It should come as little shock that the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year also takes home fantasy honors in the same category for the 2010-2011 season. Simply put, Dwight Howard was a beast. It's hard to find a player who put your team in a 99.9 percent chance to win two categories every week. In Howard's case, he finished second in rebounding at 14.1 boards per game and finished second in blocks per game with 2.4 per game.
He played in 78 games for the Magic, which is more than Memphis' Zach Randolph, Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut, Golden State's David Lee, or Dallas' Tyson Chandler could say. His Apr. 10 suspension may have cost fantasy owners leagues, but then again he finished the season up with two monster games across the board. Durability has never been an issue with Howard.
All but 12 of his games resulted in double-doubles, with two of those occurring because he failed to reach 10 or more points. He had a block in 73 of 78 games he played in, including games with 8, 6 (three times), and 5 (six times) and 4 (two times) blocks. If that isn't single-handedly winning a category (don't forget the rebounds), then I don't know what is.
But aside from the "big man" categories, Howard's biggest asset on defense was the steals he picked up. His 1.4 steals per game ranked 19th in the league and no in the top 15 in blocks or top 10 in rebounding (who qualified) finished with more than 1.0 steals per game. For him to be at the top of the league in rebounding and blocks and still pick up more steals per game than players such as Kobe Bryant, Josh Smith, Stephen Curry, and Jrue Holiday make him an easy candidate for best defensive player in 2010-2011.
And while it doesn't help fantasy owners, Howard has made quick work of the Hawks on the defensive end in Round one. Aside from averaging 32.2 points through four games, he's also grabbing 17.5 boards per game and has seven blocks in the series.
Rumors have been floating that Howard could be traded next season, and it's hard to see that helping him from a defensive fantasy standpoint. Howard has the luxury of playing in a frontcourt that consists of the undersized Brandon Bass, Hedo Turkoglu, and Ryan Anderson. With no true backup center, Howard played 37 minutes a night, helping him rack up the gaudy numbers he did.
Regardless of where Howard is playing in 2011-2012, selecting him in fantasy drafts gives your team an enormous advantage in rebounds, blocks and steals from the center position. We won't worry about his free throw shooting or turnovers for now because, hey, this is about defense.
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