Dwight Howard wins DPOY

[Patr1ck]

Howard is expected to be presented with the award at a news conference scheduled for 2 p.m. ET. At 23 years and 128 days, he is the youngest player ever to be named defense player of the year, according to the report.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4086156

He said he wanted to do it in training camp, and he did.

[el badman]

That'd be much deserved, he's been a phenomenal post defender this year.

[Andrew]

No surprises here either. He's been an intimidating force in the paint this year and the rare feat of leading the league in blocks and rebounds obviously sealed the deal for him.

2/2

[Null17]

Echo what you guys said. He's been a monster this season. I wonder why Hedo got a 3rd place vote though (based on the Yahoo article I read).

[shadowgrin]

Early this season, the Orlando Magic center was talking to Patrick Ewing and Dikembe Mutombo. The once great big men were giving Howard some tips, and Mutombo asked him a simple question.

"He said, 'What do you want to be remembered as, the great dunker who won the slam dunk contest with a Superman outfit on, or do you want to do something better than that?'" Howard recalled Tuesday. "I said, 'I want to be one of the greatest players.' And he said it starts with defense."

A lot of guys don't want to go up [for blocks] because they're afraid of getting dunked on," Howard said. "Dikembe and Patrick told me, 'As many times as you're going to get dunked on you're going to have more blocks."

He was trained by Ewing and Deke.

Even Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu, not known for his defense, managed to get one third-place vote

WTF?

[Patr1ck]

Probably a joke. I think it was Alonzo Mourning who said - "I thank my teammates for letting their men blow by them" after winning a DPOY award. Maybe Hedo got a vote for doing that.

[Andrew]

Zo did indeed make that quip. With that in mind it might've been a joke but probably just a stray vote by someone who for whatever reason felt Turkoglu was worthy of that recognition.

[Sauru]

its obvious to me that he has family within the voters

if anyone but howard won it would have been bad, the man deserves it