Dwight Howard Being Inducted Into The Magic Hall Of Fame Was A Great Reminder Of Just How Bullshit It Was That He Was Left Off The NBA's Top 75 Anniversary Team

Gary Bassing. Getty Images.

There are always signs that you've entered the "washed" stage of your life. Maybe for you it's some nagging pain every time you wake up in the morning. Maybe it's the fact that you no longer have FOMO and would rather spend your time hanging out at home as opposed to being out at the bar. Maybe you now enjoy things that for your entire life you always thought were for old people. 

As I've now entered the initial stages of being an "old", in addition to all of those things listed above, one thing I find myself doing more and more is turning into a "back in my day" guy when it comes to the discussion around NBA players from my "era" and how they're talked about today. I never thought that would happen, but I can't help it. I didn't realize how much it would make my blood boil that the best players from my era are not talked about with the proper amount of respect in this new generation. Now that a lot of these guys are entering the HOF, it's more prominent than ever (Pierce, Melo, etc), and last night served as a great reminder of what I consider one of the biggest injustices in NBA history.

Perhaps it was a bit overdue, but Dwight Howard was officially inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall Of Fame before their game against the Lakers, which of course, is the easiest no brainer in the history of no brainers

Considering Dwight is 3rd all time in games played, 1st all time in minutes, 3rd all time in FGM, 1st all time in FTM, 1st all time in rebounds, 1st all time in blocks, 1st all time in offensive AND defensive win shares, 1st all time in points, 1st all time in rebounds per game, it's safe to say he's arguably the greatest Magic player in their history and the exact player you induct into your HOF. 

Given that he's also on the ballot for the Basketball HOF (he should be 1st ballot imo), I've always considered how someone views Dwight as a player as a great way to get a feel for if you know ball or not. Given everything that happened later in his career and then in his post-playing days, it feels like the masses have forgotten just how dominant this player was. 

Dwight's ceremony last night also made me think about how insane it is that this guy was left off the NBA's Top 75 team in favor of someone like Damian Lillard. There's just no way a guy with this resume

who also had 4 separate top 5 MVP seasons and had 5 of his 8 All NBA's being 1st Team is somehow not a Top 75 player of all time. You may not have to like him, but the facts are the facts. Dwight being skipped over for that was a joke. You knew it, he knew it, everyone knew it when that list first came out. Somehow AD and Dame made the cut and not Dwight? That feels more political than anything else, because from a basketball standpoint, I'm not sure how anyone could make the argument that he shouldn't have made that team. He was one of the most dominant two way players from his era, and I'd be shocked to learn how many first ballot HOFers didn't make the Top 75. I can't imagine there are any, or at the very least it's not a long list.

I certainly don't have a dog in this fight. I am in no way a Magic fan (although every 90s kid was a Magic fan on some level. The Starter Jacket + Penny + Shaq was all time stuff), but I am someone who appreciates NBA history, and this sort of stuff weirdly bothers me. It's the classic debate you often hear from "olds" when they talk about their era. They get defensive because they watched it with their own eyes, yet someone who never watched it is telling them those players stink.

That's how I feel about Dwight (and Melo tbh). I was there. I watched it. I saw what it was like having to deal with Prime Dwight in the East during those seasons. Just because things got a little weird for him on the internet toward the end of his playing days does not mean everything he did on the court suddenly didn't happen. It doesn't change his impact or his dominance, yet I feel like when you hear people nowadays talk about Dwight, they paint a completely different picture. I find that to be pretty annoying. 

I will say, even though we've had a handful of players from my era retire and go into the HOF, it's still very weird for my brain to process. KG, Pierce, Allen, Kobe, Duncan, Bosh, Webber, Manu, Gasol, Dirk, Parker, Wade, Billups, Vince Carter etc, it really makes me feel old as shit. Knowing guys like Dwight, LeBron, Steph, KD, DeRozan, Westbrook, Harden etc aren't too far behind is even more of a mindfuck and a nice reminder that getting old is the worst. It feels like just yesterday we were watching all of those guys dominate and lead this era of NBA basketball, and then you blink, and we're already doing HOF induction ceremonies. 

Time sure does fly.