The Great White Shark

He eats weights. He eats rims. He eats backboards. Don't be surprised if Dwight Howard eats babies too. I can go on about how great of a professional he is, both on and off the court. His work ethic is amazing and he is a great role model. No tattoos, no drugs, no negative publicity. He gives back to the community and takes care of his responsibilities. If you dislike him there probably isn't a good reason behind it. If you're like me you most likely once thought to yourself 'I wonder if Dwight Howard would kill me if he punched me in the face'.
If you've ever seen Dwight Howard play then you'll know what I mean when I say that you'll never know what to expect from him. The game plan against Dwight Howard is simply: take him out of the the game. If you can't do that then you stand little chance of winning. He may not be the go to scorer on the Orlando Magic but Stan Van Gundy's offense does run through him. Easy enough, he stands around in the middle while the perimeter players chill somewhere near the three point line and get ready to aim, shoot, and fire. Basically, that's as simple as it gets.
So when I say that you'll never know what to expect from him I mean that you can either be watching a really exciting game where Dwight goes for 25+ points, 20+ rebounds and 3+ blocked shots or a game when he has 13 points, 8 rebounds, no blocked shots with 7 missed free throws and 6 fouls. Inconsistency? Basically. But what bothers me more is the fact that he denies any sort of gap to his game. He could easily win an MVP award in this league. He could easily be mentioned among the Hakeems, the Kareems, and maybe even the Wilts and the Shaqs. But his game isn't polished enough. It's more raw talent and athleticism with a combination of brute strength than anything. The "coulds" are huge considering he is a first overall selection. If he continues to play on this level would he be considered a bust? Of course not. Would he become a hall of famer? Maybe eventually yes. But not turning that potential into production is like spitting in face of God (Yes! I just so went there Dwight Howard).
Where must I start..? Do I start on the limited/predictable go-to moves in the post (I don't dare call those "post moves")? Nah. How about the lack of one on one defense? I mean Dwight Howard is a great shot blocker, rebounder, and help defender. But he is too easily exposed by centers with any sort of offensive repetiore. His blocked shots don't come off of the man he is supposed to be guarding but rather smaller opposing guards who come into the lane. There's nothing wrong with that but he would record a lot more if he managed to not foul and stay in the game. I'm not even gonna mention that though. Free throw shooting? Mid range jump-shot? Forget about it. I doubt Dwight Howard even knows what he needs to improve on as a player. But I have a strong feeling he will soon find out. He was by far a liability against the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. He didn't play with a sense of urgency. Hell, he looked like he was satisfied with just being there. Writing this makes me want to piss in his mouth while he's asleep because its so incredibly disappointing to know that he could be better than he is at this point in his career. You should always expect more out of yourself even if you're good.
Shaquille O'Neal has verbally attacked Dwight Howard publicly, saying that Dwight isn't the real Superman. Dwight has refuted by crying. We can only imagine why Dwight hasn't spent a summer trying to improve on his basketball talent rather than his impressive physique. It may take another hard defeat by a heavyweight in the postseason for Dwight to gain the hunger, thirst, and starvation it takes to become a champion. Aside from that the universe isn't even the limited to Dwight's potential. He can and may be the greatest basketball player in the world some day and we'll look back and ask ourselves why we ever criticized Dwight Howard's game when he's holding up one of his multiple NBA Final's MVPs. Then this will be cited and whoever reading it will say to themselves 'I always had faith in D12'. Lies! Don't believe them.
Dwight Howard's time is now. We're waiting for him. This is his ocean and he can have whatever he wants. He just needs to figure out how to get it.