Once Dwight Howard‘s All-Star, possibly Hall of Fame, career in basketball closes, he will no doubt have several career opportunities open to him to pursue. A public relations or ambassadorial role should not be one of them. Howard continues to not understand the pointlessness of piling on Orlando, a city and franchise already over him, with his comments today that the Magic “was a team full of people who nobody wanted.”
“And I always tell people, ‘Hey, my team in Orlando was a team full of people who nobody wanted, and I was the leader and I led that team with a smile on my face.”
Via the Orlando Sentinel‘s beat writer, Josh Robbins, (as first told to CBS in L.A.) Howard criticized the teammates who helped Howard win .579 of his games anad reach the 2009 Finals with in Orlando. Since Howard arrived in Orlando in 2004-05, there were also three All-Stars besides the center: Grant Hill, Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis. The latter two were on teams with Howard that had consecutive 59-game seasons. Surely these teams weren’t all full of garbage, but Howard wants to see what he believes (he should read up how false memories can take the place of real ones).
It’s always tricky to delve into the mind of Howard, but there’s two ways he reached this decision, and both are wrong: That his teammates were pure flotsam, and it was Howard whose largesse raised all boats, all the time. A no-brainer All-Star and force at center while in Orlando, Howard is nonetheless both overestimating his own power and chop-blocking the skills of his former teammates — and no doubt are they all happy they are considered “former” teammates.
Howard’s random potshots, months removed from being in Central Florida, illustrate nicely and awfully his belief in the power of the last word. Where Orlando closed a wound when he was traded, Howard sees a score he’s yet to settle. Maybe that’s because every time he’s talked about the Magic, another example is close at hand to rebut his tenure as always having “a smile on my face.” Howard may very well get the last word on how things broke down in Orlando, and he’ll likely be pleased that his version of history was told last. What he doesn’t understand — among his lapses in timing, misplaced hostility, dieting — is that sometimes when you get the last word, it’s because there is no reason for the other side to respond to a situation long considered dead and done with.
Does Howard really consider that a victory? In a season where they’ve been hard to come by, I suppose he will.
What do you think?
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