Dwight Howard regrets leaving the Magic.
If you wanted to grab Dwight Howard by the lapel six years ago and shake some sense into him, take heart. He knows you were right. That realization has arrived too late to save Orlando from basketball misery and rescue Howard’s reputation. But knowing he is haunted by a ghost wearing a Magic jersey might bring you a little I-Told-You-So satisfaction.
“In a lot of ways,” Howard said, “I feel like I never recovered.”
The admission comes in a new Sports Illustrated profile titled “What Happened to Superman?” People around here have known the answer for a while.
Orlando wasn’t perfect, but it was the best place for a uniquely insecure manchild to succeed. Instead, Howard went Hollywood.
When the Lakers didn’t work out, he went Houston. When the Rockets didn’t work out, he went Atlanta.
Howard turned into a Christmas fruitcake that keeps getting regifted. He almost retired three years ago.
“The joy,” he said, “was sucked out of it.”
Now he’s 31 and just got traded again, this time to Charlotte for Miles Plumlee and Marco Belinelli.
That’s the kind of package you get for Clark Kent.
In the past, Howard said he missed some things in Orlando but didn’t regret leaving. Now Sports Illustrated reports that Dwight cannot help comparing his new
teammates to Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis.
The money paragraph in the 4,200-word story:
“Wherever he goes, fans invariably ask, “Why did you leave Orlando? You had everything you wanted.” He is still searching for a suitable answer.”
To which Orlando fans would say, “We know the answer. He’s an idiot.”
It’s more complicated than that. Howard’s decline is partially due to injuries and evolution.
The NBA has turned into a pop-a-shot league that doesn’t suit Howard’s robotic game. But that doesn’t fully explain how a guy who had more endorsements than LeBron James in 2008 is now down to one deal with a Chinese sportswear company.
The story details Howard’s long inner struggle to cope with the NBA life. He arrived as a sheltered 18-year-old virgin who wanted the league to superimpose a cross over its silhouetted logo.
Pretty soon, women were throwing themselves at him. He couldn’t/ wouldn’t say no. Five kids by five different mothers are living proof.
“I should have been more responsible,” Howard said. “I messed up. I sinned.”
He said friends and family absconded millions of dollars from him. He didn’t call his parents for nearly two years.
He was such a lost child that he’d call friends at halftime of Lakers games and ask how they thought he was performing. He had the sculpted body of Mr. Universe and the fragile psyche of a 13-year-old girl.
Reading along, I felt sympathetic for this newly introspective Dwight. Then old Dwight resurfaced.
We all remember the infamous press conference where Stan Van Gundy said Howard was lobbying to get him fired. An unsuspecting Howard wandered over and stumbled through a denial.
Howard now claims it was the front office’s idea to look for a new coach. But NBC Sports noted that in a documentary three years ago, Howard said he went to the front office with his coaching concerns.
“I think it’s time that you guys get a new voice,” Howard told management.
Playing the victim shows that Superman still has some maturing to do. It’s tempting to take perverse pleasure in Howard’s decline, but I feel more sadness than vindication.
He could have been remembered as an all-time great with a golden grin. Now he’ll go down as a talented malcontent who couldn’t handle the pressures and temptations that came with his job.
So it’s fine to feel for Dwight. Just feel worse for everyone he took along for the ride.