston. He wasn’t really bouncing around until he left Houston and even then he was just on bad teams, I don’t know that he was some massive cancer. I think he was just annoying to be around but moreso before he accepted that he wasn’t a superstar.
The guy is still like a top 10 center of all time possibly.
Yeah I didn’t feel like getting to in depth, but he really had classic case of being a superstar then regressing a bit, and too proud to accept a lesser role for a time. We’ve seen that story a million times (Iverson,melo,russ,etc). He got it together though
Ooooh… interesting.
Top 10 centers all time?
Kareem
Bill Russell
Wilt
Shaq
Hakeem
Then after:
Moses Malone
David Robinson
Maybe a toss up between old and new centers:
Mikan, Jokic, Dwight, McAdoo, Parish, Willis Reed.
This is a hard one.
Maybe top 12-15 would be more app. Because Jokic almost certainly is on pace to be in the top 10 or even top 5. You also need to throw Ewing in there. And I think Embiid is going to be remembered way better than he’s currently viewed, especially if he has more playoff success at some point.
But either way, Dwight is in the pantheon of all time centers.
basically injuries. took him awhile to adapt his game
Prime Dwight was a beast. Bowling ball shoulders and a 7 footer who can jump like a gazelle.
You mean by 28 he racked up 8x All star & by 30 he was washed up.
You mean by 28?… at 26 he had 6 all stars. He earned his last all-star selection at 28
Not top 75 apparently
Calling him washed by 28 is bullshit. In 2017-18 he was still averaging 17 and 12 while playing great defense.
28*
Dwight was 28 when got selected for his last all star and all nba selection tho. At 26 he only had racked up 6 all star and all nba selections. He was third team all nba and second team all nba at age 27 and 28 respectfully. And he was still a walking double double for several years after that tbh. I still remember 32 year old Dwight Howard’s 30/30 game.