I am, I am, I am Superman and I know what’s happening. I am, I am, I am Superman and I can do anything. -REM
Public Service Announcement: Ok, here we go! Last night, Dwight Howard passed the 5,000-rebound plateau. Last night, Dwight Howard became the youngest player in NBA history to reach that milestone. Last night Dwight Howard broke the record held by Wilt Chamberlain. Hooray! Hooray Dwight Howard! But not so fast there Speedy Gonzalez. Arriba arriba! Andale andale!
Dwight Howard may be the youngest player in history to reach 5,ooo rebounds, but when viewed in terms of games played, as opposed to age, Wilt is still by far the leader. By far. The Stilt reached 5,000 rebounds in his 186th game. The Stilt reached 5,000 rebounds in less than half as many games as Howard, who played his 399th game last night. Half as many games.
The last player to reach 5,000 rebounds in as few games as Howard was Moses Malone. Fo fo fo! Moses Malone got there in 1980 in his 333rd career game. To be fair, catching Moses is nothing to sneeze at but it’s no Wilt Chamberlain. Senator, I served with Wilt Chamberlain. I knew Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt Chamberlain was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Wilt Chamberlain.
Public Spectacle:
Peace out homies. Six two and Even!
Need More? Dwight Howard, NBA, Orlando Magic
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What are you a Wilt fan now? I like Howard, but I liked Bill Russell more, please keep your articles to Boston players going forward. Thanks.
the numbers are what the numbers are.
You forget an important point. In his day with his height, Chamberlain dwarfed his competition. Dwight Howard is smaller than a lot of centers in the league today. The competition Wilt faced among other centers was weak. Howard faces much stiffer competition.
An analogy is Tiger Woods. Tiger faces a much, much tougher competition field today than Arnie or Jack faced. This is what makes Tiger's feats so incredible. Dwight Howard is not racking up these numbers due to his "dominating height" (which he lacks–centers are oftne bigger than him), he dominates due to his tremendous physical traits, speed and skill.
LOL…yeah, minimize Wilt's accomplishments if it makes you more able to fathom his freakish skills. Not wanting people to think all he could do was dunk, Wilt developed a very good fall away bank show and finger-roll he used to great effect. Kareem Abdul Jabbar said recently after the Lakers beat the Magic that Wilt and Russell would dominate anyone playing today. And seriously, who would be their competition? As Kareem said, we stand on their shoulders. Today's players are pampered while Wilt and Russell rode on buses and often had to eat baloney on those buses while the white players would go inside to the restaurants when playing in the south. It was much tougher on those guys back then in a league less watered down by today's expansion teams. As for Wilt being so much bigger, if that's the only factor, then your theory is that the biggest is the best, so why hasn't Yao Ming broken every record being so much bigger? What happened with Shawn Bradley @ 7'6"? Sorry but Wilt's skill set is FAR higher than Dwight Howard or ANY Center playing the game today, and I really like DH. Wilt was working with weights long before it was the norm (twice benching 500 lbs!) Both Wilt and Russell made each other better like Magic and Bird, it's about competitive drive and desire folks (which is why Dennis Rodman led the league in rebounding when he wasn't the tallest), and you can't put desireinto stats, you've either got it or you don't. And I'll take Kareem's word over anyone else's on here any day. Russell once was joking with Wilt after both were retired and said, "You know who you were playing against when you got your record of 55 rebounds in a game?" Wilt wasn't sure. Russell laughed and said, "It was against me!" How in the hell do you get 55 rebounds in any game much less against the great Bill Russell?!