Howard aims to repair reputation
After struggling to stick with teams, Wizards center hopes he found final landing spot
WASHINGTON — Dwight Howard had talked for more than an hour, sharing his excitement about joining the Washington Wizards and deflecting the negativity that has surrounded the last few years of his career, when he reached for one of his two cellphones. He was pulled into a notification, clicked the social media app and smiled. A sports website mining for sound bites had already highlighted one of Howard’s favorite lines from his Monday afternoon news conference.
“I learned Magic for eight years. Went to La La Land. Worked for a while with Rockets,” said Howard, reading aloud his own words, in which he referenced stints in Orlando, Los Angeles and Houston.
The remarks would go on about how Howard had learned to “fly with some Hawks. GotstungbytheHornets. Throughall of that, it taught me how to be a Wizard.” Admittedly, Howard said he had pondered the bit for weeks, even though his test audience vetoed the idea.
“Everybody was like, ‘That’s so corny!’ But I like it,” Howard said. “I studied magic, and now I’m a Wizard.”
Howard made the effort Monday to reclaim his narrative, “corny” catchphrase be damned, in billing himself as an eager teammate and humble addition to a team that he believes could be the final landing spot in his career.
Howard, 32, joins the Wizards only after being blindsided — or “stung” — by a trade from the Charlotte Hornets to the Brooklyn Nets last month. Over the last two offseasons, Howard has been sent packing by two “I feel like this city and this team is a place where I want to end my career,” eight-time All-Star Dwight Howard said at his introductory news conference with the Wizards. different teams. Each move raised questions about his reputation in the locker room. He felt the stories were unfair, and in the fraternity of the NBA, where everybody talks, he wondered where he could get a clean slate. Again.
That’s when Washington threw out the welcome mat.
Howard, speaking to a room full of reporters, season-ticket holders and Monumental Sports & Entertainment employees, opened by expressing gratitude to team president Ernie Grunfeld.
“Thank you to Ernie,” Howard said, “and thanks for believing in me as a player and wanting me here in D.C.”
Howard chose his words carefully. He sounded more like a player fighting for a roster spot rather than the three-time Defensive Player of the Year and eight-time All-Star who dominated in his first eight years in the NBA with the Orlando Magic.
“Before I got here, everybody was giving out opinions on how I am as a player and as a person,” Howard said, “and for [Grunfeld] not to listen to those opinions and thoughts of others, for him to come up with his own judgment, that’s why I wanted to say that, because it means a lot to me. My whole life, I’ve had people always doubting me and say bad things — as people say, ‘hate on’ me. But for some people to not allow other people’s opinions and thoughts to affect their decisions, that meant a lot.”
Grunfeld wanted Howard for his rebounding (he has led the league in total rebounds five times), his rimprotection (healso blocked more shots than anyone else for two seasons) and his two-way skills (he averaged a double double last season, his 14th NBA campaign). But nothing resonated with Howard more than knowing that he was wanted by John Wall.
Howard recalled the morning of June 20 when he learned that he had been traded by Charlotte.
“It caught me off guard. I literally was about to walk into an event where I was about to speak to about 5,000 people, and I looked at my phone and on Instagram. I see a message that says, ‘Welcome to Brooklyn,’ ” Howard said. “And so I’m like, ‘Nah, this can’t be real. Like, not again.’ ”
Shocked by that Instagram message, Howard would soon receive another surprise missive. Wall sent a direct message with a simple question: DoyouwanttocometoD.C.?
“He reached out to me on Instagram first, and, no lie, when I saw the message on Instagram, I really got so happy,” Howard said. “‘Oh, John just [direct-messaged] me!’ … This is crazy!’”
Howard’s circuitous journey, from perennial All-Star and potential Hall of Famer with the Magic to a basketball castoff trying to learn new sorcery, continues in the District. Howard, who agreed to a two-year deal with the Wizards, said he plans to play another “good eight years” and hopes to write his own ending.
“All of us have something to prove, and we want to do it together,” Howard said of his Wizards teammates. “I feel like this city and this team is a place where I want to end my career.”