Dwight Howard completed his transformation into Playoff Dwight with his dominant performance in Game 2 of the Houston Rockets’ first round series against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night. Basketball fans and writers have been forced to recalibrate their expectations for the Rockets. And now, Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling has published a profile of Howard that suggests that we all need to recalibrate our perception of Dwight as a person.
First, the fun stuff: Dwight is obsessed with animals, especially exotic ones. He owns two red-tailed boa constrictors (same as Danny Green!)named Minnie and Mickey, and Zwerling notes that he dotes on them like any of us would dote on a puppy or kitten. Add in a reticulated python (still a juvenile) and Minnie’s recent litter of 17 offspring, and you arrive at the 20 snakes number, which I think is above average when it comes to snake ownership.
Howard also owns over 50 guns, and says he likes to go to a gun range because “it’s what you do in Texas.” However you feel about guns, it’s encouraging to know that if all of Dwight’s snakes ever organize and rise up against him, he’ll be well-armed to defend himself.
Overall, the profile is pretty standard image rehabilitation, but Dwight’s honesty and openness in addressing the mistakes of his past in Orlando and Los Angeles is refreshing, considering that one of the most damaging labels assigned to him has been “phony“.
Dwight also speaks about his charity work (which he recommitted to after allegations of child abuse became public — Howard was cleared of charges), his struggles to maintain positive relationships with his family, and his status as a target of belittlement by fellow players. He revealed that he had to cut some cousins out of his life (which I imagine many athletes are forced to do), and that he tries to balance being a caring father and giving his children (and their respective mothers) space. He also said he’s come to terms with the fact that his opponents treat him the way they do because it’s essentially in the scouting report that being messed with can get to him.
At this point, public opinion of Dwight has seemingly crystallized, but he definitely came out of his interview in a better light. In one of the most telling parts of his interview, he compared himself to LeBron James post-The Decision in the way that publicly spurning one fan base made him an easy villain across the country. What Jared Zwerling doesn’t mention is how LeBron got public perception to swing back to his side — by winning a championship. So if the dominant Dwight Howard we’ve seen so far in the playoffs is here to stay, he has a very good shot at helping James Harden and the Rockets to the top of the mountain and erasing a lot of the negativity that has defined his last few years.
