Dwight Howard is Basically Kosta Koufos Right Now

OC Register writer Kevin Ding wrote a painfully accurate article this morning analyzing Dwight Howard's transition as a Laker.

Among the many insightful statements made in that article, was the claim that some anonymous NBA insiders are comparing D12 to the Nuggets 5th year center for how mediocre his impact is on the team. 

"Hey, hey now, but Koof is averaging career highs across the board" say some Nugget fans.

Read this excerpt from Ding's article for context:

"Dwight Howard is basically Kosta Koufos" was the message I got from one NBA insider midway through the Lakers' loss Wednesday night in Denver, referring to the Nuggets' largely anonymous center.

Not long after, someone else who works in league personnel offered: "If you dropped in from another planet and had no idea who the players were, you would never know that Dwight Howard was one of the best players."

I mean I personally am a huge fan of Kosta from back in his Ohio State days and the shenanigans Mark Titus used to write about the big guy, but even this claim has me shaking my head.  As well as Kosta has been outletting passes, he should not be in the same breath with Dwight, even if it is just a hyperbolic statement commenting on the disappointing season Howard is having.

Also in the article is the scathing comparison that Dwight Howard, who has made it clear that he does not want to be compared to Shaq, is now duplicating the most undesirable qualities that #34 used to bring to the Lakers.

However, to borrow from Spiderman's uncle Ben, Dwight has inherited great power in being a Laker center and with that power comes great responsibility. The benefits that come with being in the league's largest market and the prestige and fame of of being the premier big man on argubaly the league's most famous team means that Dwight needs to welcome unfair and ridiculous comparisons.

He is going to be heavily scrutinized and in this case unfairly compared in statistical numbers such as PER and +-, but also in the trivial ways for how he carries himself in post-game interviews such as explaining his mistakes (see last night's interview about his foul on Kenneth Faried and subsequent ejection).  Anyone who has played myplayer in NBA 2k knows that you gotta handle those interview mo' gracefully, Dwight.

Really trying to make it clear that Dwight is not the victim here and not make too a big deal out of some NBA insider's silly exaggerated comparison.

However, the only solution for Dwight now if he wants to save his legacy is to not only outplay guys like Koufos but entirely eclipse the rest of the centers in the League with his statistical performance, and overall impact on the Laker organization.