Latest sports chatter: Dwight Howard and Adrian Dantley missing from ESPN’s all-time list

ESPN honored the NBA’s 74th season by putting together a top 74 players all-time list and some notable names missed the cut.

The list is littered with some of the best to ever play, but you can’t help but notice names like Carmelo Anthony, Sidney Moncrief, Tim Hardaway and Klay Thompson missing.

It’s unclear what were the most valuable factors. Players with decent numbers but better known as winners were valued, and the list also featured scoring machines who never won championships.

Here are two of the biggest misses on ESPN’s list.

Dwight Howard: In no way did I expect this name not to be on here. The latter part of Dwight Howard’s career hasn’t been as successful, but he was one of the most unstoppable forces in the league at his best. Howard is one of the best rebounders in NBA history. The eight-time All-Star averaged a double-double as a 19-year-old rookie out of high school and went on to do so for 14 consecutive seasons. He also led the Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009 after defeating LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Some people tend to forget he’s a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, too. No disrespect to Dikembe Mutombo, who made the list at 73, but it’s hard to see how he belonged over Howard. Other centers ranked above Howard include: Alonzo Mourning, Robert Parish and Bob Lanier.

Adrian Dantley: The 2008 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee was a flat-out scorer. There weren’t many better scorers in the early 1980s. Starting in 1980-81, Dantley averaged 30 or more points for four straight seasons as a member of the Jazz. Utah only made the playoffs in one of those years, which may be the biggest knock on Dantley’s career. He had two chances to get a ring with the Pistons, but fell short in back-to-back seasons against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Players placed on the list above Dantley include: Manu Ginobili, Alex English and Vince Carter.

T.Y. Hilton has been one of the NFL’s most explosive receivers since entering the league in 2012. He’s averaged 15.6 yards per catch in his career, but at 30, Hilton is approaching the finish line.

Hilton told ESPN that he wants one more contract extension with the Colts. He also said that he’ll be retiring at the end of that deal, no matter the length.

The 2019 season was Hilton’s least productive due to injuries. He had career lows in catches (45), yards (501) and yards per reception (11.1).

New Colts quarterback Phillip Rivers will be the starter this season and should be an upgrade over Jacoby Brissett, so Hilton’s numbers might come closer to the five 1,000-yard seasons he’s had, if healthy.

“I think it’ll be special,” Hilton said. “I think the way I’m training, the way my body feels and Philip doing his thing, I feel like it’ll be an All-Pro year for me.”

The announcement that the NBA is switching its official basketball from Spalding to Wilson has overreaction written all over it, but don’t expect a major change.

Spalding has been the NBA’s official ball since 1983, but the Wilson basketball is just as popular. Wilson is used as the official basketball in the NCAA Tournament, and it was also the NBA’s partner for 37 years prior to Spalding.

Sure, different brands offer different textures and grips, but the impact should be minimal. The same leather and product specifications will be used to produce the Wilson basketball, and the NBA will work closely with the players for approval.

Wilson will also become the official basketball for the WNBA in 2022 and the NBA G-League in 2021-22.

Urban Meyer is one of Dwayne Haskins’ biggest supporters. He goes to bat for his former starting quarterback at Ohio State whenever he can, and he probably should, considering he started him over 2020 first overall draft pick Joe Burrow.

Meyer’s latest protection of Haskins came when speaking to Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks on the “Move the Sticks” podcast.

“I hate to be so simplistic on this, but you better surround him with some really good players,” Meyer said, via NFL.com. “The NFL is amazing to me is that the minute a team, they draft a quarterback, they put him on a very bad team or there are a lot of culture issues.”

The culture surrounding a quarterback is a critical part to his success, and Haskins was put in a difficult spot as a rookie. Jay Gruden was fired after an 0-5 start, Bill Callahan became interim head coach and Trent Williams was holding out.

Ron Rivera will be Haskins’ third coach in two seasons.

A solid foundation and good talent will be the key to Haskins’ success. Fellow rookie Terry McLaurin emerged as his go-to target last season and the Williams cloud is gone, so the pieces are starting to fall into place.