Who’s the Best Center In The NBA: Dwight Howard Or Joakim Noah?

Dwight Howard: Offense

Dwight Howard’s 18.3 points per game last season easily trumps Noah’s 12.6 points per game average. Howard is a superior finisher at the rim, as he shot 65 percent from within five feet of the basket (per NBA.com). His bulky stature and freakish athleticism give him a physical edge over most, if not all, of his defenders. I wrote here how Howard’s athleticism near the hoop is best accentuated by the pick and roll.

Nevertheless, though a solid finisher, Dwight prefers to post up during the majority of his offensive playing time, and it disrupts the flow of many of the Rockets’ possessions. Beyond five feet from the basket, Howard is basically ineffective due to his floundering shooting touch and inability to incorporate his teammates. Instead, his success on offense is heavily predicated on his teammates, who set him up for easy scoring opportunities near the basket.

Howard also has a bad tendency to jump before releasing the ball for a pass (especially when double-teamed) and it results in the accumulation of many turnovers. Howard turns the ball over 20 percent of the time while posting up, which is more than any center, per MySyngergySports. Perhaps his pride combined with his desire to be associated with the league’s history of dominant big men who’ve thrived in the post can help elucidate why 53 percent of Howard’s scoring attempts are generated in the post.

Meanwhile the pick and roll — the play he’s actually good at — only comprised seven percent of his possessions last season, per MySynergySports. Moreover, he simply lacks the skill-set and basketball IQ required to display an artful post game, as his 0.77 points per possession and high turnover rate while posting up can attest to. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar eloquently depicted Howard’s game on ESPN’s First Take when he said:

"“Dwight is an extraordinary athlete, he has incredible athletic ability, but basketball is a game where the most important muscle you use on the court is the one between your ears. Dwight’s basketball IQ is not up to speed for him to be a dominant player. He has problems on both ends of the court, he doesn’t have a go-to move. I had to prepare Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum to play against Dwight in the playoffs in 2009 for the World Championship and it was an easy job, because if you take certain things away from him he doesn’t have an answer for it. So he needs to develop some skills, at both ends of the court, that would enable him to consistently contribute to a winning effort, and he hasn’t done that.”"

During the primitive stages of basketball, the center position was characterized by maladroit bruisers whose capabilities were confined to boxing out, blocking shots, and receiving passes for easy layups; however, over the years, players’ assimilation to the development of basketball has advanced their adroitness and aptitude for the game. Some of the greatest players in the NBA’s history — such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon — have revolutionized the center position by expanding the horizons of the typical NBA center.

Contrarily, Howard’s abilities, while they’re still effective on the court, are merely limited to the elemental forms of NBA centers. He doesn’t seem to like to push himself outside of his comfort zone, or to explore the realm beyond his self-induced limitations as a player. Dwight allows his game to be predictable and seemingly puts himself in a box; thus, he’s unable to excel in several aspects of his game, such as posting up efficaciously, facilitating to teammates capably, or adding adequate range to his shot.

Even still, Howard is reliable on offense in the sense that, if he’s in proper position, he’ll likely catch any lob-pass headed his way and dunk it with authority. Aside from his predictable play, Howard has excelled in the pick and roll as well as in catching lobbed passes for 10 straight seasons, where he boasts an average of 18 points per game for his career.