*FAN SUBMISSION by David Cabrera of Silver Spring, MD. Follow him on Twitter @CabreraaaaaD.*
In all honesty, new Houston Rockets big-man, Dwight Howard, is one of the 10 best basketball players in the NBA. His accolades signify a player, who is on the current Mount Rushmore of his profession: 7-time All-Star (although fans do stuff the ballot, but before last year’s debacle with the Lakers most of them were well deserved), 5-time All-NBA First Team, 3-time Defensive Player of the Year, Slam Dunk Champion, and an Olympic Gold Medalist for the U.S. Redeem Team in 2008.
Courtesy: CBS Sports
When anyone seems to talk about Howard now, it is his inability to grow up and meet his skyward potential that gets brought up frequently.
After carrying the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals, 4 years ago with a mediocre squad (a la LeBron James with the Cavaliers in 2007), many were crowning Dwight as the best of a new generation of big men; a player whose ability to dominate on offense and defense in the paint would carry his team to championship heights. Those championship aspirations, let alone any type of success eluded Howard in Orlando and with team management’s inability to surround him with better players, Howard lashed out.
If someone were to play with Rashard Lewis, Courtney Lee, Hedo Turkologu, and Jameer Nelson, good, but complementary players at best, they would have all the reason in the world to have an ax to grind with their general manager. Howard, however, grinded that ax too forcefully.
This is a player whose final years in Orlando were marked by running Stan Van Gundy out of town (something he swears he did not do), his inability to decide whether to leave the only franchise he had ever known (which caused so much turmoil that there was no choice but to look into trading him), and a bad back that caused him to miss the tail end of the last season of his successful, yet stressful career in Orlando.
When he was traded to Lakers last summer, it looked to be the perfect fit and a little bit of deja-vu. He was going to a team that was known for its centers (George, Wilt, Kareem, Shaq) being the centerpieces of title teams and he was following in Shaq’s footsteps a little bit (Orlando to LA), which turned out to be a pretty successful decision for the Big Aristotle (three peat from 2000-2002).
After an injury riddled season, in which he averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds and saw the Spurs absolutely white wash the Lakers in a 4-game sweep, Howard was ready to say adios to the City of Angels after one season. Reports say that Howard’s decision stemmed with his displeasure of Coach Mike D’Antoni’s coaching style and the constant media scrutiny of his play.
Courtesy: Washington Post
The report that had me flabbergasted, was in an article written in the July 12 Sports section of the Washington Post by Mike Wise. It basically said that Howard was so unhappy with the current situation in L.A., the fact that Kobe would not hand over the keys to the amusement park that is now the Los Angeles Lakers to him immediately like Lakers brass promised, that he went to a franchise in Houston where there already is a clear number one player in James Harden, aka the Bearded One. He stresses that the reason he went to Houston was the fact that they were a younger team who has a chance to win a championship right now.
Okay Dwight, whatever you say!
But in all honesty, the guy is getting easier to dislike. It just seems that outside influences are influencing him more than they should, especially in the light of his egotistical exit out of L.A. All I want to know is what happened to the player that was ever so marketable and likeable?
The players whose faced graced video games (NBA Live 2008), movies, and commercials? Whose impressions of Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley were staples of late night telecasts and YouTube videos? The guy who charmed audiences into believing that the Dunk Contest was back when he went into the telephone booth to turn into Superman, flying from the free throw line like the Man of Steel?
All people see now is the enigma that is Dwight Howard. He won’t ever get his chance to be the face of a franchise like he was in Orlando.
All he will ever be is a sidekick to Harden. Some might rack up his recent immaturity issues to the fact that he is still growing up, but the man is 27 years old.
C’mon Dwight, when are you going to learn?
