Dwightmare's Decision - My View

Dwight Howard has finally chosen his next NBA home, H-Town and the Houston Rockets. "Dwightmare" is taking his talents to a city I first visited in March, 1971 when I attended the NCAA Final Four with my father. I will never forget the heat and humidity that greeted us as we stepped off the airplane. Now Dwight will make H-Town his tax free home for at least the next four years.

Roy S. Johnson, a respected writer, wrote the following on twitter:

"At least the @KingJames Decision, painful as it was, netted millions for charity. The DHoward #InDecision isn't helping anyone-except DH." @roysj

I respect Roy Johnson, but have tired of the narrative that Roy and many others in the media have painted during Howard's free agency in 2013. I disagree big time with how Roy S. Johnson and many others have characterized Dwight's handling of his current free agency. Howard earned the right under NBA rules to become a free agent. He listened to five teams over a five day time period. He told people he was going to make his decision on Friday and did. It's not his fault that hungry reporters are trying to scoop each other on what he's going to do and that there are so many loose lips within his inner circle, or those of the FIVE teams who made presentations to him during the first week of July.  Chris "Source" Broussard came out with a B.S. 50/50 story after others said he's off to Houston. Is that Dwight's fault, or the gullible "Source" just trying to trumpet his horn to stay relevant among the media hordes/whores? Dwight picked a situation that he thought was best for him after giving it careful deliberation. If he vacillated or pondered in the last days what he wanted to do for the next four or five years, so be it. That's his right and what many of us do when we are faced with decisions of great magnitude. The hate for Dwight and the use of phrases like "DHoward #InDecision" and terms like "Dwightmare" has little to do with how he handled his free agency in 2013. I'm actually disappointed that an esteemed writer like Roy S. Johnson would take the road most traveled in heaping criticism on a young man who was in the throes of deciding his NBA future during his prime athletic years.

Those who read the above comments might be surprised that I am not a big fan of Dwight Howard's game or his ways over the last few years.  Recently, Gregg Doyel wrote an unfavorable column about Howard - "Whoever Wins Howard Sweepstakes Will Land the NBA's Biggest Loser." My public response to Doyel's article was the following: Venom begats venom.  Doyel is a Ripper - understand that & take what he says with grain of salt. People will appreciate Dwight Howard more if they listen to Dr. Robert Klapper's 'Weekend Warrior' interview with Los Angeles Lakers' trainer, Gary Vitti. People like Gregg Doyel who use labels like 'losers' & 'winners' to describe complex human beings are myopic & intellectually lazy. Even though I don't condone how Howard has handled his business over the last couple of years,  I do understand and recognize the value of quality size in the NBA is few and far between. I also put a lot of credence in the Lakers wanting to retain his services after living with him for a year. NBA stars are not always the easiest people to work with - a lot of his stuff has just become more public over the years. So much hate for NBA stars like Dwight Howard and Lebron James when they don't do what most think is the right thing to do. Do you think Kobe Bryant has been the model Lakers employee for all of his tenure? The beloved Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant had enough of one another after Jackson's first run with the Lakers. It took a long time for Kobe to mature into the person he is now.  Kobe and Jackson figured it out on the second go round. Evaluating, managing, & working with talent in the NBA is challenging. Stratospheric NBA salaries only complicates the matter.

Nate Jones, known by his twitter handle as @JonesOnTheNBA stated "a superstar voluntarily left the Lakers. Crazy. These superstars today don't care about your team's history. They want to make their own." I replied, "Is it really crazy Nate, Dwight Howard sampled the Lakers for a season and saw they were more dysfunctional than him." Real Talk!