Dwight Howard is currently in the Basketball Hall of Fame, but he has not received the highest acclaim of his career. He was a rigorously scrutinized player with many critics, including the iconic Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
During his prime, Dwight Howard was the league’s clear number one center. He was not only a defensive genius, but also a dominant offensive player. Despite this advantage in this position, Howard has always been the most criticized big man in the league.
Shaquille O’Neal was a predictable critic given his rivalry with Howard. The three-time defensive player of the year still had critics like six-time NBA MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Skyhook pioneer disliked how Howard approached basketball.
In the 2009 NBA Finals, Abdul Jabbar served as a special assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, focusing on supporting big men. Given the Lakers are playing against Orlando’s magic, the game plan was to stop Howard’s athleticism. This often produced highlights.
Abdul-Jabbar didn’t have the toughest time to prepare Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum for matchups. He criticized him a few years later in ESPN’s first take, as he didn’t like how Howard approached the game.
“When the Lakers signed Dwight, they had high hopes for what he could contribute to the team. Dwight is an extraordinary athlete with incredible athletic ability. But basketball is the game where the most important muscles you use in court are between your ears,” Abdul Jabber said on ESPN.
“Dwight’s basketball IQ hasn’t made the speed he’s going to become the dominant player. He has issues on both ends of the court. He has no movement.”
“I had to prepare Pogersol and Andrew Binham to play against Dwight in the playoffs for the 2009 World Championship. It was an easy task because even if you take certain things from him, he has no answer to it.”
That may seem harsh, but Abdul Jabbar is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He saw the possibilities in Howard, but Cap made sure to talk about Howard’s game to help him improve.
Howard admitted that he made mistakes in the past. He agreed with Abdul Jabbar about those mistakes, but he denied that he had a low basketball IQ. This was a tough moment for Howard, considering he considers Abdul Jabbar to be the greatest player in NBA history.
Howard was confused by the claim because he had never met a coach who told him he was a stupid player.
His response came after moving to Houston after a disastrous year in Los Angeles. With the Houston Rocket, Howard once again became a star center and formed a strong partnership with James Harden.
He never won a championship until he became a role player for the Lakers in 2020, but Howard still had a career worthy of the Hall of Fame. However, he uniquely missed out on the NBA’s 75th anniversary team. Howard has solidified as one of the greatest centers in modern history, despite Abdul Jabbar not viewing him as a smart player.