NBA Power Rankings: Dwight Howard and the Top 25 Shot Blockers in the League
Dwight Howard has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for the past two seasons and is one of the premier shot blockers in the league.
But is he the best shot blocker the league has to offer?
After a rim-rattling, high-flying dunk, a shot sent back to its sender is one of the most exciting plays in basketball.
It is such a sought after skill that players such as Mark Eton, Manute Bol, Dikembe Mutumbo and Tree Rollins have made a name for themselves solely based on the fact that they can reject a shot.
It takes a lot to block a shot; height, intimidation, timing, hops, athleticism and patience, but if done right, it can get the crowd off its feet like nothing else on the defensive end of the floor.
This season, the NBA is ripe with shot blockers, so here, for your enjoyment, is a ranking of the top 25 shot blockers in the league.
25. Ben Wallace, Detroit Pistons
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I refuse to have a top shot-blockers list without including Ben Wallace.
Even in his lesser role in the twilight of his NBA career, Ben Wallace is still easily in the top 25 rejection artists in the league.
Wallace is still averaging over a block a game, currently sitting at 1.03, and his blocks per 36 minutes average is 1.6.
He has lost some of his intimidation factor ever since he shaved off his afro, but he is still one of the better defenders in the league, and it makes me nostalgic to see him swat a basketball out of the air like a fly.
24. Shane Battier, Houston Rockets
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Shane Battier is a guy who does all the things that don't get him recognition in the stat sheet, but do get him recognition from the fans.
They can realize when a player is doing everything right on the court despite scoring fewer than ten points and grabbing fewer than five boards a game.
One thing that Battier is doing this season, however, that is getting him some recognition is blocking shots as well as he ever has.
Battier is averaging 1.34 blocks per game, which equates to 1.6 per 36 minutes, which would be a career high for him if it were to pan out.
23. Brook Lopez, New Jersey Nets
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While it seems Brook Lopez's offensive game has thrived at the expense of his defense, his blocked shot total has not gone down too much since his rookie season.
As a rookie, Lopez was in the top ten in blocks per game, and while he has gone down from there, it could be because players are finally giving him the respect he deserves as a low post player.
Lopez is averaging 1.57 blocks per game so far this season, which is almost equivalent to his 1.6 blocks per 36 minute average.
22. Nazr Mohammed, Charlotte Bobcats
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Nazr Mohammed was probably the hardest player on this list to place, as he plays most of his minutes while starters are off the floor. Nonetheless, he has been impressive this season.
Mohammed, in only 17 minutes a game, is averaging 1.2 blocks per game, which equals up to an impressive 2.4 blocks per 36 minutes.
Now the question is whether or not he could keep up this production as a starter, playing more minutes and getting more worn down throughout the course of a game.
That is a hard thing to decide, but he is putting up the best blocking numbers of his career so he deserves a spot on the list for this season at least.
21. Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls
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Dude may look like a lady, but dude blocks like a man.
Maybe his appearance of an ugly, bearded woman that escaped from the local circus helps him block shots, and it definitely doesn't seem to be hurting him any.
Noah is averaging 1.6 blocks per game this season, which is also what he is averaging per 36 minutes played.
It's a shame that he's injured right now, many shots are going un-blocked.
20. Marcin Gortat, Phoenix Suns
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Ever since being traded to the Phoenix Suns by the Orlando Magic, Gortat has thrived in his extended role at center.
His minutes are up and so are his blocking numbers, which helps him crack this season's top 25 shot blockers.
Gortat is averaging 1.2 blocks per game and an impressive 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes.
19. Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies
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Pau Gasol's little brother has at least one thing in common with him, he knows how to block a shot.
Marc Gasol is having the best shot-blocking season of his short career, and he is only looking like he is going to get better.
The younger Gasol is averaging 1.6 blocks per game, which gives him an impressive 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes
18. Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers
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Anything little bro can do, big bro can do at least a little bit better.
Pau, like his brother Marc, is becoming a better shot blocker as his career goes along. Plus, he is getting more chances at blocking shots as players try to steer away from fellow big men Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum when they are both in the post.
Pau is averaging 1.9 blocks per game, which is also what he is averaging per 36 minutes.
17. Emeka Okafor, New Orleans Hornets
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Emeka Okafor was the No. 2 pick in the 2004 Draft, and by all means he hasn't been excellent for how high he was drafted.
One thing he has been, however, besides a double double machine is a consistent shot blocker.
He is nowhere near where he was in 2006 when he was near the top of the league with 2.6 blocks per game, but this season he has been good, with 1.74 blocks per game and 1.9 per 36 minutes.
16. Joel Anthony, Miami Heat
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I was very leery about including Joel Anthony on this list when considering the fact that he only plays 18 minutes a game.
It is impossible to tell if he would be absolutely terrible with any more than that, as the most he has averaged in his short career is just over 20.
However, Anthony's numbers have been impressive. He is averaging 1.4 blocks per game, which would be up around 2.7 per game if he were to average 36 minutes.
15. Taj Gibson, Chicago Bulls
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When he stepped in for an injured Carlos Boozer at the beginning of the season, Taj Gibson did an admirable job.
He came into his own as an offensive player and established his presence as a defensive threat.
This season for the Bulls, Gibson is averaging 1.5 blocks per game and 2.4 blocks per 36 minutes, both up from his rookie season a year ago.
14. Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks
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Josh Smith is a lot of things to the Atlanta Hawks.
He is supposed to be second banana to Joe Johnson, he is supposed to be a high energy, exciting dunker that gets the fans excited and he is supposed to be an excellent shot-blocking forward.
If anything, Smith at least has the last one of those locked up, as he is averaging 1.9 blocks per game and two blocks per 36 minutes.
13. Al Jefferson, Utah Jazz
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Al Jefferson is the first two blocks per game player on this list.
After toiling on terrible teams and working through injuries for the first six seasons of his career, Jefferson has thrived this season in Utah.
Now, Jefferson is completely healthy physically and now mentally, due to the fact that he is on a good team.
Jefferson is averaging two blocks per game and two blocks per 36 minutes. Both obliterate his career highs.
12. Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers
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Roy Hibbert has really come into his own this season, he is steadily improving every facet of his game, including blocking shots.
Hibbert finds himself on a Pacers team that is borderline decent, and without Hibbert down low it would not have been half as easy for this team to get to the level it is currently at.
Hibbert is averaging 1.9 blocks per game and a terrific 2.3 blocks per 36 minutes. Now all he needs to do is stay on the floor long enough to play more minutes.
11. Samuel Dalembert, Sacramento Kings
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If there has been one constant in a Philadelphia franchise that has been everywhere from the No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft to the NBA Finals and everywhere in between in the past decade, it has been Samuel Dalembert blocking shots.
Now, he is starting off a new decade in Sacramento, and doing the exact same thing he did in Philly.
The big Haitian is blocking 1.6 shots per game, which would go up to three per game if he were to average 36 minutes.
The biggest problem with that is that history with Dalembert over the past few seasons suggests that he would probably die if he played 36 minutes a game.
10. Marcus Camby, Portland Trail Blazers
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At 36 years old and after nearly a decade and a half in basketball, Camby is turning into an old man. But that old man can still block a shot.
For most of his career, Camby has been feared for his shot blocking ability first and foremost, and not much has changed since 1996.
This year isn't another one of his huge 3.5 blocks per game seasons that he had in his prime, but he is still putting up 1.9 blocks per game, which equals out to about 2.4 blocks per 36 minutes.
9. Amar'e Stoudemire, New York Knicks
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Amar'e Stoudemire may have made a name for himself as a terrific offensive player, but he has become quite the shot blocker this season.
He already has more blocks this season than he has had in five of his previous eight seasons.
Amar'e is averaging 2.3 blocks per game, a number that goes down for his per 36 minute average. This is because he has averaged more than 36 minutes per game, but it only drops to 2.2 blocks per game, still a huge number.
8. Tyrus Thomas, Charlotte Bobcats
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Tyrus Thomas may never have really lived up to his complete potential, but he has certainly been the shot blocker that everyone thought he could be.
Thomas this season is averaging 1.7 blocks per game for Charlotte, which equates to about 2.9 blocks per 36 minutes.
He has never been the offensive producer to be a full time starter and get the minutes necessary to see what his full potential could be, but he is certainly blocking shots at a terrific rate so far this season.
7. DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers
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DeAndre Jordan has only started 28 of the Clippers' 37 games this season, but he has been the Clippers' most impressive center by far.
Only playing 24 minutes a game, Jordan is swatting shots at a rate of 1.6 per game, a number that jumps to 2.4 per 36 minutes.
In the past five games, Jordan has blocked an astonishing 23 shots, including three straight games where he blocked seven, six and six shots.
In all of those games (except the last one against the Heat when he blocked only one shot) Jordan played over 30 minutes, I think he has proven that he can handle the load.
6. Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City Thunder
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Watching Serge Ibaka a year ago was like watching the ocean recede many feet before a huge wave.
You could tell that something impressive was coming, but it was just hard to tell how long it would takes and how big it would get.
Well, Ibaka, in only 39 games this season, has nearly matched his total output in 73 games from a season ago. This kid has just exploded.
Ibaka is averaging 2.2 blocks per game this season in only 26 minutes a game. That would give him just around three blocks per game if he were to average 36 minutes a game, which is a number he could seemingly live up to.
The scariest part about him is that he is only going to get better, as he is only 21 years old.
5. JaVale McGee, Washington Wizards
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The most exciting thing in the world to me right now is the fact that JaVale McGee is going to be in the dunk contest this season.
I adopted him as my favorite player on a bad team over the summer after he put up the dunk of the summer against New Orleans.
Well that is only one facet of McGee's game, he is also an amazing shot blocker.
McGee is averaging 2.5 blocks per game this season, a number that would go up to 3.3 if he were to play at the same rate with 36 minutes per game under his belt.
4. Andrew Bogut, Milwaukee Bucks
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With Andrew Bogut being stuck in basketball purgatory in Milwaukee, he doesn't really get the respect that he deserves.
Bogut is the league leader in blocks per game at 2.8, which is also his average per 36 minutes.
So, you're probably asking yourself, Jesse, if he is leading the league in blocked shots, shouldn't that make him the best shot blocker in the league?
Hold the phone there kiddies, I've got a reason for each of the three players above him to be there, so let's plod on and take a look a the top three shall we?
3. Darko Milicic, Minnesota Timberwolves
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I literally have chills thinking that Darko Milicic is up this high on the list.
The same Darko Milicic that I called Darko Milibench for the first five years of his career.
The same Darko Milicic that was lauded as a bust by everybody who knew what a basketball was.
The same Darko Milicic that has made four different general managers want to pull their hair out.
That same Darko Milicic is averaging 2.3 blocks per game and an astonishing 3.5 blocks per 36 minutes.
In fact, if he were to play every minute of a game at the same pace that he is currently playing, he would end up averaging over 4.5 blocks per game.
Something seems wrong with the world when David Kahn takes a gamble on a player that teams should have stopped taking a gamble on two years ago, and it ends up paying off for him.
Here I'm going to say this, but I'm going to do it quietly to prevent a black hole from forming and destroying the Earth, but...Darko Milicic is good.
2. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic
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Every conventional thought when I started writing this article was that the two-time Defensive Player of the Year, the guy that led the league in blocked shots for the past two seasons should be No. 1, but the more I look at it the harder it is to put him there.
Howard is impressive, there is no doubt about that, averaging 2.4 blocks per game and the same per 36 minutes, but I can't bring myself to put him at No. 1.
For one, he blocks shots with his emotions, and not his head.
Nearly every time Howard blocks a shot, he will swat it will all of his might so that it flies fifteen rows up into the stands and hits a popcorn guy square in the dome. That may stop the shot from going in, but it's not exactly getting his team the ball back.
Then there is a paper written by John Huizinga, that evaluates the value of each shot blocked (i.e a layup blocked is worth more than a jump shot blocked) and concluded that in 2008, Dwight Howard had the lowest value per blocked shot in his study, with each block saving .58 points.
That is a lot to take in, and it makes sense, but it is still obvious that Howard is one of the best shot blockers in the league.
1. Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
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First, let me get his stats out there, because they are more impressive than they seem.
Duncan is averaging two blocks per game and 2.5 per 36 minutes. Doesn't seem good enough to get him up to No. 2 on the list does it?
Well, when I said Dwight Howard blocks with his emotion and not his head, Tim Duncan is on the opposite end of that spectrum.
Duncan has been the Peyton Manning of basketball for the last decade, as he always seems to be the smartest guy on the floor (although he never has been one for hilarious commercials or choking late in important games).
This shows when you see that Duncan is the only player in the league that has more blocked shots than fouls.
For every one foul that Tim Duncan commits he blocks 1.13 shots, meaning he is patient and calculated every time he jumps, and he knows how to block a shot without allowing the defender to draw contact.
Also, in that same paper where Howard had the lowest value of each shot blocked in 2008, Duncan had the highest, as each of his blocks were worth 1.13 points saved.
Duncan may not be the obvious choice on paper as the No. 1 shot blocker in the league, but when you dig deeper, he has to stand at the top.
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