I'd be pretty surprised if Dwight didn't make the top 75. His case is pretty hard to argue against.
It's actually pretty easy as long as you take raw numbers and accolades with a grain of salt. Personally speaking, I focus on each player's skill set. Howard is gifted with amazing physical tools, but he's a very limited offensive player. Embiid is a generational talent on offense and a great rim protector on defense (although he's a limited defender on the perimeter). To put it another way, Howard was a poor man's Gobert. Embiid is a poor man's Hakeem with 3pt range. It's rather obvious who's the better player. Howard was putting up decent scoring numbers in Orlando, but their whole offense was built around him. Basketball was played quite differently at the time. No way an unskilled big like Howard would be the focal point of a team's offense in the pace-and-space era.
Another example is Russell Westbrook. Going by his raw numbers and accolades, you can argue he's a GOAT candidate. If you actually focus on his game, he's a selfish, inefficient choker who kills team chemistry. Feel free to believe he should make the top 75.
Don't get me wrong, it's totally possible that both Howard and Westbrook will make the top 75. Just because they'll likely make the list, it doesn't necessarily mean they deserve it.
His 12.07 rpg is 19th all time (and he is 11th in total rebounds) and the only players on the list ahead of him with the meat of their careers after the 60's, are Drummond, Cowens, Rodman, Hayes, and Moses.
Do you think Andre Drummond is a top 75 player in NBA history? If not, I hope you realize how misleading these raw numbers can be.
You are seriously underrating just how dominant Dwight Howard was. He was the best player and anchor on a team that won 59 games in consecutive years, making the Finals once and the ECF the other season. Calling him a poor man's Gobert is incredibly disrespectful and just not borne in any sort of reality. The Magic in their entire history have had 8 seasons of at least a 60% win percentage, 4 with Howard and 3 with Shaq (the strike shortened 99 season was the other when they were 33-17). They've won 11 playoff series ever, 6 with Howard, 5 with Shaq. During his 7 year prime, he averaged 19.8 ppg, 13.5 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 1.6 apg, 1.1 spg and his teams made the playoffs every season, winning at least 50 games 5 of those 7 years and never less than a 45 win pace. In addition to his elite defense as he won 3 DPOY. He has 5 1st Team All NBA and 4 1st Team All Defense, along with a 2nd Team and 2 3rd Teams and another 2nd Team Defense to go along with his 8 All Star appearances.
He is obviously a player whose style of player doesn't fit quite as well today, but he is also still contributing as a rotation player on winning teams (including winning a championship with the Lakers) and has only missed the playoffs 3 times in his entire career (his 1st 2 seasons and 2018 when he was on the Hornets).
Howard has also taken incredible care of his body and has missed very few games (especially compared to other big men). You could pencil him just about every night.
If this was 5 years from now, then maybe Embiid, Jokic, and some of the other guys would have a case to be on the list, but this isn't 5 years from now. Howard is far more deserving of making the list than Embiid is and it isn't close. You have to take career accolades and stats into account or what is the point of keeping track of that stuff.
Topic: NBA's top 75 (top 50 released) (Read 6926 times)