#2 Untouchable Player in the NBA

This post by Simmons was amazing.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071218

You can't even say he improved from April '07 to November '07 -- it's more like he transformed. We knew his scoring and rebounding numbers would eventually resemble Moses Malone's work in the late '70s, and we knew his athleticism was a perfect fit for the fan-friendly Nash era, but I always thought he had a little too much David Robinson in him. In other words, he was destined to become this generation's "awesome physical specimen and transcendent character guy who wasn't quite mean enough to be the best player on a championship team."

So imagine my surprise when D-Ho didn't just dominate these first six weeks but showed flashes of a non-Robinson side, getting fiesty after a few hard fouls and relishing the chance to unleash about 50 dunks in traffic. Maybe it wasn't quite like watching Hulk Hogan join the NWO and blacken his beard, but still, there's a consistent edge to Howard's game that Robinson never had. Through seven weeks, Howard has two 30-20 games, one 20-20 games, seven 30-15 games and 22 double-doubles and has a chance to become the first center since Moses to average a 24-15 for an entire season. And he's only 22. And we haven't even mentioned his defense (good and getting better) or the way he protects the rim (superb). If there's a chink in the armor, it's his crummy free-throw shooting. But that's it.

LeBron James

Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images

The once and future King.
One other bonus with Howard that nobody mentions: Because he's a devout Christian, even when he turns 35 in 2020, those will be Christian years -- he won't have any of that smoking-drinking-partying mileage on him, which means he could play at a high level until his early-40s (much like how Kurt Warner keeps chugging along at age 36). In other words, Howard could and should shatter nearly every rebounding record if he stays healthy, and even if he averages a 23-13 for the next 12 years (a conservative guess), when you throw in his previous three seasons, Howard would suddenly be in striking distance of two-thirds of the conceivable NBA records that ever meant anything. And to think, just seven months ago, I wasn't sure if he was better than Al Jefferson.