Slam dunk to celebrate Dwight Howard’s 40th birthday
Although his career has been derailed since 2011, following back problems and the way he left the Magic, Dwight Howard anyway easily entered the Hall of Fame.
We have to remember the monster that the first pick in the 2004 draft was in his prime, especially between 2008 and 2011. Moreover, if some LeBron James fans are still raging against Derrick Rose’s MVP trophy in 2010/11, “The King” finished only third in the votes…, behind Dwight Howard
Then at the peak of his form, “Superman” made the Magic one of the mainstays of the East, a finalist in 2009 and a conference finalist in 2010, with an army of scorers who cleaned up the game around him.
The result: opposing pivots had to bear the brunt of his physical impact, and it left its mark.
“There are four reasons why I became who I am today: Stan Van Gundy (Magic coach), Brendan Malone (assistant), Joe Rogowski (former fitness assistant) and Dwight Howard”, explained his deputy Marcin Gortat. “Each one of them brought something to me. Facing Dwight every day in practice without a whistle was suicidal. We’re talking about Dwight Howard at his best, in practice, without a whistle. It was literally hand-to-hand combat. It was like walking into a cage with a beast. You had to have a certain amount of confidence to do that and I had confidence. teeth, cuts, scrapes, eye pokes and tons of bruises every I used to get beaten up.
Eight-time All-Star (2007-2014) and three-time best defender of the league (2009-2011), only in 2020, with the Lakers in the “bubble”, Dwight Howard won his one and only NBA championship. Which completes his title of Olympic champion in 2008, acquired as the starting pivot of the “Redeem Team” in Beijing.
2025-12-08 16:11:00
