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There was a time when Shaq comparisons were the sine qua non of discussion about Dwight Howard. The inane squawking about the “Superman” nickname, the alternating faux cattiness and faux chumminess with which the two interacted, the fan arguments over whether Howard’s legacy would ever eclipse O’Neal’s. It’s a tailor-made barstool argument, with enough concrete connections between the two players to make it seem like a natural argument but without any way to reasonably conclude it.

Recently, of course, the tenor or the conversation surrounding Howard has changed. The national audience is not watching him and waiting for him to “figure this thing out” and ascend to greatness. Fans are tired of him. Inevitably, that fatigue has colored the perception of his on-court exploits. All of a sudden, arguments are in the air about whether teams would rather have Andrew Bynum (that paragon of “stability and selflessness”).

Meanwhile, Shaq has transitioned from the league’s present into its past, his titanic accomplishments now sepiafied and mythologized.

In some ways, the comparisons between Shaq and Howard could never work out for Dwight (in some ways, of course, that’s exactly why Shaq so aggressively courted them). O’Neal dominated the game in the most visible ways; Dwight often dominates a game where fans aren’t watching. Where Shaq was a colossal, overwhelming inevitability, Howard is an air raid.

The discipline Shaq never displayed in his conditioning he saved for the zealous defense of his own legacy. In fact, the biggest reason why there will never be another Shaq is because no player will ever expend the same energy to cultivate a similar image.

When I started to collect my thoughts for this post, I was prepared to write that Howard, for all his steadfast excellence, has never approached the hammer-of-God dominance of Shaq. Watch the 53 points Shaq hangs on Minnesota in his Orlando days. Try and recall ever feeling similarly about Dwight.

Those are some of my favorite highlights on YouTube. Shaq looms over every play; seeing him still with a young and lithe body reminds me that he is perhaps the functionally largest person to ever play basketball. His overwhelming enormity is matched by an aggression around the rim that borders on disdain for anyone trying to guard him. I get giddy watching those highlights.

That, I was prepared to write, was the difference between Shaq and Dwight. Dwight has never been able to so fully arouse my awe.

But then I watched a few Dwight performances like this one and I began to wonder how much I could trust my own recollections.

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Let’s get this out of the way. Dwight Howard being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers will be the best thing to happen to his career.

Once it became clear that Dwight’s time in Orlando was over, with that stark realization coming when Stan Van Gundy calmly and infamously revealed to the masses that Dwight wanted him fired while speaking to the media at shootaround before a regular season game against the New York Knicks in early April, thus irreparably damaging Dwight’s relationship with the Magic, that’s when it seemed obvious that Dwight needed to leave Orlando and make Los Angeles his new home.

Magic fans may take umbrage with that line of thinking, considering that old wounds have reopened with Dwight becoming the second franchise center in Magic history to join the Lakers in a span of 16 years — indirectly following in the footsteps of Shaquille O’Neal. But let’s think about where Dwight is currently at in his career. He’s a three-time Defensive Player of the Year and top five player in the NBA that a.) took a step back in 2012 after an MVP-caliber season in 2011, b.) has yet to reach his full potential, and c.) is still seeking his first title with eight seasons wrapped under his belt. In a lot of ways, Los Angeles represents the ideal situation for him.

How?

There are many reasons, like Dwight being surrounded by the best teammates he’s ever had or getting to play for a prestigious franchise that knows how to build a winner, but there are three primary reasons: Mike Brown, Kobe Bryant, and Steve Nash.

Brown, Kobe, and Nash represent a perfect convergence of elements, in which the building blocks are there for Dwight to fully (and finally) realize his full potential.

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Dwight Howard is, by some distance, the greatest player in Orlando Magic history. Beyond everything that has transpired in the past two years, beyond the most mutually embarrassing unhappy-superstar saga this side of Vince Carter, that is the ultimate takeaway from the eight seasons he spent with the Magic. He gave the franchise a newfound respectability, a signature player utterly unlike any of his era.

Several things set Howard apart from the other superstar-level talents that have worn the blue and white. The first, of course, is his longevity in Orlando.

Shaq bolted for Hollywood after four seasons and the dominance of his Lakers-era peak has reduced the Magic years, despite a franchise-first Finals appearance, to (at best) secondary status in his body of work.

Penny Hardaway’s status as the franchise’s all-time signature guy was partly doomed with Shaq’s departure, as he was forced to take on a greater load without the benefit of a big man that proficient. But it was mostly a left knee injury during the 1997-1998 season, which needed microfracture surgery (back when not many people in the NBA knew what that procedure was), that short-circuited Penny’s career and affected his standing in the pantheon of Magic greats.

Like Shaq, T-Mac only spent four seasons in Orlando and while his staggering, breathtaking season in 2003 is the highest individual peak any Magic player has had, his teams didn’t do much in the way of winning playoff games, making it considerably more difficult to reminisce about his apex as a part of any greater cause.

Which leaves Howard, who not only put together the phenomenal individual seasons that have been covered elsewhere during Dwight Week at Magic Basketball, but also shepherded the Magic to a period of title contention, including one trip to the Finals.

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In the two weeks or so since Dwight Howard became a Laker, I’ve gone back and forth countless times on whether or not I actually like the trade for the Magic.

The most prevalent criticism — and the most valid — is of the draft picks Orlando received in the deal, which are something of a small travesty. They were sent one future first-rounder from each of the other three teams involved in the trade, the Lakers (2017), Sixers (2015), and Nuggets (2014). However, all three picks have lottery protections. There’s no excuse for this whatsoever.

Sure, all three of those teams are expected to be playoff teams for years to come, especially given how well they all made out in this trade. But none of them gave up what the Magic did: an indisputable top five player, one of the few players in the league who is an instant franchise-changer. Was the Magic’s leverage so far gone by early August that they couldn’t even swing unprotected draft picks?

The deal is going to look bad for the Magic if you try to view it under the parameters of the Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony trades in the last 18 months. But viewing Arron Afflalo, the best player the Magic got for Howard, as the “centerpiece” of this trade a la Danilo Gallinari or Eric Gordon is missing the point entirely.

With the Magic’s options as limited as they were, general manager Rob Hennigan’s main goal should have been creating flexibility and not hamstringing the franchise with the type of cap-destroying contracts Otis Smith was famous for. That’s why they made the right move by turning down the offers they were receiving from the Brooklyn Nets.

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For the consensus best player at his position, Dwight Howard sure hears a ton of criticism, not all of it unwarranted. He doesn’t take the game seriously enough. He needlessly blocks shots out-of-bounds instead of tipping them to teammates. He can’t make free throws and is thus a liability to his team in fourth quarters. His lack of back-to-basket moves limits him offensively.

I aim to address that last criticism of Howard’s, which has become a talking point for fans, analysts, and journalists throughout Howard’s eight-year career. Howard is by no means the game’s most polished back-to-basket center, but he’s not the glorified Tyson Chandler some folks make him out to be either.

To call Howard’s post game “clunky” is to be charitable to the six-time All-Star. Though he possesses excellent speed and quickness for a man his size, Howard is nothing if not deliberate on the block as he reads defenses.

A few years ago, Howard only had a jump hook in his arsenal; he’d pound his way to the goal, elevate, and toss the ball near the rim. He could do this move with either hand on either block, but it was his only weapon. A savvy defender could exploit his lack of versatility, as well as his famously top-heavy frame, by lowering his center of gravity to leverage Howard further from the basket, giving help defenders more time to dig down for a steal and making Howard’s eventual shot attempt a lower-percentage proposition.

Howard is still methodical, and even boring, when he operates in the post. What’s changed is the variety of moves at his disposal. Howard’s learned to counter the leveraging maneuver with quick spins to the baseline. He has a drop step that he can use on either block to shed defenders. He’s added a rolling hook, albeit one that’s much more effective going left-to-right with his right hand, as well. Regardless of the move he uses to set up his shots near the rim, he’s able to arc his shot more consistently in the past with fewer line-drive misfires.

Put simply, Dwight Howard is not utterly hopeless in the post as some folks in and around the game might have you believe. He’s neither refined nor spectacular in this part of his game, but he’s effective.

Evan Dunlap is the founder and managing editor of Orlando Pinstriped Post.