Tuesday, September 13th, 2011 at 9:25 am  |  65 responses

Shaq: Dwight Howard Faces No Real Competition at Center Position


Though Shaquille O’Neal claims that he has no issue with Dwight Howard — despite numerous shots at him through the media in the past — the Diesel says that Howard doesn’t have to go through anything (or anyone) like Shaq did in his day. From the Times-Picayune: “What can you say about Orlando Magic All-Star center Dwight Howard. Are you friends or foes? ‘His mom and my mom are good friends. I don’t have a problem. But my thing is if you want to call yourself me (Superman), then you’ve got big shoes to fill. I’m not in the Superman this, and Superman that. He won a dunk contest with a cape. If you want to be called Superman because of that, it’s fine with me. I’m Superman for other reasons. I don’t envy him; he’s a great young player. But I’ve never seen him dog another center out. I tried to dog centers out. I went at David Robinson. If Dwight doesn’t win two or three championships, I’m going to be disappointed. He doesn’t have nobody. When I came in the league, I had to go through Alonzo Mourning, Arvydas Sabonis, Kevin Duckworth, Rik Smits. Now I can’t name any other centers besides Kendrick Perkins and Andrew Bynum. Who else is there? That’s it.”

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  • Shifty

    um La Huey, Arvydas Sabonis is a HOF’er

  • Double J

    NO ONE FEARS DWIGHT HOWARD?!?!?! UHHH….

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    JAVALE MCGEE….? Really….? Will Challenge Dwight for best current centre during his career? h3ll no.
    _____
    obviously I need to bring out my current centre rankings for you all….okay coming up.

  • spamslots

    Shaq also had the benefit of getting way more calls his way than Howard does. It’s true that Shaq had better footwork (and certainly a vastly better offensive touch), but refs would also let him get away with simply powering down and backing up his man until they had to hack him or let him dunk. Now, they call an offensive on Howard for anything. It’s really a shame that Yao Ming’s body couldn’t hold up, because Shaq’s right and if Yao was still playing, his skill game could probably have gotten him up to 30 and 11 or so by now.

  • Jerome

    I saw Shaq (Cleveland) dunk on Howard four posessions in a row – in Orlando. Lebron laughed everytime. The ceners Shaq mentioned was another jab at D12, like he aint in the company of the better centers that weren’t mentioned. TWISM … haha.

  • Double J

    oh my god, did u guys not watch shaq play at all?!?! he was called for a foul when guards ran into him! so don’t tell me he got away with anything. jiminy peet sakes….

  • DukeFromDeep

    Andrew Bogut healthy is a top three centre ijn the NBA, no question!

  • DukeFromDeep

    Honestly.. I think Shaq is right. Howard is mediocre compared to 90s Centers,and would have been pushed around by the Admiral, Hakeem, Mourning, Ewing and most def Shaq in his prime.
    Again, what about Bogut?

  • jamesbond

    Zo stats averages for the fist 8 years in the league. 20.9pts, 10.1rbs, 2.7b. That’s 2o-10 for 8 years straight! Peoples, remember he had a kidney transplant. after that he was never the same again.Who could be? Zo was a star in his prime. Not just a Quality center. Its Sad that Yao will probably go into the hall Long before he’s consider.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    If Shaq came into the NBA a year earlier or later than the 92 season, ZO would have been the ROY that year…

  • http://slamonline.com Neitel

    Dwight howard aint no superman…he is the superman that jump with a cape and threw the ball down the cup, but, Shaq is the real superman! he broke backboards back then!!! Dwight howard has some competition, look at Greg Oden! oh wait…he dissapeared a while back..sorry kid…anyways, Dwight Howard should be a dominant 5 in the next couple of years, and he should win like 4 championships, at least…if he doesn’t…i will be sad too…wasted talent…maybe he should go to the Knicks!

  • iCARNACKi

    Shaq is kinda right though. Dwight Howard would be a PF if this were the 90′s, no way is he playing center against: Zo, Shaq, Robinson, Hakeem, Dikembe, Ewing etc etc they would have eaten him alive. Perkins, Bynum, Bogut, Chandler & Oden are the only real centers in the game anymore. Howard has little to no competition most nights and is putting up worse numbers than Shaq did against HoF centers. Howard called himself Superman, he brought this on a little, himself. I wish some team had been patient with Hasheem Thabeet, with a little time and effort he could have been an amazing center, at least defensively.

  • William

    Funny how shaq didn’t mention Dream who schooled him!

  • C-Mac

    @iCARNACki I agree with you here for sure but don’t forget guys like Brook Lopez, Nene, Joakim Noah, Chris Kaman and Marc Gasol. Obviously they aren’t true centers. With the competition he has Dwight should easily have a championship or MVP by now and probably would if he had better post moves. If Shaq, Hakeem, Ewing or Robinson were playing in the NBA in their primes now, they would rule the league.

  • http://twitter.com/HarryByrdMan44 LA Huey

    @Shifty, Sabonis’ HOFer induction have nothing to do with his play in the NBA. The Sabonis Shaq played against was washed up.

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