These days, Dwight Howard’s contributions in the NBA and his legacy on the court has largely become underrated. Younger fans don’t rate him quite as highly as older generations and that’s because they didn’t get to see him during his prime. Make no mistake about it, though, when he was at his best, the former centre was an incredible player.
He won Defensive Player of the Year in three straight seasons, from 2009-2011, and was instrumental in the Orlando Magic making it to the NBA finals in 2009. They may have lost to the Los Angeles Lakers once they got there, but it was still an impressive achievement for Howard, guiding the team that far for just the second time in their history.
He was a defensive machine, capable of locking down just about anyone in the paint, and he was one of the best centres throughout the 2010s. That doesn’t mean he didn’t find it tough coming up against some players, however. In fact, in a recent appearance on Michael Porter Jr’s podcast, he named the toughest centres he ever faced off against on the court.
Dwight Howard’s Toughest Centres
Speaking to Brooklyn Nets star Porter Jr, Howard was asked to name the toughest centres that he ever played against during his career. He didn’t hold back either and ended up naming eight different players. He chose players across multiple eras, starting with Mark Jackson. The former Houston Rockets star retired in 2004, the year that Howard entered the NBA, but he made enough of an impact in that time to make it onto Howard’s list all these years later.
The next player that he named was Rasheed Wallace. The big man played 18 seasons in the NBA and featured the the likes of the Portland Trail Blazers and the Detroit Pistons during that time. He won one NBA championship and was named an NBA All-Star on four occasions. Speaking about the two, as quoted by Fadeaway World, Howard said:
“Mark Jackson, big Mark Jackson who played in Philly, he’s a coach in Philly now, well, he does TV in Philly but he was like that. Rasheed Wallace, too, super nice, strong, could turn around and hit jump shots over anybody.”
Next, he chose Kendrick Perkins and DeMarcus Cousins. The two men were very different styles of players. The former was a force to be reckoned with defensively and caused players all sorts of trouble on the court, while the latter was an offensive machine and used his size and strength to bully his opponents under the basket. Howard came up against both on multiple occasions and had this to say about them:
“Kendrick Perkins for defense. Back then you could do anything defensively, but Kendrick was physical. I’d been playing against him since high school, so that was always a great battle.
“Boogie, he had the handles and everything, but we went at it. We always got fouls on each other. It was always me and him getting into it over something and then ending up on the bench. I realized that was his tactic, trying to get me out of my game. And honestly, it worked sometimes. I’d be like, ‘Man, I’m getting fouled too much, I gotta do something.’ But that was the game plan, and it worked.”
After that, he named two all-time great players in Shaquille O’Neal and Yao Ming. There’s been a lot of talk about animosity between Howard and the former. The two men both represented the Orlando Magic as franchise cornerstones at different times during the team’s history and there’s been plenty of tension as a result. They’ve recently put their differences aside and Howard was quick to acknowledge Shaq’s strength on the court. He also credited Ming’s jump shot and admitted he was hard to defend against. He said:
“Shaq was tough because he was 395 pounds, just heavy, massive. He’s 7’2, 7’3, and I’m really 6’9, maybe 6’10. That’s giving up a lot of height, size, and strength. I just tried to meet him at half court every time, keep fighting from half court all the way down. Don’t let him get anywhere in the paint, because if he gets in there, it’s over with. Imagine when he was 25 and running, that was a real problem.
Yao Ming, turnaround jump shot. You couldn’t stop it, you couldn’t block it. That was the one. He’s 7’5, had that elbow jumper, turnaround jumper, right-hand hook, and he was strong, man. Strong.”
The final two players that Howard named were current stars who are still showing out in the NBA and they are Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic. The former Lakers star actually teamed up with Embiid during his brief stint with the Philadelphia 76ers, but was very impressed during their battles against one another. The 31-year-old was named NBA MVP in 2023, but injuries have really restricted his career since. Howard believes he’d be one of the all-time rgeats if he hadn’t struggled to stay healthy. He then spoke about another former MVP in Jokic who has been dominating the NBA in recent years.
The Denver Nuggets star is considered one of the best players in the world and makes basketball look effortless at times. Speaking about the pair, Howard said:
“Joel, I’ve got to give Embiid his props. I know I played on his team, but when he played against me early on, he was super young — still, dude is nice. If he had stayed healthy, at that time he was probably the only player I could see going one-on-one with Shaq and giving him real problems. He knows how to draw fouls, he’s got the Euro step, the jump shot, the full package. A 100% healthy Joel is a problem, he could easily be top 10.
“And then obviously the Joker [Jokic]. I met him in my later years when he was still super young, but watching what he’s doing now is crazy. I be watching like — are dudes actually trying to play defense, or is he really just killing them like that?”
Not a bad list of talent at all.
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