Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history for 75th anniversary

Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history: No. 54 – Dwight Howard

Career: 2004 – present

Achievements: 2020 NBA Champion; All-NBA (8x); All-Star (8x); All-Defense (5x); Defensive Player of the Year (3x); five-time rebounding leader; two-time blocks leader; 12th in career rebounds; 15th in career blocks

Dwight Howard has been hurt by the public perception of him over the last few seasons, as his inability to mature as a person and teammates saw him run out of multiple teams, and he bounced around the league while still firmly in his prime. You don’t see that out of all-time players, and that’s a big reason why Howard drops to 54th on this list.

The resume is stellar, though, once you remove the human element. Howard made eight All-NBA teams as one of the league’s best centers, and five of them were first-place finishes as he dominated the position. He is a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, one of only four players to win that many times. He was a top-5 MVP finisher in four different seasons.

The best run of Howard’s career in Orlando was when head coach Stan Van Gundy surrounded him with shooters, a la the 1990s Rockets with Hakeem Olajuwon. Howard was no Hakeem, but his defensive presence inside ignited a run all the way to the NBA Finals where the Magic lost to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Howard has redeemed himself from a character standpoint by winning a title as a role player with the Lakers and that should help bump him onto the NBA’s list as well.