Dwight Howard Got Emotional Every Time He Got Blocked Says Josh Smith

When people think of Dwight Howard, they think of the big man with 3 DPOYs and numerous poster dunks. However, when Josh Smith thinks of Howard, he sees a man he blocked multiple times. Despite the difference in position, Smith was a talented shot blocker and had multiple rejections against a ton of big men.

Appearing on the Knuckleheads podcast, Smith claimed the most memorable blocks in his career were on Yao Ming and Howard. Standing at 6’9, it’s understandable why he said blocking 7’6 Ming would be memorable. The height difference is massive after all. As for Howard, Smith claimed D-12 would “get in his feelings” after getting blocked.

Smith said “I used to like blocking Dwight. He used to get in his feelings about that. Because I’d block him, I’d say something to get up under his skin and he’d say ‘okay alright alright alright'”.

Smith’s blocks on Howard were no easy feat either. Most of these came when Dwight was at his physical peak with the Orlando Magic, and was playing some of the best basketball of his career. Smith, despite his size, seemed to always have Howard’s number on defense.

One of the more underrated aspects of Smith’s 13-year NBA career was his defensive versatility. At 6’9, he could easily out-muscle the smaller guards and guard them in the open court, but his strength and athletic ability allowed him to switch onto and help guard the bigger players as well. Finishing his career with 1714 blocks, he took pride in his defense.

Despite being a DPOY runner-up behind Howard, J-Smoove never made the All-Defensive first team. His highest position was second All-Defensive team in that same year. While he acknowledged the fact that Howard was a better defender, Smith still doesn’t understand how he never made the first team.

He went on to criticize the NBA’s voting policies, claiming that they’re not respecting the award enough. Using last year’s voting as an example, he claimed that Rudy Gobert did not do enough to warrant him winning the award, and claimed Victor Wembanyama deserved it instead.