Who’s the real Big Man in Orlando?
Superman is leaving Orlando? …and wants to be traded to the Lakers?! That’s right Orlando, if you haven’t heard, Sha… I mean Dwi… I mean…huh? SMH (scratching my head) …didn’t we do this before? As the media frenzy has grown over the impending Dwight Howard trade these past few months, I’ve been hearing a lot about the comparisons between Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal. I did some research, and, indeed, found similarities between the past and present Orlando Magic centers, but not much beyond their positions and nickname (and yea, Shaq was Superman first). If we compare their careers in Orlando, it’s hard to say which player did it better. Offensively, it would seem Shaq has the advantage but defensively one could argue that it’s Howard. I’ve decided it’s much ado about nothing!
Sure, there are similarities between Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal, but if pressed for creating interest during a slow basketball season, couldn’t we draw similarities between a lot of things. Seriously, what real similarities exist between these two players? Better still, what are the differences?
Both Dwight and Shaq were drafted first overall by the Orlando Magic. While they both led the Orlando Magic to the playoffs and excited the crowd with their antics (both really enjoy entertaining the crowd), I’d have to say the only other similarity was their poor free throw ability! Both Shaq and Dwight Howard are poor free throw shooters. O’Neal led the league in free throw attempts for one season when he was with the Magic (and 5 times with the Lakers). In his 7 years with the Magic, Dwight Howard has also been known as a terrible free throw shooter, leading the league 3 times in free throw attempts. This is where the similarities seem to end.
In his time with the Magic, Howard may not have been able to achieve what Shaq had achieved offensively (O’Neal averaged over 25 points per game, leading the league in scoring in the 94-95 campaign with 29.3 ppg), but defensively, he has led the league in blocked shots…twice! Sure, Shaq may have had 286 blocks in his rookie year (a number Howard hasn’t hit – D12’s highest count was 228 blocked shots in one season), but he has never led the league. Howard has also led the league in rebounds five times while O’Neal only accomplished 1000 rebounds in his first two seasons with the Magic (he had reached the 1000 rebound mark again later in his career with the Lakers.)
Outside of the statistics, Howard just uses more of a combination of speed and strength to dominate. Shaq had better post moves that gave him the illusion of being quick. Shaq used brute force in his play, and still managed to be light on his feet. That may be why Shaq has been so successful for so much longer than most other centers in the NBA. Even with age and declining athleticism, he still had his weight and strength behind him, while maintaining decent footwork. Dwight appears to be more muscular, more ripped, than Shaq, but so are all the players now. The average NBA player seemed to be skinnier 15-20 years ago, so it may be that Dwight’s size just doesn’t give him the same advantage that Shaq’s did when he came into the league. Well, that and a few NBA rule changes.
All this to say, I’m no statistician, nor am I a sports historian. I’m just a fan, hoping to enjoy the game for the remainder of the, albeit shortened, season. I’m sure that given greater scrutiny, I could find more facts to support either position but I come back to one thing — they do have some similarities, but moreso, they seem to be very different players. My conclusion — both are all-star caliber players. Let’s just get ready for another great season of Orlando Magic Basketball. Maybe Dwight can bring home a championship before he leaves.
