The All-Time NBA Team: Bench and Alternates

James is still a long way from being one of the best. He needs to do a better job of being the go-to player during crunch time, and has to stop passing up his shots at the end of the game.

However, I have no doubts that all of this will come with time. James becomes a free agent in 2010, where he will have any number of teams with free cap room to choose from. My guess is that once he leaves the Cavs, he’ll surpass Bryant as a better player.

14. Dwight Howard

It’s hard to believe that Howard is dominating the Eastern Conference at the center position and hasn’t even turned 23. Yet he’s averaged a double-double since his rookie season. He’s incredibly athletic, and does a terrific job at rebounding and scoring.

After a decade that was pretty much Shaq and everyone else in the paint, it looks like Howard will lead a crop of some very good centers over the next decade, including Amare Stoudemire, LaMarcus Aldridge, and any number of big men from this year’s draft who might pan out.

As great of a scorer as Howard is, his rebounding might become the story of his career. He is the youngest player in league history to average a double-double, grab 4,000 rebounds, and lead the league in rebounding.

Shaq never averaged as many rebounds in one season as Howard did in 2008 (14.2). When you look at where Howard’s rebounding ability is compared to Dennis Rodman, the best rebounder in recent history, you’ll notice that it took Rodman six years before he had more than 13 rebounds per game.

If Howard becomes a 30-20 player, or even a 20-20 player, he will be the best center of this era, and might belong in the same sentence as the greatest centers. He’s not going to come close to beating Chamberlain’s nearly 24,000 rebounds, but if he averages 1,000 rebounds over the next 12 seasons, he will reach 16,000.

That would put him at No. 6, ahead of Robert Parish, Nate Thurmond, and Walt Bellamy. If he plays well into his late 30s and can avoid injuries, he’ll move past Elvin Hayes and Moses Malone, and would be making a run towards Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 17,440 rebounds.

Sources: basketball-reference.com and Who’s Better, Who’s Best in Basketball by Elliot Kalb

This article is also posted on Hoops 4 Life. You can find it here.

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