When his career is all said and done, the Defensive Player of the Year trophy might need to be renamed the Dwight Howard Trophy. Because it's hard to see him not winning this award every year for the next 10 years.
Howard added his third consecutive Defensive Player of the Year to his trophy case, becoming the first player ever to do that. Only Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace (four each) have won the award more times than Howard.
Howardf led the league with 66 double-doubles, including six 20-point/20-rebound efforts, while ranking second in rebounds (14.1 rpg) and fourth in blocks (2.38 bpg). With Howard manning the middle, the Magic allowed 93.5 ppg, ranking fourth in that category. A couple milestones noted in the release announcing the award:
- On March 1 vs. New York, Howard, at 25 years and 83 days old, became the youngest player in NBA history to amass 7,000 career rebounds, passing Wilt Chamberlain, who was 26 years and 128 days old when he passed the 7,000-rebound plateau.
- He recorded at least 1,000 rebounds and 100 blocked shots for the sixth straight year; since blocked shots were officially tracked in 1973-74, only Moses Malone has done it more (seven seasons).
- He became one of only five players in NBA history since blocked shots became an official statistic in 1973-74 to record at least 6,000 rebounds and 1,000 blocked shots in his first 500 games.
Howard wasn't a unanimous winner, gathering 114 of 120 first-place votes. (Chuck Hayes got two and Keith Bogans, Joakim Noah Kevin Garnett and Grant Hill all getting one). The top five were Howard, Garnett, Tyson Chandler, Tony Allen and Rajon Rondo.
