Legendary coach Stan Van Gundy can’t believe Dwight Howard didn’t make the top-75 NBA team

Back in October 2021, the NBA was celebrating its’ 75th anniversary and released a controversial list of the top 75 players of all time, which was really up to 76 considering there was a tie after counting all the votes. However, the polemic hit mostly due to the fact that many important names were left out of the prestigious list.

Some of the most notable stars absent from the top-75 team were Vince Carter, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol, Draymond Green, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Chris Bosh, Alex English, Tracy McGrady, and many more. However, one of the most noticeable snubs was Dwight Howard.

Legendary coach Stan Van Gundy considers his former player’s absence to be “absolutely ridiculous,” especially considering some names that shouldn’t even be on the list.

“The time I was [in Orlando], to me, the only two guys you could even talk about in [Howard’s] league at that time were LeBron, and Kobe was still playing. That was it. There was no on else to talk about in my opinion,” the coach said on the “Knuckleheads” podcast earlier this year.

“Because you’re talking about both ends of the floor. He was three straight years of Defensive Player of the Year. And then on offense, he’s still getting you 20 plus, and we didn’t even go to him. We weren’t throwing him the ball all the time to let him get numbers. But everything revolved around him. He would roll, and at that time suck in the entire defense, and then we had shooters around him,” he kept at it.

The trainer who turned an analyst in recent years, understands that opinions are subjective, but he insists that facts are objective.

“Like, you can think a guy is better. That’s fine. That’s a subjective thing,” Van Gundy explained. “Like, I was arguing with people the other day. It’s fine if you want to tell me that Michael Jordan is a better basketball player than LeBron James. That’s fine. You can make a case for that. What you can’t make a case for is that Michael Jordan had a better career than LeBron James. You can’t make a case for that.”

Van Gundy mostly has a problem with the fact that Lakers star Anthony Davis made the list over Howard

The former trainer’s rant was mostly based on the fact that current players like Anthony Davis made the top-75 list over the 37-year-old big man. Van Gundy recognizes the Lakers star’s greatness, but insists he’s got no chance against Howard.

“Look, for him to not be in the top 75, that was just a personality thing,” he continued. “There’s no way. Like, I think Anthony Davis is great, but at the time the selected [the top 75], you’re selecting it on the careers they had had up to that point. I mean come on. It’s not close.”

Stan Van Gundy made the comment when Dwight Howard failed to make the NBA 75 Greatest Players list.

True or false? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/UQgXiG50Y5

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 21, 2023

Some media outlets took the time to analyze Stan’s views, and stacked up and compared both players awards as seen in the tweet above.

“And when you’re going top 75, you cannot make a case — and I’m only bringing out one guy, there’s a lot more — but you cannot make a case that Anthony Davis, when they picked that team, or even now, had a better career than Dwight Howard,” Van Gundy concluded. “That’s absolutely ridiculous.”