Something Short of Trash Talk: Ratliff Compares Howard to Hall of Famers

Notes from a trip to the NBA Playoffs.

For a while it looked like the Pistons and Magic were determined to extend their on-court battle to the newspapers. But after hearing Rashard Lewis tell me before Game 2 he's done with the trash talk and listening to Theo Ratliff praise Dwight Howard after the game, I don't think there's much risk of anyone providing much bulletin board material.

Here's my (very brief) conversation with Ratliff on Howard's ability, both today and in the future:

Matt Watson: You mentioned before how you and Sheed have gone up against guys like David Robinson, [Patrick] Ewing and [Hakeem] Olajuwon. How would you say Howard compares right now to the other big guys that you've faced?

Theo Ratliff: "He's a phenomenal talent -- his athleticism, his size, but he's still young. He's going to continue to get better and continue to get better and he'll probably be at the status of those guys later on in his career. But right now he's still raw as far as what he's able to do on the floor offensively and things like that. So he's a load down there because he's so powerful and able to jump and dunk and different things of that nature, but at the same time, he knows he has a long ways to go as far as continuing to work and seeing things out there on the floor."