Post by Rog on Apr 8, 2017 17:40:14 GMT
The 76th nominee of the NBN Hall of Fame, Dwight Howard, was a defensive and rebounding monster. He falls short in some certain specific ways that make a person wonder if he truly is a Hall of Famer. Were his rebounding and other elite skills enough to mask those flaws or was he a flawed big who put up big numbers but wasn't really an elite player. Lets take a look.
Career Stats
34.4 MPG, 14.7 PPG, 13.4 RPG, 2.1 APG, 2.2 BPG, 1.3 SPG, 2.0 TOPG on 41.7% from the field and 57.5% from the line
Best Season
Nuggets(2013) - 20.8 PPG, 14.5 RPG, 2.6 APG, 2.5 BPG, 1.6 SPG, 2.5 TOPG on 41.4% from the field and 57.5% from the line
Career Highs
Points: 39
Rebounds: 29
Assists: 8
Steals: 7
Blocks: 10
Achievements
Championships: 0
Player of the Game: 108
Player of the Week: 0
Player of the Month: 0
Double Doubles: 828
Triple Doubles: 2
Accolades
2005 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2005 - All-Rookie Team
2009 - All-Star Game Participant
2013 - All-Star Game Participant
Arguments For Induction
- Dwight was a two time All-Star.
- Howard was a crazy good rebounder in his career. He averaged 13.4 RPG in his career. He also averaged over 14 rebhounds a game for 7 times in his career. Dwight Howard finished his career 2nd All-Time in rebounds. One of the qualifications for a Hall of Famer is being elite at something, and 2nd all time in rebounds qualifies.
- Dwight Howard was also a pretty damn good defender despite not being an elite shot blocker(seems to be a theme this year). He did average 3.5 stocks a game in his career, getting near 4 per game at times during his prime. He did finish 17th in blocks all time, largely due to longevity and being good but not great at it. He also carried an A or A+ rating for almost all of his career. He could do it all defensively for you.
- Not a bad offensively player, which is somewhat important for a defensive player trying to get into the Hall of Fame. He averaged 14.7 PPG for his career and was a 15+ points per game scorer seven times in his career. He didn't shoot all that well but at least he could provide you something offensively of worth.
- Overall Dwight was a 15 point, 14.5 rebound, 4 stock guy for a while in his prime, which seems like a Hall of Fame career to me. Plus was 2nd All-Time in rebounds, making him one of the best few rebounders in league history. He doesn't have the awards nor the offensive prowess, but was potentially the greatest rebounder in history. Having an elite defensive game and being one of the best players at a specific stat has to be something, right?
Arguments Against Induction
- Once again, and again and again and again, he does not have enough fucking awards to be a Hall of Famer. Period.
- He was an absolutely terrible scorer. Sure he did a decent volume, but his percentages were terrible and took too many shots away from players who were better at taking those shots. Shooting 41.7% from the field and 57.5% from the line isn't a great use of shots for teams he was on. Had some seasons where he shot under 40%. Also was a bit turnover prone, averaging 2 for his career and trending towards 2.5 a bunch in his career. For someone who didn't score well, those kinds of turnover numbers just aren't good looks.
- Like always, its hard to classify Dwight Howard and use it as a case for his induction when he was never on an All-Defensive team nor was he ever mentioned in the "Best Defenders" reports. Was he really all that great of a defender, or was his ratings just inflated for whatever reason and this shouldn't be held in his argument?
- The biggest argument to be made against him is how short the argument for him was. It all boils down to the fact that he was an all time great rebounder. Everything else falls apart under more scrutiny than just looking at the basic numbers. Never won a title and its arguable teams got worse after they acquired him. Its hard to win with high volume, low efficiency bigs in FBB, even if they rebound and defend as well as Dwight did. Dwight was that type of big and it showed in his team performances. Plus the total lack of awards, its a thin case that you have to decide whether his rebound numbers were good enough to override all the other bullshit. For me, I just can't.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
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