Dwight Howard still needs to feel relevant apparently. The former Taoyuan Leopards player was talking with Complex and compared his talents in his prime to the reigning Finals MVP. He starts by saying, “obviously people are going to say Jokic can score.” This shows how much Howard has prepared to make his argument. I mean, he’s right. Jokic can score, and people tend to bring that up when talking about his level of talent.
Dwight Howard is wrong. His main support of his game is that he would drop thirty-eight and twenty without shooting threes. As much as that is an excellent game, that is a bit of a convenient description of a man who’s best scoring year was an average of twenty-three points. Simply put, Dwight Howard loses the argument the second stats are brought into the question.
I think Dwight felt the need to make these comments for two reasons. The first is the obvious one. He’s using the current face of the NBA to put his name back into the public discourse. He is probably thrilled to be told by every other NBA fan on Twitter that Jokic is better than him. The other option is that Howard knows that this argument is one more good Jokic season away from not even being plausible in his own head.
Dwight Howard was the man for a little bit. I can’t take that away from him. That being said, someone who’s accomplishments are headlined by a win in the Slam Dunk Contest and an appearance in the NBA Finals does not compare to the best player in the league.
