Blog Posts For Tag: Dwight Howard

I like everyone else was excited by the possibility of watching the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers play in the NBA Finals. I relished the thought of watching LeBron James and Kobe Bryant do battle, I wanted to believe that this would be the passing of the torch from one MVP to another, and I wanted to see two players who were unstoppable defile the other team at will as the competitive stakes were raised. That reality is no more, the series will remain a hypothetical one, but I have just glimpsed into the future and seen something far more interesting, the transformation of the gentle giant into the beast whose hunger will devour all in his path.

I will never be a professional basketball player. The market for six-foot white guys with a broken jump shot with absolutely no rotation on the ball, barely enough hops to touch the rim, and the lateral quickness of school bus in reverse is simply not there. It is also increasingly looking like my window to become a basketball writer for ESPN is quickly closing, thanks to my aforementioned non-existent basketball career and my complete lack of press credentials. My bitter broken dream be damned, I am still going to dole out my midseason NBA awards.

Basketball is a young mans game. Sure every gym has its share of gym rats in their 40s that can come out and play solid ball, slowing the game down and offering sage advice that nobody really cares about, but when it comes down to it, the game is meant for those guys that love to run out on the fast break after every rebound. The NBA is the same way. Players like Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant are among the most respected in the league, but it is the youth that drives this league. So the question is, who are the five best players under 30?

Last season the East beat the West in the NBA All Star game 134-128. I had to look that up. Last season Sophomores beat the Rookies in the Rookie challenge, same as every year. Last season Jason Kapono won the three-point shootout. I did not even realize he was involved in the All Star festivities. There were a few other contests, but I do not remember them at all.

What I do remember is the vision of a seven-foot tall black Superman launching from a two foot jump a few feet in front of the free throw line and rocketing toward the rim to win the slam dunk contest. He became a rare winner. A winner who is not a guard.