By: Victor Olorunfemi

NBA myths can be dangerous, and it's time someone does something to address them in hopes of stopping all the memes and false social media movements. With this new series, we will go head to head and debunk some of the biggest lies and half-truths in the NBA.

This myth proves that your parents were right when they warned you about the dangers of perception. Dwight Howard is a living example of how people will tell lies about you just because they do not like you.

What ever happened to letting an athlete's play speak for him?

What if I told you in his 16 year NBA career, Dwight Howard has spent the same amount of time with the Orlando Magic as he has outside of Orlando. It doesn't feel like that's true, but that's because the media wants the failures of the last eight years to speak for his career as opposed to the extremely successful first 8.

They try to make it seem as if the first eight years never happened. And if they talk about it, they focus on the ugly exit.

The problem with Dwight Howard's career is that he has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Whether it be the rumors that his happy persona is fake, or that he somehow has a lazy work ethic, or his first stint with the Lakers where people said he didn't care about winning, or the reports that teammates do not like him.

Some had even went as far as to ridiculously debate his hall-of-fame status, despite the ridiculous prolonged dominance at the peak of his career.

The myth about Dwight Howard is that somehow his career was a failure that was only recently saved by this championship as a role player with the Lakers. In reality, Dwight Howard more than maximized his talents and turned in a first allot hall-of-came career. It's similar to the kind of lies people tell about Shaquille O'Neal.

So what are the truths about Dwight Howard?

Eight times he was on the All-NBA team. Top-30 in NBA history, and one more than James Harden.

Five times he was on the All-NBA first team. Tied with Charles Barkley. More than Hall-of-Famers like Dirk Nowitzki, David Robinson, Kevin Garnett, Moses Malone, Scottie Pippen, and Patrick Ewing.

His three NBA Defensive Player of the Year Trophies are surpassed only by Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo.

Second in MVP Votes in 2011, and Top 5 in MVP voting four times.

Second behind Dennis Rodman since the NBA merger in career rebounding average.

In 08-09, at 23 years old, he led the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals in a conference that had the Celtics Big-3, and a LeBron Cavs team that had 66 wins.

These are just a few of the achievements that Dwight Howard racked up over the first eight years of his career.

So next time someone spews some Dwight Howard myth to you, kindly remind them that his first eight years can be compared to any 8-year stretch a center has had and that we should appreciate the dominant force he once was and not let off-court narratives affect his on-court truth.

Links to the series:

Debunking NBA Myths: Lonzo Ball Can't Shoot