My girlfriend’s favorite NBA player is Dwight Howard. This is mostly due to the fact that every time he shows up on a TV screen she can’t help but blurt out, “Oh my God, look at that guy’s shoulders!” It’s endearing. All deltoidal impressiveness aside, Dwight Howard clearly passes the eye test as an NBA player. However, when discussing who is first on the list to win a championship, Howard’s name rarely comes up. Given his statistical prowess, how can this be?
Howard’s durability is absolutely freakish. Since his first season in 2004, Howard has played in an astonishing 98% of his regular season games. He’s never averaged less than 32.6 minutes a game which speaks to his consistency. Howard’s improvement offensively since 2006 has been markedly different. He hasn’t dipped below 18 PPG and it seems that every summer we hear new stories about him working with the game’s greats — Hakeem, Ewing and maybe even Kareem. Alongside earning Defensive Player of the Year honors for three straight years, Howard is a statistical monster.
Howard’s detractors tend to point away from the mathematics and more towards on-court experience and failures. After reaching the Finals and losing to the Lakers in 2009, popular opinion began to shift against Howard’s lack of dedication. There have been rumblings during Howard’s career that the New Superman is too much like his namesake hero in Shaquille O’Neal — often seeming more interested in the entertainment factor as much as the end result of the game. Skip Bayless famously said of Howard, “At least I don’t look like Tarzan and play like a Jane.”
LeBron James has heard this story in all its iterations and more importantly, he’s heard it about himself. The recent playoff failure aside, James has faced criticism regarding his leadership, lack of mental toughness and outrage from fans whose expectations he hasn’t lived up to at the ripe age of 26. To be fair, LeBron’s criticism is largely self-inflicted. In high school his mother donned him “The King” and before most of us had bought our first car he had been on the cover of SLAM, S.I. and ESPN the Magazine. His body is adorned with tattoos reading “The Chosen One” and “Witness”. That kind of blatant narcissism is the effect of having the basketball world at his feet since he was 14 years old.
Like Howard, James is undeniably a generational physical specimen. Never has a player at James’ position held such a dominating kinetic advantage over his opponents. And like Howard, James’ statistical presence jumps off the box score. He’s played in 95% of his available regular-season games and save for his rookie season, never averaged less than 26.7 PPG and 37.7 MIN. Both men are in the top 3 at their position and both are missing one valuable item: jewelery.
Up until this post-season, Howard and LeBron were a bit inseparable. Even NBA junkies couldn’t watch a game with either player on the court and not ask themselves why they couldn’t absolutely dominate on both ends of the court at all times. And really, who can blame us? The power and size Howard brings to the court arguably rivals Shaq in his prime. LeBron’s size and speed has never been seen in the NBA. It’s unconscionable that he doesn’t score every time up the floor.
At the end of the 2009-10 and 2010-11 NBA playoffs we saw two critical moments for the history of this league and two of the best players it has ever seen. The first was James’ infamous hallway jersey-strip following a loss to Boston, ending his career in Cleveland and leading to The Decision and all that storm has washed up on our shores. This season, we saw Dwight Howard and the Magic in a 1st Round exit that stunned the likes of the basketball world and Howard himself. The big man scored 46 points in Game 1 of the series and the Magic lost. How could it get any worse?
What we saw during those playoff games was a different side of Dwight Howard. As his NBA experience has grown so too has his technical foul count, giving him a rep as a complainer — an out-of-control Tim Duncan if you will. This postseason that all changed and Howard wasn’t complaining about referees anymore. Instead, he was complaining about his teammates. Howard’s frustration has turned to anger. It’s turned to determination. It’s turned to standing up for himself and speaking out about his pending free agency in 2012 and calling out the Magic front office. The last time a great player went from good to great because of anger/scorn/determination? Does Nowitzness mean anything to you?
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LeBron James has been handed everything to him during his basketball life. Dwight Howard has had a spectacular run but a less enchanted story. However, as evidenced by the last two post-seasons, James hasn’t shown his own thirst for greatness. James’ reaction to stressful situations has been to withdraw, for whatever reason, and make poor decisions (or none at all). Howard is at the opposite end of the spectrum — an engine chucking coal and slowly building steam.
Like Kobe before him and Jordan before that, we may well see D12 take off as the premier player in this league because of pure determination. It might be in Orlando, it might be in L.A./Miami/Dallas. That is up to Orlando GM Otis Smith. Whatever the case, I’ll bet you anything that Dwight Howard comes out of this year’s lockout with his pants on fire and his famous smile replaced with a snarl.
From upon his throne, LeBron James has looked for anyone — Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem — to take his spot atop the basketball world. James may have been looking in the wrong direction this whole time. Instead, Dwight Howard may just be the one to take off his cape and don the royal robes.
The newest edition to The Hoop Doctors writing staff, Dane Carbaugh is the editor and lead writer of the popular new basketball blog Hardcourt Hoops. Dane is an accomplished author and blogger of both American politics and NBA basketball.
