Top 50: Dwight Howard, no. 6

And in my opinion, John Havlicek is criminally underrated. CRIMINALLY. A top-15 or 20 player. 7 championships, career averages of 21-6-5 along with a lot of steals (did not chart steals till he was 33-38.. he averaged above a steal a game in that time) and fantastic perimeter defense. He played every role imaginable (sixth man, second banana, offense leader, veteran leader) and won in every single one of them, he had a season where he dropped 29-9-7.5 (incredible) and played from 22 to 37… not to mention raising his numbers in the playoffs…
Why does no one give this guy love?

@nbk – lol you’re a funny guy. OK so why does Kobe have to win one or two more rings when he already has more rings than Oscar, Shaq, Duncan, Wilt, and Bird and the same amount as Magic.. One less than Jordan and Kareem? Why does Kobe have to satisfy all these silly claims to earn respect? Why does he need CP3 or Dwight to win one? He already has the same amount of MVPs as Shaq and Oscar. Limited overall dominance? Are you kidding me? 2-way player? Kobe is three times the defender that Magic and Bird were. Oscar was never known as an elite defender. Shaq isn’t a defensive juggernaut either. You just don’t like Kobe and don’t respect his greatness. Admit it man.

@Jukai – I agree Hondo is underrated. He deserves consideration for top 20 any day of the week. He gets no love because people don’t respect the legends of the past.

@nbk – You’re always supposed to build around the big. That’s the rule. Inside out. You should take Shaq and Duncan over Magic, Bird, and Oscar too if you were trying to build a legit team. Does that mean they are better? No. You’re nitpicking against Kobe.

This is a bit low for Howard, but my question to you, my respected peers, is why is LBJ number one in your polls? After his sub-par showing in the finals cementing his legacy (for now) as someone who crumbles under pressure why would anyone rank him so high? Inconsistent finisher, average post skills, lack of killer instinct, I mean c’mon.
Reminds me of the 90s when everyone raved about Karl Malone and bloody John Stockton. The games I saw Malone just melted and made one stupid play after the other. It made me cringe to watch it, let alone be a Utah fan. Don’t get me started on Stockton. Most overrated point of all time. Boring as s**t to watch. Predictable. Paul, Williams, Rose, Wall, Rondo would smash him in today’s game (coughs)… there. I said it.
Response?

I would take Magic and Bird over Duncan every day. “your supposed to build inside out” tell that too Michael Jordan. I am aware of how basketball traditionally works, their are exceptions. They are called the greatest players of all time.

@Nbk i hear you man. To me Kobe is as if you had Jordan in a video game. Or to put it this way a man with Jordan powers abusing them. Its just my opinion I’ve always felt like Kobe just forced it a bit much. i.e. the .45. Not to take away from what he has done tho. Helped get an early 3. Seen the finals 3 years str8 and snatched 2. Plus dropped 81. I think Kobe could’ve got alot more rings as fortunate as he has had it. Just this past yr the lakers couldve had a better season if Kobe could have accepted Pau having a larger contribution out the gate. If he had that real ballers mentality he could had really be shi**ing.

@nbk Man I’m done. You don’t like Kobe. Just say it. It’s fine. How can you just automatically say that Oscar would have won 5 straight with Shaq? That’s a serious claim. You’re making up stuff. I could say that Jordan and Shaq would have won nothing together because they wouldn’t have coexisted. Now look. See how subjective that is? What happened to being objective? You have something personal against Kobe. Period.

@nbk – The showtime Lakers were built around Kareem dude. The team evolved as the 80s went on, but that was Kareem’s team. Next, Bird had the privilege of being part of one of the great front courts of all-time. You could argue the Celtics were built around him, but I would say more so the full front court. Jordan is an exception yes. You don’t think the Lakers are built around Kobe? Why did they let Shaq go? To build around Kobe. Stop being biased.

Thats a great way to put it. “who would you take in 8 year span”. BUT– If you had a great playmaker/scorer he can turn a mediocre team into a championship team as oppose to if you had a great big man with a bunch of sorrys the team may compete with no real chance tho.

NBK: In fairness, I think you’re thinking “best” player and not “greatest” player. If you say “let’s take player a and b at their height, who would you want on your team” you’re thinking best.
You gotta look at the career and accomplishments as well as their heights, when you think greatest. Kobe has a better career and better accomplishments. He is a greater player. Shaq was better at the height of his game. He is the better player.
Or maybe it’s an opinion. I’m not quite sure.

Jukai yes I am arguing best. I thought that was clear.

@otero – I think it really depends on the type of team and the players on it. Chris Paul took the Hornets nowhere and Dwight took the Magic nowhere. You can really say what player a would do with team b. It’s all subjective and speculation. Kobe took the Lakers nowhere in the mid 2000s and Wade took the Heat nowhere after 06 until LeBron went to Miami. No player can raise a crappy team to championship level by themselves. Hell, even Jordan with 63 against the Celtics got swept. It’s a team game.

@Maniac yeah man originally they were building around Shaq. But ultimately they had the luxury of being able to build around Kobe post Shaq. I think West rolled the dice on a young kid he’d been watching but he had to get Shaq first and wait a while for Kobe to get his ears wet.

@nbk – No you’ve been saying greatest not best. Stop trying to change the argument. Enough about this because I’m not going to get through to you.

I’m sorry I used the word greatest, in my head I was arguing best. I would not have said the take 1 guy and build around him comment if I didn’t.

@Jukai – Lol this is my first time ever posting on SLAM. I pretty much anchored this seeing as how people have been bashing me all day. I’ve had like 10 different people attack me on different occasions. I would not be surprised if I’ve commented over 150 times. Hell maybe 200.

@nbk – I don’t even know what we’re arguing about anymore lol.

@otero – Oh I know. Yep, it’s a group effort. A team has to be clicking on all cylinders for it to truly be effective.

@nbk – I can somewhat agree with your top 7. CP3 is legit. He and Rose are 1 and 1A when it comes to point guards. OK I got something. Can we agree that Kobe and Wade are 1 and 1A for shooting guards like Rose and CP3? Then we can make peace?

OK great nbk, at least you have Kobe top 10 “greatest”. I agree with that. We can make peace on that as well. We had a real big misunderstanding. Order is not real important when it comes to top 10 all-time, but we agree.

We can agree that Kobe and Wade are clearly the 2 best shooting guards in the league. Wade being clealry (imo i guess) better then Kobe over the course of a season. That’s not to say there aren’t nights Kobe isn’t the best player on earth, but not for a whole year/playoffs, not at this point in his career

Damn don’t y’all sleep?
LOL

@Enigmatic – Sleep is the cousin of death. I sleep when I rest lol

lol@ maniac. Idk Wade is that guy Ive been watching him in person for 4 and half years at every home game and can honestly say he is nothing short of incredible. He willed himself to the elite level he is at and you can see it in his game every night. He doesnt have that privileged air to him like a bron or kobe. Wade as great as he is tho will never be at their peak but at least he can be compared to them. Dwade is almost like a mini bron with speed and a better mid range. You put bron and rose together and you have wade. Kobe is the champ while wade might be the people’s champ.