Wilt Chamberlain...Bill Russell...Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (after turning 28)

Wilt Chamberlain

Wilt the Stilt aka the Big Dipper accomplished a ton after turning 28...check the list...

--> Chamberlain won both of his championship rings after he turned 28

--> 3 of his 4 NBA MVP's

--> 4 of 7 All-NBA team

--> Wilt's NBA Defensive Player Of The Year awards were post 28

--> Led the Lakers to an NBA record 33 straight wins

Bill Russell

The Boston Celtics legend was awesome after he turned 28...

--> 7 of his 11 Championship rings were earned from age 28+

--> 7 of his 11 Championship rings were earned from age 28+

--> 2 of his 3 All-NBA 1st team

--> 8 of his 12 All-Star seasons

--> only NBA All-Defense 1st team

How about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?

--> 5 of 6 NBA Titles came after 28

--> 4 of his 6 NBA MVP's came from 27+

--> amazing 14 All-Star games after turning 28

--> 4 of 5 NBA All-Defense 1st team

--> 4 of 6 NBA All-Defense 2nd team

--> 1985 NBA Finals MVP at age 38

@craigballard77

A look at Shaq...The Admiral...The Dream (all after 28th birthday)

Shaq

--> All 4 NBA Titles came after his 28th birthday - 3 of those Shaq Diesel was Finals MVP

--> NBA MVP

--> 9 of 15 All-Star games

--> 1 of his 2 NBA Scoring Titles came post-28

--> 7 of his 8 All-NBA 1st Team awards

--> All 3 NBA Defense 2nd team awards

--> All 3 All-Star game MVP's 28+

David Robinson

The Admiral is no exception when it comes to historic big-men who really got going towards the elite level around age 28

--> Both NBA Titles

--> MVP

--> At 27 Robinson won Defensive Player Of The Year

--> 7 of 10 NBA All-Star seasons

--> 4 of his 6 All-NBA 1st Team and 2nd Team

Hakeem Olajuwon

--> Hakeem the Dream won both NBA Titles post-28

--> Both of his NBA Defensive Player Of The Year awards came post-28 too

--> All 3 times he led the league in blocks were after 28

@craigballard77

Big Mo...The Captian...The Chief

Moses Malone

--> All 3 times he led the league in blocks were after 28

--> Only All-NBA Defense 1st Team at age 28

--> only All-NBA Defense 1st Team at age 28

--> Malone got things going just prior to his 28th birthday as won MVPs at 26 and 27

Willis Reed

--> Legendary Knick won both of his NBA Titles post-28...He was the Finals MVP each time

--> NBA MVP

Robert Parish

--> The Chief won all 4 of his championship rings after he turned 28

--> 8 of 9 All-Star games came after he turned 28

Rik Smits made his only NBA All-Star team after turning 28

Fellow Canadian Bill Wennington was a role-player for the Chicago Bulls second 3-peat in the Michael Jordan-era...all 3 Titles coming after Bill turned 28 (a little Can-Con for you!)

@craigballard77

Patrick Ewing...'Zo...Tim Duncan...Pau Gasol

Patrick Ewing

--> 8 of his 11 All-Star games were 28+

--> 5 of 7 All-NBA Team awards

--> 2 of his 3 All-NBA Defense from 27+

Alonzo Mourning...Check out what 'Zo was able to accomplish after his 28th birthday...

--> NBA Title

--> Both NBA Defensive Player Of The Year awards

--> Only All-NBA 1st Team and All-NBA 2nd Team came after 28

--> Both All-NBA 1st Team Defense awards

Tim Duncan has been amazing since his 28th birthday

--> 3 of his 4 championship rings earned post-28

--> TD continues to stack All-Star appearances, and is a regular on the All-NBA Defense 1st and 2nd team...At age 27 and 28 TD won back-to-back NBA MVP awards

Since turning 28 Pau Gasol has helped the Lakers win 3 Western Conference Titles, and a pair of NBA Titles

@craigballard77

Howard + Lakers is a Re-Up That Would Benefit Both Parties

Even this season we saw Joakim Noah earn his first ever All-Star nod, and he is 28 years old.

I think that Howard has the skills, and despite he seemingly popular opinion I think that he can win in LA and be a star for the Lakers. If he can follow in the footsteps of previous greats then he is about to explode and dominate on both ends of the floor (especially defense).

He himself will tell you that any rumors about he and Kobe not getting along are very bogus (Kobe will tell you that too) and after being eliminated we still saw Steve Nash talk about his opinion that the Lakers are indeed the right spot for D12 going forward.

The Lakers were very close to extending Andrew Bynum only to pull that off the table and then make the Howard trade. I do not think they would do that unless they felt great about their chances to re-up with Howard long-term. We know Howard wants a max contract, and the Lakers are the only team that can accommodate that.

Even if Howard finds a situation he may want more than LA the sign-and-trade that would be required perhaps sends return assets to the Lakers that A) make it worthwhile anyway for them, or B) deplete the trading team to the point where Howard may not see them as a great fit anymore (remember when the Bulls tried to trade everyone for Kobe which would have left their roster very depleted to the point where Kobe could not be happy with it).

Right here, right now, people may not agree with me about a Lakers/Howard re-up but I think we are just too close to the nightmare season currently (it just ended so recently, and the ending was ugly). Once the dust settles and Howard considers his future I think he and the Lakers will agree that they can flourish together going forward.

@craigballard77