Howard recognized by Hall of Fame

All Dwight Howard urges his doubters to do is this: look at the numbers. They tell the story, he insists. He averaged 15.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. Only 13 other players in the history of the NBA have posted those for a career.

They all made the Hall of Fame.

"So, why not me?" Howard asked.

He doesn't have to ask that question anymore.

Howard — who is still upset, and some would say rightly so, for being left off the NBA's 75th anniversary team that was unveiled nearly four years ago — wasn't snubbed for the top individual honor that can be bestowed upon a player. He goes into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend, capping a career where he was an eight-time All-Star, a five-time rebounding champion, a two-time blocked shots champion and the only player to win defensive player of the year over three consecutive seasons.

"I'm most proud of the fact that I've had longevity. That I've been able to play as long as I've been able to, and stay as healthy as I have," Howard said. "And I want people to say that one thing about me is that I was always going to put my best foot forward, 100 percent effort. They can say, 'no matter what it is, he's going to put in everything he has'."

Howard is one of two dual-enshrinees this weekend; he and Carmelo Anthony are both going into the Hall of Fame for both their individual achievements and, again, as part of the 2008 US Olympic basketball team dubbed the "Redeem Team" after winning gold at the Beijing Games that summer.

Also entering the Hall this weekend: women's basketball greats Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, longtime NBA referee Dan Crawford and Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan — a winner of two NCAA titles when he coached at Florida.

"It's a great class," USA Basketball men's national team director Sean Ford said.

Howard is 10th on the NBA's all-time rebounding list, 13th on the list of blocked shots. He's one of four players with three DPOY awards, behind only four-time winners Dikembe Mutombo, Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert. And he got his lone NBA ring in 2020, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat in the bubble finals.

Only one other player — Elvin Hayes — finished his NBA career averaging as many points, rebounds and blocked shots as Howard did. Blocks didn't become an official stat until 1973, but regardless, the numbers showed Howard was a lock for the hall in Springfield, Massachusetts, to call.

"It was absolutely ridiculous that he didn't make Top 75," Stan Van Gundy, Howard's longtime coach in Orlando, said when that 75th anniversary team was released.

Howard and Van Gundy didn't always agree. On this point, they're in lockstep.

"I was wondering if I was ever going to get into the Hall of Fame after the Top 75 thing, because it just seemed like, as far as my basketball play, I haven't really received that much respect from my years in the league," Howard said. "It was a little difficult. But then, once I got the call, I was like, 'wow, this is here'."

The 75th anniversary team snub might come up in the speech that Howard is planning to deliver this weekend. If this speech goes like the one he gave when he was inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame earlier this year — he spent his first eight NBA seasons with the Magic, hardly missing a game after they took him No 1 overall in the 2004 draft — expect some laughs and some tears. Howard doesn't mind showing his emotions.

The Hall didn't make him wait, either. Howard was voted in during his first year of eligibility.

"It's happening. It's me being in the Hall of Fame, being inducted in the Hall of Fame as player and then being inducted into the Hall of Fame as an Olympian," Howard said. "It's just like a double whammy, but in a good way."

Agencies via Xinhua