EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard has recently been tweaked by future Hall of Fame big man Shaquille O'Neal for not being enough of a traditional, back-to-the-basket center, but he is decidedly old school in another way.

He's not in favor of the new All-Star Game format which eliminates the center designation from the ballots. Beginning this season, fans will simply vote for three frontcourt players, rather than two players slated as "forwards" and one player as a "center."

"I don't like it at all," emphatically stated the three-time defensive player of the year. "We work just as hard as anybody else. I don't think it's fair to take away a position which has been here for life. You need a center on the court. So I don't think it's right. That's like taking away a guard. That's how I feel.

"It's been that way since they started All-Star Games, so why change it now? Because centers shoot 3's now?"

In the modern NBA, big men now often operate in space, shoot from behind the 3-point arc and develop guard-like skills. In the eyes of some fans and analysts, this has resulted in fewer players who should be regarded as legitimate centers. But Howard framed this development as centers becoming more well-rounded, rather than disappearing from the landscape.

"The game changes every day," insisted the six-time All-Star. "It changes every year. You look at the game back then and now, centers are bigger, stronger, faster. Guards are bigger, stronger, faster. So the game evolves. That doesn't mean you take out a position because of the game evolving, because the players that play center are evolving also.