The Beast (Dwight Howard)

Member Name: Lakerfanster

Product:	Dwight Howard
Date:	04/12/08 (130 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Rebounding, Strength, Scoring

Disadvantages: Free throw shooting

**Introduction**

As a very keen follower of the NBA I like to catch up with all the latest stats from the top players. One of my favourite players is Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard. Who at just 22 years old is fastly becoming one of the greatest centres to ever play the game. For those of you who are not aware of the positions in Basketball, the centre or the 5 is usually the tallest player on the team and is responsible for the majority of the rebounds and blocks for his team. They also score the majority of their points inside what you call the paint which is the painted area near the basket. They are also usually the main shot blocker on the team.

**Early Life**

Dwight David Howard (born December 8, 1985, in Atlanta, Georgia was born into an athletic family as his father Dwight Snr is the Athletic Director of Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy and his mother was a Basketball player herself for Morris Brown College. Dwight had an outstanding High School Basketball career with Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy where he mainly played the Power Forward position before moving to his more favoured Centre position. As a senior He averaged 25 points, 18 rebounds, 8 blocks and 3.5 assists per game in taking his team to the state title in 2004

**Stats**

Height 6'11
Weight 265lbs
Number 12
Years Pro 4

**NBA Career**

Opting for the 2004 NBA Draft instead of College was the decision he made after a number of NBA stars took the early NBA option instead of a College career, He was selected by Orlando Magic as the 1st pick of the years draft and was considered to be a very talented NBA Caliber player. His first year was forgetful in terms of the teams overall record of 36-46 which led them to miss the NBA Playoffs. His first season was impressive as he averaged 12.0ppg and 10.0rpg which led him to second in top rookies behind Emeka Okafor of Charlotte Bobcats. He has continued to progress and here are his stats for his career to date,

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG
BPG PPG
2004-05 Orlando 82 82 32.6 .520 .000 .671 10.0 .9 .9 1.7 12.0
2005-06 Orlando 82 81 36.8 .531 .000 .595 12.5 1.5 .8 1.4 15.8
2006-07 Orlando 82 82 36.9 .603 .500 .586 12.3 1.9 .9 1.9 17.6
2007-08 Orlando 82 82 37.7 .599 .000 .590 14.2 1.3 .9 2.2 20.7
2008-09 Orlando 16 16 36.4 .588 .000 .572 13.5 1.5 .9 3.9 21.2
Career 344 336 36.0 .568 .100 .601 12.3 1.4 .9 1.8 16.7
All-Star 2 1 25.5 .810 .000 .250 10.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 18.0

**As a Player**

Dwight Howard's main strengths as a player are his rebounding skills on both the offensive and defensive ends, he regularly has games where he has big double doubles in points and rebounds. His offensive game is improving all the time and he is getting more and more versatile in his ability to score. One thing he needs to work on is his free throw shooting as his career average to date is just 60.1%. That is a fare bit better than Shaquille O'Neal's average but he still needs to improve as defenses have started to foul him to get him to the free throw line instead of giving him the easy shot around the rim.

**Orlando Magic**

Orlando Magic are now one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and have a very useful starting lineup led by Dwight Howard with Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu completing the lineup upfront with Guards Jameer Nelson and Mickaël Piétrus in the backcourt. The teams main weakness is scoring off the bench as they don't have any player who can come on and score a quick 20 points when needed. With a couple of decent scoring punches off the bench they could be a seriously dangerous team in the weaker Eastern Conference. And they need to keep the core of Howard, Lewis and the coach Stan Van Gundy if they are going to have a shot at the NBA Title in the next couple of years.

**The Future**

It looks almost certain that Dwight Howard will be remembered as a special player when he retires and he isnt 23 until Monday. If he sorts out his free throw shooting which only needs another 10% then he will be considered one of the all time great Centres. His rebounding is special and he can give you 20 points and 20 rebounds in any game.

Summary: Great talent.