Dwight Noward: NBA Defensive Player of the Year 2009

Dwight Howard became the youngest NBA player to win the NBA's defensive player of the year award.

Early this season, Howard talked to Patrick Ewing and Dikembe Mutombo. The once great centera were giving Howard some tips, and Mutombo asked him a question.

“He said, ‘What do you want to be remembered as, the great dunker who won the slam dunk contest with a Superman outfit on, or do you want to do something better than that?”’ Howard recalled Tuesday. “I said, ‘I want to be one of the greatest players.’ And he said it starts with defense.”

And a great start it is.

Howard is the fifth player in NBA to lead the league in rebounds and blocks in the same year.

"A lot of guys don't want to go up (for blocks) because they're afraid of getting dunked on," Howard said. "Dikembe and Patrick told me, 'As many times as you're going to get dunked on you're going to have more blocks."

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