Dwight Howard or Emeka Okafor?

[PerforatedNeckline]

i'm not talking about their potential, i mean right now, at this point of this year, who is having the better season?

dwight has several of those sick 20-20 games, his team has more wins, but for some reason disappears on offense some nights.

okafor shoots a great percentage and is blocking shots at an incredible rate (8 against the mavs last night), but his rebounding is a little worse than howard's and his team's record is far worse.

and, of course, there other factors to consider.

so, again, potential for future greatness aside, who is having the better season so far? if you could have one of these players for the remainder of this season only, who would it be?

[Leetonidas]

Dwight will be a major beast in a few years.

[MrChug]

Well...this is not an easy question. What for? Dwight is having a bigger impact IMO, but Emeka seems to be having the better all-around season. His numbers are more "both sides of the ball" impressive. Little help?

[PerforatedNeckline]

the question is just for the sake of argument. it seems like dwight howard is getting a lot of attention, and he certainly deserves that attention, but okafor is playing incredible ball, especially considering that he was injured for much of last year. granted, because of the talent level surrounding okafor, his team is more dependent on him to control the game every night, whereas the magic can still win even if dwight has one of his 4-7, 10 rebound nights.

i personally think that howard has more potential to be great in years to come, but if i could have one of these players for the remainder of this season only, i would probably go with okafor.

[Bob Lanier]

I obviously haven't watched either of them this season but my impression of their talents from the last two years is that Okafor is approximately as good a rebounder and a far, far better defensive player on AND off the ball than Howard (I'd say he's one of the five best post defenders in the eastern conference along with Rasheed Wallace, Cliff Robinson, Jason Collins, and Jeff Foster and quite the shotblocker as well; Howard isn't a very good post defender and was an awful shotblocker the last time I checked), but is not and probably never will be the offensive threat that Howard is.

[stretch]

Okafor seems a little more polished and mature, but ill still take Howard now, and in the future.

[whottt]

Okafor has had back troubles in the past and is older than Howard...so I take Howard. That said...Okafor is playing better at the moment.

[flipcritic]

Dwight. No contest.

[freedom&justice]

Dwight. As good as Emeka is, he's been a little too injury-prone.

[Fillmoe]

dwight howard in a minute!

[AFBlue]

Howard, but it's not "no contest". I'm happy to see Emeka rebounding, and it bodes well for a Bobcat team that had it's draft day decision-making questioned by many...including me.

[picnroll]

Howard but it's close. Age and injuries factor in. Okafor's improvement this year, the outside shot, Duncan's missing bank shot, are most impressive. If the Bobs get high lottery, likley, and pair a stud like Oden, Durant, Wright or Noah with Okafor, ouch.

[Texas_Ranger]

Howard.

[jochhejaam]

Okafor's excellent start makes it a tougher choice than in the past, but with Howard averaging 17 and 14 and not yet 21 years old, I'd have to take Howard.

[ambchang]

Hilarious how when the original poster said regardless of "their potential" and said based on "right now, at this point of this year, who is having the better season?", have of the response was Howard because he's younger. Oh well.
If we are talking about a player to complement the Spurs? I will go for Okafor, the Spurs defense would be back to the days of the twin towers, and Okafor and Duncan can work the high-lo on offense.
But if it was just for any team, I will go for Dwight Howard, bigger draw, more revenue, and a bad team with a scorer is always > bad team with a defender.