Dwight Howard
Dwight Howard was one of the most impressive young players in the NBA for many years. He is the only player in NBA history to be named Defensive Player of the Year 3 straight times, and his career rebounding average is #13 all time and #1 among all active players.
Howard has only two real weaknesses: he is a horrible free throw shooter, and he turns the ball over about 3 times per game. Other than that, he is one of the most incredible talents to ever take the court. He has the 5th-highest field goal percentage of all time, and has led the league in blocks twice and rebounds 6 times.
Howard was also the youngest player to ever average a double-double for a season, as a rookie at age 19. That year he averaged only 10 rebounds per game, but he has not let his average dip below that since, with 12 straight seasons of double-double averages. In his first two seasons, Orlando missed the playoffs, but since then he has made ten straight appearances in the postseason.
In his fifth season, he led Orlando all the way to a surprise appearance in the NBA Finals, putting up his usual impressive numbers all the way. Those numbers are listed below:
Howard (2009 playoffs) - 20.3 pts, 15.3 reb, 2.6 blk, .601 FG%
The next season his numbers dipped slightly, and as a result the Magic made it only to the Eastern Conference Finals, but Howard was unquestionably their leader in both campaigns. In fact, other than his rookie season, he was always the best player in Orlando, going clear back to when he was just 19 years old.
He missed only 7 games in his first 7 seasons, but since then has missed 81 games, which is pretty much a full season. There are some who believe that he is washed up and past his prime, but it is worth remembering that he is still only 30 years old, so he could still rebound from a few subpar years in Houston and make a push to eventually reach the top 50 of all time.
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