Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 15961265)

Eh, I'm never going to go to bat for Dwight Howard. Apart from being just a weird dude and by many accounts a lousy teammate, he just wasn't a skilled player.

This isn't Shaq here who had a variety of low-post moves he could go to. And he didn't even play during the 'no zone defense' years like Shaq did in his prime. He was out there just being a big body allowed to hover in the defensive zone and alter shots or set up for rebounds. And when he was putting up big rebound numbers he was on an undersized team that just cleared out and let him scoop them all up.

He was a more chiseled version of Horace Grant. He is a put-back player on offense with no handles, no passing ability and no real moves to speak of. On defense he played in an era that made it awfully easy for him as space/pace hadn't come into vogue yet and big guys could go into zone shells to keep their miles down.

He was never a key contributor (even a top 5 option) on a championship team. While he made the finals that one year in Orlando, he also took 3 pretty lousy 1st round losses including 2 during what would have been his peak years.

So many people have gotten onto 'Dwight Howard was underrated' train that he's become overrated. Yes, we're early in AD's career but just cutting it off through their respective age 28 seasons, Davis has been more accomplished, far more productive and versatile on offense and a comparable defensive player in an era where it's harder for big men to make a defensive impact.

I really don't have a problem with it, especially when you know they try to make these with an eye on the future. By age 29 Dwight Howard had effectively become an NBA journeyman who was well on his way to a bench role. I think it's fair to believe that Davis will age far better than that.

In five years I don't think this will be any kind of discussion at all, and that's presuming that it should be right this very minute.

Originally Posted by dirk digler (Post 15964732)

Lebron is back and they still get blown out by a very mediocre Celtics team.

Originally Posted by KC_Connection (Post 15964886)

Still think they’ll be one of the favorites? Vegas still has them 2nd somehow but they’re just a total disaster of a team.

Originally Posted by tyecopeland (Post 15969815)

Sparked the Lakers though. Turned it around and got the win when they were down 13 at the time.

The clip I watched on espn had such LeBron biased announcers. 'Inadvertant elbow' and 'just jostling for position' and then the kicker when the overhead shot clearly showed LeBron going extra and hitting him 'well that angle didn't really show the two involved.' Bullshit it didnt.

Originally Posted by KC_Connection (Post 15972437)

Although I’m not sure he meant to hit him in the face, LeBron definitely meant to give Stewart a shot. I’m not exactly sure what Stewart is doing on that play because if he was actually going after the rebound and trying to make a basketball play, his focus would have been on Jordan (the low man on the block there) rather than putting his forearm into LeBron (who is just returning from an abdominal injury in that general area).

Stewart has gotten into a number of altercations already in his short career including one with Blake Griffin a few weeks ago where he was ejected and Giannis last year, so it does appear he is out there effectively picking these fights. He’s lucky he didn’t get more than two games for completely losing his mind last night.

Originally Posted by tyecopeland (Post 15973239)

An abdominal injury in the armpit? That's an interesting spot for one.

Regardless, I would have given LeBron 2 games and Stewart 4-5. If he hadn't went back at him two times I'd have said they both needed 2 games. But he kinda lost his damn mind.